Ciguapa Unbound: Tranceformations of AfroLatinx Feminist Epistemologies

This talk begins with Dr. Omaris Zamora’s own critically fabulated story of La Cigüapa, a Dominican folktale figure similar to Mexico’s La Llorona, as an exercise for thinking about her character and the historical context in which she is initially imagined. Dr. Zamora offers a transnational examination of this figure against the backdrop of colonialism, mining, and neoliberal capitalism from Hispaniola to Washington Heights. Providing this context highlights how La Cigüapa’s aesthetics situates Blackness and gender in the Dominican context to see how Black Dominican women are erased, yet continuously find ways to exist.

For more information, contact Ryan Mann-Hamilton at rmann-hamilton@lagcc.cuny.edu.

For ASL Interpreting services or other accommodations, please contact Deema Bayrakdar at dbayrakdar@lagcc.cuny.edu.