By Valentina Toro
Features Editor
Award-winning poet and cultural worker Magdalena Gómez brought conversations about identity and belonging to the university, drawing students, faculty and community members to a keynote centered on storytelling and social justice.
Hosted by the Latin American and Caribbean Studies program, the event featured a reading, a Q&A session and a book signing.
“The Latin American and Caribbean Studies program does a social justice keynote every year, and we try to focus on different aspects of Latin American culture, immigration and poetry,” Melanie Uribe, director of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies program, said.
Gómez, a former poet laureate, spoke about themes tied to her work, including intergenerational memory, Puerto Rican heritage, migration and the layered experiences of the Latinx communities.
Gómez is the author of “Mi’ja,” an International Latino Book Award-winning memoir that blends poetry and prose to explore motherhood, migration and identity.
Her work often reflects the complexities of navigating multiple cultural spaces while also amplifying resilience and personal history.
“Her work isn’t just for one community,” Uribe said. “It really opens up conversations about history, culture and identity and creates space for reflection and connection across different disciplines.”
Although the keynote had been planned since last year, organizers said the timing felt especially relevant.
“Magdalena brings a lot of social justice, immigration but also identity and feminism and belonging to her work that we thought was going to be an incredible opportunity to bring her to campus,” Uribe said.
The event followed a week of tension and student activism on campus, creating an environment where conversations about belonging and representation felt more urgent.
“In serendipity, this is the perfect week because of everything that is happening around us,” Uribe said. “We’re going to have this amazing display of community and unity.”
The university continues to prioritize programming that highlights diverse voices and perspectives. Uribe said Gómez’s visit aligned with the university’s broader commitment to social justice and cultural representation.
Students were invited to attend a smaller reception in Engleman Hall Room B121 following the event, giving them the opportunity to engage more directly with Gómez.
The gathering offered more personal space for conversation with Gómez allowing students to reflect on the themes presented during the keynote.
Uribe said the organization hoped students left with a deeper understanding of how storytelling can function as both an academic and creative practice.
By blending activism, scholarship and lived experience, Gómez’s work demonstrated how narratives can shape knowledge and challenge traditional academic boundaries.
“I always hope that students go to the events because it brings a live experience to this academic space in a way that is both intellectual and emotional,” Uribe said. “It’s an opportunity to see how storytelling can be a form of scholarship and how creativity, activism and academics can all come together.”
