The University of Houston-Downtown's Center for Latino Studies is hosting the Arte Público XV Recovery Conference on Feb. 20-22 in the Academic Building's Special Events Rooms (A300). This year’s theme is “Histories and Cultures of Latinas: Suffrage, Activism and Women’s Rights.”

Arte Público Press—founded in 1979 at the University of Houston—is the oldest and largest Hispanic publisher in the United States to further the endeavor of providing a national forum for Hispanic literature for general and educational audiences.

The Recovery Conference will unite scholars, archivists, librarians, linguists, critics, theorists and community members to explore the recovery and preservation of texts and literature celebrating Hispanic culture. UHD faculty members will also be in attendance, sharing their expertise during panel discussions.

Among the UHD faculty participating in the event is Dr. Salvador Salinas, assistant professor of history. He will moderate the panel, "The Latino Nineteenth Century: New York."

“Arte Público’s Recovery Conference brings together scholars from numerous fields of study to emphasize the importance of our country’s Hispanic literary heritage,” he said. “This year’s conference is especially significant because it will highlight the often-overlooked roles Latina women have played in literature, popular culture, and political activism over the last five centuries of American life.”

The conference will feature cultural events, Arte Público press readings, a recovery workshop and conference presentation sessions. In addition to Salinas, other UHD faculty participants include:

• Dr. Bonnie Lucero, Director of UHD's Center for Latino Studies and associate professor of history - moderator, "Cubanas on Nationalism, Class and Race"
• Dr. Jobi MartÍnez, UHD President's Postdoctoral Fellow - moderator, "Recovery in the Classroom: Past, Present and Future​"
• Natacha Poggio, assistant professor of graphic design - moderator, "Using an E-Bilingual Library to Preserve Our Hispanic Cultural Heritage"
• Dr. María Bhattacharjee, associate professor of urban education - panelist, "Using an E-Bilingual Library to Preserve Our Hispanic Cultural Heritage"

UHD’s Mariachi Los Caimanes will be performing for conference guests. Conference admission is free to all UHD students. A complete conference schedule is available.

“As the creator of Latinas Achieve—our institution’s first mentorship program for Latinas—the Center for Latino Studies is pleased to host the XV Annual Recovery Conference," Lucero said. “This year’s theme fits right in with our program’s focus on inclusive excellence as well as our University’s mission as a Hispanic-serving institution. We are looking forward to providing our campus community with this exciting opportunity to learn about the historic experiences of Latina women as well as the vital efforts to preserve those histories.”

This conference is part of the Recovering (Recovery) The U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project, which is a comprehensive University of Houston program to reconstitute the literary and historical legacy of Hispanics in the United States from colonial times to 1960. More details on this initiative are available on the Arte Público website.