Speakers

Edwin Álvarez Norales is a member of the Garifuna Community and vice president of the Board of Directors of the Organization of Ethnic and Community Development (ODECO, in its Spanish initials). He has 18 years of activism experience in promoting and...

Lina Hurtado has a master´s degree in human rights for the University of Bologna, Italy. Prior to that, she worked for the Pontifical Xavierian University in the city of Cali, which is one of the cities with the largest number of Afro-descendant...

Ana Paula Barreto (she/hers) is a Program Director for AfroResistance in New York. She is a researcher on migration, global health and inequalities with special focus on women and girls of color. Ana has more than ten years of experience as human rights...

Professor Emerita Flora González's teaching interests include Latin American fiction and non-fiction, the literatures of the Caribbean and feminist writing. In 2009 she was the recipient of the Helaine and Stanley Miller Award for Outstanding Teaching at...

Yvette Modestin, a writer, poet and activist was born and raised in Colón, Panama. She is Founder/Executive Director  Encuentro Diaspora Afro in Boston, MA.  Ms. Modestin is the Diaspora Coordinator of the Red de Mujeres Afrolatinoamericanas...

Sherwin K. Bryant is an Associate Professor of African American Studies and History. As an historian of colonial Afro-Latin America and the Atlantic/Pacific Worlds, Bryant works at the intersections of cultural, legal, social history and political economy...

Anthony Dest earned his Ph. D. in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2019. His research explores how people struggle to build autonomy and self-determination throughout the Americas. His book manuscript analyzes how rural...

Ofunshi Oba Koso is a traditional healer and spiritual diviner known as a Babalawo from the Yoruba religious tradition. Trained from an early age by both Lucumi and Traditional Yoruba masters, Ofunshi brings a unique perspective of African spirituality...

Cecilia "Cessie" Alfonso, MSW, ACSW, LCSW, Afro Boricua and Cuban feminist, member of Combahee River Collective and a nationally recognized expert in forensic social work, domestic violence. She is founder and president of Alfonso Consultants, Inc. For...

Graduated in Pedagogy from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (1992), Master in Curriculum and Public Instruction - Michigan State University, USA (1995) and Ph. D in Education - Management and Educational Policy - Interdisciplinary Program in Urban...