Author Description

"Silvio Torres-Saillant has published many vital works such as An Intellectual History of the Caribbean (2006), Caribbean Poetics (2013), and El retorno de las yolas (2019). This compilation of pieces written by the prolific and eminent scholar is an investigation into the meaning of latinidad and its evolution over the past twenty years. Over time Latina/o/x studies moved away from the dominant focus on Chicana/o/x studies into a more encompassing view of being Latina/o/x in the United States, and throughout this shift, Torres-Saillant is one of the most prodigious writers and organizers in this field. His own writings and diverse organizational work such as creating one of the first centers of Dominican studies in the country at CUNY to helping co-founding the journal Latino Studies have made him a central figure. This edited volume will include previously published but inaccessible writings by Torres-Saillant as well as new and updated pieces. Organized by Nancy Kang and Michael Nieto Garcia, the volume is divided into three major sections. Part one looks at pieces that convey a reconsidering of where Dominican Americans fit within the larger Latinx community in the US, but also within the narrative of the African Diaspora. Part two observes Torres-Saillant's career as an advocate for Latina/o/x studies as demonstrated in his work as a journal series editor, a board member of the Molina Family Latino Gallery at the Smithsonian Museum of American History and founding director of the Latino-Latin American Studies Program at Syracuse University, where he also co-founded the off-campus cultural institution La Casita Cultural Center. Part three includes shorter pieces that contend with ways of challenging easy and simplistic ideas of "oneness" within Latino communities"--