15th Annual LACS Student Conference - Oye Como Va: Sound, Voice, and Movement in the Americas

The University of Maryland, College Park’s Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center (LACS) and the LACS Graduate Collective call for proposals to participate in the conference Oye Como Va: Sound, Voice, and Movement in the Americas.

The conference will be held on May 4th and 5th, 2023, at the University of Maryland and will include a series of public programs, academic panels, workshops, and art-based presentations, and a Dean's Keynote Panel. 

The word “Oye” (“Listen”) commands attention, invites us to listen, and is indicative of something to come. “Oye Como Va,” the conference title, is borrowed from the song of the same name and translates to “Listen to How it Goes.” Written by Puerto Rican musician Tito Puente in 1962, the catchiness of this cha-cha-cha song has been covered by numerous musicians who proliferated the rhythm into non-Latin-majority music markets. It particularly played a part in connecting diasporic communities to their homelands via sonic familiarity and community building. The following verse, “Oye Como Va/ Mi Ritmo” (“Listen to How My Rhythm Goes”) also implies an evolution, an invitation to participate in a non-static polyphonic evolution already in progress. Its multilayered song structure and history—that also exemplifies the distinct understandings of Latinidad, Afro-descendant rhythms, and heritages—is one that guides the multifaceted, open, evolutionary, and interdisciplinary approach to this conference. Latin America, the Caribbean, and its Diasporas are, were, and will be in all its many facets interdisciplinary; we invite our audiences and participants to oye como va across all fields.

Location: St. Mary's Hall Multipurpose Room, UMD College Park Main Campus

Dates: May 4th and 5th, 2023

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Co-Sponsors: Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center; Office of Graduate Diversity and Inclusion; ARTS for All