UF Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with Lecture, Movie Showing

University of Findlay is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with two events: a lecture with discussion, and a movie showing.

Lecture & Discussion

The lecture and discussion will be held on Thursday, Oct. 8 from 6-7:15 p.m. in Davis 102, or via Zoom.

Irina Soto-Mejia, Soka University of Japan professor, will speak on “Lives across borders and cultures: Home and belonging in third and fourth generation of Japanese in Peru and Venezuela. An analysis of two journeys: Kaori Flores Yonekura and Tomas Toshi Matsufuji.”

In this talk, Soto-Mejia discusses her current research project, in which she explores the Japanese diaspora in Peru, narrated through the life of third and fourth generation Nikkei. Soto-Mejia’s emphasis on these generations illustrates a trajectory in the history of the diaspora, particularly in comparison to her parallel research on the works of second-generation authors, Augusto Higa Oshiro and Doris Moromisato.

Peru is the Spanish Speaking country in Latin America with the largest Japanese community. By sliding her research between second, third, and fourth generations, Soto-Mejia challenges the temptation to homogenize the Japanese Peruvian narrative or to simplify their experience through historical reductionism. She seeks to shed light on the ways in which emerging young Nikkei voices have both contributed to and resisted the grand narrative of the Japanese presence in Peru.

Movie Showing

“I Dream in Another Language” (Sueño en otro Idiom) will be shown in Ritz Auditorium in Old Main on Wednesday, Oct. 14 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

The movie asks, “When a language disappears forever, does a culture fade away?” In the film, a young linguistic becomes immersed in a remote area of Mexico while seeking the last two people who speak an indigenous language called Zikril. When he finally finds them, he discovers they haven’t spoken to each other in 50 years, complicating his research. However, behind the dispute between them is a secret of love and identity that will condemn Zikril to disappear.

Both events are sponsored by the UF Convocation Committee and the Department of Language and Culture.

For questions, contact John Cruz at john.cruz@findlay.edu or 419-434-4695, or Hiro Kawamura at kawamura@findlay.edu or 419-434-4619.