Lifetime Achievement Award
The Latin American Studies Association is pleased to announce the LASA2026 Kalman Silvert Awardee: Arcadio Díaz Quiñones, Professor Emeritus, Princeton University.
I am deeply moved by the Kalman Silvert award.
In the beginning, there were my teachers, and the poetry and fiction I read as a student at Universidad de Puerto Rico in the 1960s. Important also were graphic artists, dance-theater groups, and popular singers. They helped me understand the power of literature and art to address political and historical issues. Bregaban bien. This cannot be disentangled from what was then a vibrant resistance against the conscription of Puerto Ricans for military service in the U.S. war in Vietnam, the impact of the Cuban revolution, and the Civil Rights Movement.
In the early 1970s I joined CEREP, a group that along with Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños in the Nueva York diasporic community, were determined to rethink colonial capitalism, class struggle, migration, the nation-state, and gender and racial inequalities. The writings of Fanon, Marxist historians and, later, the books and the moral passion of Edward Said, inspired me to confront the silencing of the past: la memoria rota. From Nilita Vientós, José Luis González, Jean Franco, Ángel Rama and Marta Traba I learned that a meaningful latinoamericanismo requires not only solidarity but freedom to practice critical thinking.
During my first years at Princeton, I was struck by the persistence of U.S. and Spanish colonial hierarchies and the erasure of Latino cultures. It was, however, an immense privilege to know and learn from Stanley and Barbara Stein, Sylvia Molloy, James Irby, Rolena Adorno, Ricardo Piglia, and Albert and Sarah Hirschman. In Princeton and in conferences in Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, and Colombia, I met colleagues who were and are trespassing academic boundaries.
I taught and co-taught courses on Literature and Memory; Poetry and Exile; and Caribbean Intellectuals and War. The questions and insights of generations of students have been essential. Edward Said’s illuminating distinction between the violence of colonial domination and the complex linguistic and cultural connections generated by empires retains its fundamental importance for latinoamericanismo.
About LASA
The Latin American Studies Association (LASA) is the largest professional association in the world for individuals and institutions engaged in the study of Latin America. With over 13,000 members, over 60% of whom reside outside the United States, LASA is the one association that brings together experts on Latin America from all disciplines and diverse occupational endeavors, across the globe. LASA's mission is to foster intellectual discussion, research, and teaching on Latin America, the Caribbean, and its people throughout the Americas, promote the interests of its diverse membership, and encourage civic engagement through network building and public debate.
If you wish to interview a LASA Executive Council member, you can contact the LASA communications office at (412) 648-7929 or send an email to lasa@lasaweb.org.