The Latinx Connect conference aims to move us beyond “celebrating” Latinxs, calling for empowerment and justice for Latinx communities, who face numerous inequities in the US and across the world, particularly for those at marginalized intersections of Latinx identity (e.g., Afro, Indigenous, Queer, Trans*, Undocumented).

The theme of the conference this year is: ¡Com(o)unidad! (Com)unidade, (Comm)unity: State of the People. The Latinx Connect conference will bring together students, educators, community leaders, and political advocates to dialogue about Latinidad and envision ways to empower and support thriving futures, both near and distant, for diverse Latinx communities at local, national, and global levels. #LXC25

As the largest pan-ethnic group in the United States, Latinxs are extremely diverse by race, gender, language, immigration, and experiences along the diaspora, which creates opportunity for dialogue. Participants will discuss together what it means to thrive as Latinx/a/o/e/Hispanic at the intersections of their identities in topic areas including but not limited to education, public health, arts, and history.

There is no cost to attend the conference, and all are welcome to participate and submit proposals. The proposal deadline has been extended to March 28.

Featured Events: "The Amazonas of Yaxunah" Film Screening and Q&A with director Alfonso Algara; performance by Zuly Inirio at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater; Keynote Speakers Yosimar Reyes (Poet & Activist) and Sheila Velez Martinez (Pitt School of Law, Center for Civil Rights and Racial Justice); and more!

By examining how French and Italian cultures have imagined and depicted the future across various time periods and media forms, this conference seeks to contribute to our understanding of how societies conceptualize change, progress, and new possibilities.

Speaker: Dr. Julia Frengs
She is an Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her past research has focused on representations of the body, Indigenous epistemologies, and environmental engagement in women’s literature from Kanaky/New Caledonia and Te Ao Mā’ohi/French Polynesia. Her monograph, Corporeal Archipelagos: Writing the Body in Francophone Oceanian Women’s Literature, was published by Lexington Books in 2018. Her current and future research projects investigate environmental engagement in Oceanian and Indian Ocean literatures. She served as guest co-editor of a double issue of Contemporary French and Francophone Studies: SITES, entitled “Parler la terre/Speaking the Earth,” which appears in fall 2021 in issues 25.3 and 25.4. Her most recent article, “Anticolonial Ecofeminisms: Women’s Environmental Literature in French-speaking Oceania” appears in French Cultural Studies

For decades, tree planting has been at the heart of Chinese environmental endeavors, and forestry is pivotal to its environmentalism and green image more generally. During the Mao era, while forests were razed to fuel rapid increases in industrial production, the "Greening the Motherland" campaign also promoted conservationist tree-planting nationwide. Based on two chapters of his forthcoming book Contested Environmentalisms: Trees and the Making of Modern China (Stanford UP, 2025), this talk probes the seemingly contradictory rhetoric and desires of Chinese conservation in the Mao era. 

About the Speaker:
Cheng Li is an assistant professor of Chinese studies at Carnegie Mellon University. He earned his PhD from Yale University in 2022, focusing on modern Chinese environmental literature, film, and history. His work has appeared in leading journals, and his forthcoming book, Contested Environmentalisms: Trees and the Making of Modern China (Stanford UP, 2025), received the Marston Anderson Prize for best dissertation at Yale.

Join undergraduate Pitt students for a conversation hour to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences.

Swahili Level 2 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Fridays at 4-5 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.

This two-day K-12 mini course explores the Opium Wars of the 19th century, their causes, and far-reaching consequences, connecting historical events with modern global issues. Through examining the relationship between imperialism, trade, and culture, participants will gain insight into how the Opium Wars reshaped international dynamics, especially between China and Western powers, including the emerging empire of the United States. Sessions include presentations, activities and teacher-led strategies for curricular development.

Join Addverse, a transcultural, multilingual, and intergenerational poetry organization, for weekly meetings in the Global Hub.

Addverse will meet weekly, on Fridays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 24 and March 7.