Melbern G. Glasscock Building

Presenters:Edudzi Sallah, Ph.D. Candidate | English "Providence and the Preacher: A Transatlantic Black Religious Discourse" Juan Alonzo, Associate Professor | English "Centering Mexican American Women's Narratives in Rolando Hinojosa's Fiction"Abstracts: Sallah This dissertation examines the transatlantic history of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZ) and its implications for Black transnationalism. It argues that a Black transnational consciousness, in which the Church's continental African members have an equal power relationship with their African American counterparts, is yet to be actualized. It approaches the AMEZ mainly in its identity as "The Freedom Church," probing its religious values in its engagements in Africa as a venture shaped by the specters of the Black American past and present racial experiences. This work seeks to understand how the politics of race functions intra-racially, specifically, how African and African American bodies and cultures become sites of contestation within Black communities and nationalities.AlonzoRolando Hinojosa'sKlailCity Death Trip Series—encompassing fifteen novels—is celebrated for creating an expansive fictional history of a Mexican American community in south Texas.Yet because most of the novels are focalized through two major male characters, critics have seldom explored the lives of female characters.My research and rereading of the later novels in the series reveal that Hinojosa was interested inrenderingthe community in its totality by also narrating women's stories in all their richness.Hinojosasoughttorepresentthe histories, tragedies, and triumphs of Rio Grande Valley Chicanas.My colloquium will focus on the novelBecky and Her Friends(1990) as I complicate both Hinojosa's and the critics' reckonings with the stories of women in his oeuvre.   Chair: Sirsha Nandi | English  Please note that this is not a lecture, and thus, is not suited for class attendance. The Colloquium Series is intended to provide the presenter with a forum to discuss their research and receive feedback from colleagues and peers.