Center for the Study of the Peoples of the Americas

Mission

The Center for the Study of the Peoples of the Americas (CESPA) is devoted to the principle that education is the basis for solutions to societal tensions. To this end a primary concern of the Center is the issues stemming from the lived experiences of our students. The purpose of (CESPA) is to promote interest in and knowledge of peoples descendent of Latin American communities, whether of Latino/a, Asian, European, African or indigenous origins, within the US and south of the border through service learning, student and faculty research. CESPA also promotes faculty and public intellectual workshops, symposia, conferences, and lectures. Multimedia forums are utilized to distribute Center programs and research.

The peoples of the Americas have their roots in African, European, Asian, and indigenous cultures. The Center for the Study of the Peoples of the Americas (CESPA), is committed to a deeper understanding of the creation and movements across borders, and the development of border cultures, identities and economies. A primary concern is the lived experiences of our students. The California State University system has among the largest concentration of students of Mexican and Central American extraction of any four-year university system in the country, as well as substantial populations of Asian American and African American students.

To this end CESPA will bring together a group of scholars, researchers, and creative artists from a wide range of disciplines to more effectively provide accessible information to all students and communities about the experiences and the cultures of the more than 50 million Americans of Latin-American extraction and the more than 600 million people living to the south of the United States.

Upcoming Events:

The Maya Art of Speaking Writing: Remediating Indigenous Orality in the Digital Age

Thursday, November 10, 2022 - 4:00pm to 5:15pm

Dr. Tiffany Creegan Miller is Assistant Professor of Spanish and the Associate Director of the Oak Institute for Human Rights at Colby College. In her book talk at CSUN, Dr. Creegan Miller will employ the Maya concepts of tz’ib’ (recorded knowledge) and tzij, choloj, and ch’owen (orality) to look at Maya cultural productions across media and languages. She will further discuss how the persistence of orality and the interweaving of media forms offer a challenge to audiences to participate in decolonial actions through language preservation.

Thursday, November 3, 2022 - 4:00pm to 6:15pm

The violence by both State and non-State actors against members of the LGBTIQ+ community in Guatemala has continued to dramatically escalate. The exact numbers of those murdered is impossible to know given the inadequate reporting of these cases. In her CSUN webinar, Morán will discuss the varied issues that impact the LGBTIQ+ community as well as the varied ways in which the community has organized and fought for their rights in Guatemala.

College of Humanities