The CLACS Working Group on Racisms in Comparative Perspective presents, Thinking and journaling about race and identity in the U.S while being a cholo from Perú by Marco Avilés.
Sponsored by the CLACS Working Group on Racisms in Comparative Perspective and Feminist Constellations Platform.
Event Description:
Journaling about daily life after moving to the US has helped me reflect about the connections and disconnections between how we think, and talk about race and identity both in the US and in Latin America. Sharing personal memories and observations on not being white on both sides of the border, in this talk I will discuss how writing about this dual experience feeds my literary and academic work.
Bio:
Marco Avilés is a Quechua-Peruvian writer and journalist. His recent work explores race and racism across the Americas. He is the author of three non-fiction books: Día de visita, a reportage about love in a women’s prison in Lima; De dónde venimos los cholos, an exploration on identity and migration in the Andes and Amazonia; and No soy tu cholo, a personal essay on being brown.
He contributes with different media outlets such as The Washington Post, Radio Ambulante, NUSO and Ojo Público. He teaches a seminar on Covering Identity at the bilingüal Journalism Program at CUNY. He holds an MA in Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, where he is currently a PhD student. Marco lives in Philadelphia along with his wife and two dogs.