Language, Literacy, and Culture: Roberto Zurbano Torres

For their Black in the Americas Series, the Language, Literacy, and Culture Doctoral Program presents

Meet Roberto Zurbano Torres, Cuban-Haitian essayist, cultural critic, and anti-racist activist, and learn about his background, activism, and legacy in Cuba and beyond.

Film screening and discussion: Zurbano and His Racial Conscience (2022, directed by Juana María Cordones-Cook)

Roberto Zurbano Torres served as the Director of the Editorial Fund at Casa de las Américas (2006-2013), where he introduced discussions on racial issues. He was removed from this position due to his article on racism in Cuba, which was published in The New York Times in 2013, and the
ensuing debate (Afro-Hispanic Review, 2014). Zurbano has authored multiple books addressing topics such as racial politics, music, and Black writers in the Caribbean and Latin America. He founded the Pichón Haitien project, a community of Cuban-Haitian descendants located in eastern Havana. Zurbano has been awarded the Order for National Culture and has twice received the National Prize for Cultural Journalism. He currently works at Casa de las Américas in Havana, Cuba.

Co-sponsored by the Dresher Center for the Humanities; the Center for Social Science Scholarship; the Center for Innovation, Research, and Creativity in the Arts; Department of Gender, Women’s, + Sexuality Studies; the Global Studies Program; Department of Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication; Department of Political Science; and Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health.