Thursday, March 27, 2008
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Art Gallery, 450 Grand Concourse 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm La navegación de Hostos: islas y mares de la revolución, la educación y el amor |
As Hostos Community College celebrates its 40th anniversary, it is fitting that we devote the first of these lectures to examine the legacy of Eugenio María de Hostos. In this lecture Prof. Orlando J. Hernández, Hostos scholar and longstanding faculty with the Humanities Department at our college, will discuss the life and accomplishments of the important Caribbean humanist.
Eugenio María de Hostos (1839-1903) was a 19th-century activist, educator and author who wrote about critical issues of his times, including education, ethics, political participation, women's rights, race, slavery, Native Americans, and immigration. He was also Latin America's first scientific sociologist, and he made significant contributions to criminology, law, geography and literature. In many ways Hostos was a visionary. He fought against colonialism and slavery, endeavored for the independence of Cuba and Puerto Rico, and became a vigorous advocate for an Antillean confederation. An early champion of inclusiveness and human rights, Hostos affirmed the crucial role that mestizos would play in the post-colonial societies, denounced the exploitation of the Chinese indentured servants in Perú, and became a strong advocate for women's educational rights. He also strove for the development of the young Latin American societies, and was invited to the Dominican Republic and Chile to offer his expert knowledge and inspired vision to the educational reforms undertaken in those two countries in the 1880s and 90s. For his many contributions throughout the continent, he was posthumously conferred the honorary title “Citizen of the Americas” at the VIII Conference of American States that took place in Lima, Perú, in 1938. The title of Prof. Hernández's presentation will be “The Journey of Eugenio María de Hostos: Revolution, Education and Love.”
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Hostos Community College · 500 Grand Concourse, Bronx, New York 10451 · Phone: (718) 518-4444