On Dec. 4, nearly 60 students from Cornell’s Introduction to Latinx Studies course celebrated Latino/a roots through their exhibit “Cultura y poder.” Their collaborative mixed media projects, showcased online and in 434 Rockefeller Hall, explore how culture strengthens and uplifts communities.

After a semester dedicated to studying the experiences and intersections of U.S. Latinx identities, Professor Debra Castillo and doctoral student Carolina Osorio Gil challenged students to explore in-class themes without boundaries. 

Castillo, the Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow and Emerson Hinchliff Professor of Hispanic Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences, said the exhibit was created for two reasons. “One of the things we wanted to privilege in this course was the stories that people had about their own culture and their own family and how knowing more about their cultural background and the connections with other people’s cultures really empowers them” she said. Second, it was essential that the project be widely shared. “Sharing it with everyone is also part of creating community and we really wanted this to be a community space.”

Read the full story on the College of Arts & Sciences website.