Celebrating Latinx and Hispanic Heritage Month at Temple Libraries 

 Art by Santiago Savi | santiagosavi.com

Guest post by Rebecca Lloyd, Subject Librarian of History, Latin American Studies, Portuguese, and Spanish

Temple Libraries is excited to be a part of Temple University’s celebration of Latinx/Hispanic history, communities, and cultures from September 16 – October 15, 2024. Temple is hosting a wide range of speakers, performers, and events over the course of the month, and Charles Library is hosting several engaging programs. 

The library will be hosting a program on indigenous Latin American culture on October 11 at 11:00 AM, Shaping knowledge: Exploring Maya Ways of Knowing and Their Place In the World in the Charles Event Space. Anthropologist Francsico Diaz will lead this lecture and participatory workshop on indigenous ways of knowing. This event will also be livestreamed via Zoom. This program was coordinated by the Intellectual Heritage Department with additional sponsorship from the College of Liberal Arts, Charles Library, and Education Abroad and Overseas Campuses. 

 Pat Boy performing, courtesy of  Pat Boy

On October 15 at 12:30 PM, Charles Library will host the closing event of this year’s Latinx and Hispanic Heritage Month, Pat Boy Live! Pat Boy is an internationally acclaimed Yucatec Maya rapper whose music was featured in the recent Marvel film Wakanda Forever. Pat Boy will perform, and answer questions about how he is using music to fight prejudice, celebrate Indigenous identity, and promote the Mayan language. The program will be held in the Charles Event Space and will also be livestreamed via Zoom. This program is a true collaborative effort led by the Intellectual Heritage Department with additional sponsorship from the College of Liberal Arts, Charles Library, the College of Science and Technology, and Education Abroad and Overseas Campuses. 

In conjunction with the two programs on indigenous identity, Charles Library is also hosting a display on the first floor of the library entitled, Latinx Indigenisms: Past, Present, and Future Modes of Existence and Resistance. This exhibit features materials from Charles Library, Temple’s Special Collections Research Center, and the Temple Anthropology Laboratory and Museum. It highlights the various ways that Indigeneity overlaps, confronts, and undergirds Latinx identities. The display is on top of the bookshelves to the right of the 13th Street entrance to Charles Library and continues inside the Special Collections Research Center. The display runs until October 15th. 

And Charles Library has already hosted one excellent Latinx/Hispanic Heritage month program. On September 25, the library hosted a musical performance, Hispanic Heritage in Song, as part of our Beyond the Notes concert series. The program featured music from the Spanish zarzuela tradition, a style of musical theater dating back to the Baroque era featuring song, spoken word, and dance by composers from Spain, Mexico, and Argentina. Temple students Paulina Cevallos, Evgeniya Khomutova, and Roberto Guevara gave wonderful performances. The program was curated by Christine Anderson, Boyer College of Music and Dance, and organized by Becca Fulop, Performing Arts Librarian. It was co-sponsored by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.