Themed "Mirando Atrás Hacia el Futuro,"
(looking to the past in order to see the future) and scheduled for
November 2-4, MHC's fourth triennial Latina alumnae conference will
be an opportunity for the College's Latina community to consider
the role of the Latina woman in the twenty-first century. The Alumnae
Association of Mount Holyoke College, with additional support and
funding from various departments and groups on campus, is working
with MHC students to foster connections between the College's approximately
400 Latina alumnae and its eighty-five Latina students. Says Sally
J. Lemaire, executive director of the Alumnae Association, "The
Alumnae Association, which is committed to multicultural awareness
and cultural diversity, supports the development of affinity-group
networks by cosponsoring programs such as this conference."
Among
the events planned for Friday, November 2, is an altar ceremony
that will honor Día de los Muertos, an ancient Latino/Latina tradition
to remember the dead and celebrate the continuity of life. The
opening ceremony will include a poetry reading and a dedication
of the altar to those who died at the World Trade Center September
11. All are encouraged to bring photos, special objects, poems,
flowers, and songs to this remembrance.
Saturday's
schedule will feature workshops on building career networks, empowering
Latinas in the arts and sciences, and increasing the number of
successful Latinas. The last workshop, titled "Why Are Our
Latina Daughters Failing?", will be led by Aida Hurtado,
professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa
Cruz. She is an expert in gender issues and social psychology
in Chicano communities, representations of ethnic and racial groups
in the media, feminist theory, and equity in education. Other
Saturday highlights include an address and College update by Beverly
Daniel Tatum, dean of the College; a dinner keynote address by
Diane E. Lopez '82; a musical celebration with the Andean music
group Inca-Sapi; and an evening of dancing at Blanchard Campus
Center. A Sunday-morning breakfast at the Eliana Ortega Cultural
Center and a Spanish mass at Abbey Chapel close the weekend's
program.
"I
am very excited about all of the events," said conference
cochair Rocio Garcia '03, "but Aida Hurtado's workshop is
the most outstanding one for me. She will help us discuss our
past mistakes and come up with solutions to help more Latinas
become successful and attain a higher standard of living by the
time we become the largest minority in the United States. Everyone
is very excited to welcome alumnae back and spend time talking
to them." Garcia and her cochair, Diana Archuleta '03, joined
other members of MEChA and La Unidad, MHC's Chicana and Latina
student organizations, to form a student planning committee for
the conference.
Those
who missed the October 19 registration deadline may still attend
the four conference events open to the entire MHC community: the
altar ceremony November 2; the music performance and party, November
3; and the Spanish mass, November 4.
