The University of New Mexico Department of Spanish and Portuguese presents the 15th Annual UNM Conference on Ibero/American Culture and Society, Wednesday through Friday, Feb. 27 – 29, in Ortega Hall on the UNM campus. The theme of this year’s conference is “Heroes and Anti-Heroes: A Celebration of the Cid.”
On Wednesday, Feb. 27, a public reading of Cid in Spanish and English will take place in Ortega Hall, 3rd floor, from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. This public reading is open to interested faculty, students and members of the Albuquerque community.
Also on Wednesday, from 4 – 6:30 p.m., Anthony Mann’s film version of Cid will be screened in Ortega Hall room 153.
On Thursday, Feb. 28, The Cid symposium and conference includes morning and afternoon panel discussions as well as a 1 p.m. plenary session featuring Matthew Bailey, U.T.-Austin, presenting, “Oral Composition as Context for the Narrative Tradition of the Cid.”
On Friday, Feb. 29, additional panel discussions are scheduled featuring national and international Cid experts. The 1 p.m. plenary is Sam Armistead, U.C. – Davis, presenting, “The Cid and the Epic: Critical Theory and Poetic Reality.”
“Because centennial moments occur only once in one’s life time, and because 2007 provided us with opportunity to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Cantar de mio Cid, it is incumbent upon us, as a former province of Spain, to commemorate one of the earliest pieces of Spanish literature.
Without the Castilian prowess of the poem’s protagonist, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, it is possible that Castilian might not have become the most consequential language on the Iberian peninsula and throughout the world, and surely it might very well not be one of the official languages of our own State of New Mexico,” said Anthony J. Cárdenas-Rotunno, professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese and organizer of the conference.
The goals of the commemoration are to bring New Mexico to honor the 800th anniversary of its inheritance; to allow our students and community the opportunity to come into contact with some of the best Spanish scholars in the country; to promote research in the field of Spanish, Medieval Spanish studies in particular as well as in Golden Age Spanish, Cárdenas-Rotunno said.
He added that the commemoration is also “simply to celebrate the Spanish language and to create a unique and resplendent opportunity for UNM and the Albuquerque community to come together to celebrate a monument to history, culture, language and literature – one uniquely ours.”
For more information visit: 15th Annual Conference or e-mail spanconf@unm.edu.