Latine Heritage Month serves conversation, community, carne

By Noa Berz     9/24/24 11:59pm

When I walked into the Carne Asada Social last Friday evening, I was met with the pungent aroma of grilled meats, bumping music and a line that stretched the entire perimeter of the Multicultural Center’s courtyard. The event was inspired by a tradition of good food, drink and company found throughout Latin America, and it’s one of Latine Heritage Month’s most well attended, I learned from Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers socials coordinator Brian Mercado. 

“Carne asada is very common across Latin America,” Mercado, a Lovett College junior, said. “Whether [with] different meats or different styles of grilling, the concept is the same, in which you have family, a lot of friends over, and you have a good time while enjoying good drinks. I’m glad that we’re able to emulate that here at Rice with the Latine community.” 

The social was co-hosted by SHPE and the Hispanic Association for Cultural Enrichment at Rice, and it’s one of more than 20 campus-wide events held between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15 for what was formerly known as Hispanic Heritage Month. HACER Co-President Pamela Duarte said the month saw a name change at Rice this year to increase inclusivity and representation.

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“Hispanics have always been [called] by a label that they didn’t necessarily create,” Duarte, a Will Rice College senior, said. “It’s about finding our own voice and finding what is truly inclusive and suits us best.” 

Planning for the month’s slew of events started last April and involved HACER and SHPE’s faculty advisors and executive boards, the Latine Heritage Month planning committee and MCC Associate Director Ceola Curley, Duarte said. 

Duarte said HACER also received resources from the Student Activities/President’s Programming Fund, designed to support student-run events. Latine Heritage Month planning committee co-chair Luziris Pineda Turi said preparations, though extensive, have paid off. 

“My favorite part about celebrating [Latine Heritage Month] at Rice is to see [Housing & Dining], [Facilities, Engineering & Planning], staff, students and faculty all come together at our weekly hangouts,” Turi, an associate teaching professor of Spanish, wrote in an email to the Thresher. “It’s rare to see all of these communities together at the same time and celebrating.”

HACER and Rice Ballroom also organized an Argentine tango class on Thursday evening. Students congregated in Farnsworth Pavilion, encircling tango instructor Indre Rapalaviciute, as she demonstrated the dance in careful steps. Rapalaviciute has previously taught dance courses for special events at Will Rice and Baker Colleges, and last year she performed at HACER’s Ritmo event.  

“I just feel that we need young people to get inspired by the music, and I really want to share the passion,” Rapalaviciute, a Houston Asian American Archive Program Administrator at the Chao Center for Asian Studies, said. “I worked with HACER before, and I said, ‘Okay, this would be perfect.’ People would come, hear the music … and would connect in that way to the cultural heritage of Latin America.” 

HACER Co-President Camila DeAlba said she looks forward to the loteria game nights the most, one of which is co-sponsored by Rice Pride, with prizes like Owala water bottles and AirPods Pro. 

“I have a lot of fun every year at the loteria event, just because loteria is a really big part of my family,” DeAlba, a Jones College senior, said. “It’s always just a fun, competitive environment where we get to nag on each other and stuff. My tía has an actual competitive group. They meet every Friday, and I won $60 one time.” 

Duarte said collaborating with other student organizations and representing intersectionality is a top priority during Latine Heritage Month. 

“It’s really important to uplift the smaller voices in the Latine community, especially Afro-Latines, queer Latines and things like that,” Duarte said. “We try our best to promote [these voices] and to include them.”

Other upcoming events include, but are not limited to, ‘weekly hangouts’ at the MCC, which combine food and music with a space to discuss contemporary community issues, and, of course, Latin Pub. 

“[The weekly hangouts] are from the Latine Heritage [Month planning] Committee, but we went to the last one, and it’s really nice,” Duarte said. “Every week they’re bringing different nonprofits [from] around Houston. Last week they brought T.E.J.A.S, which is an environmental organization in Houston.” 

Turi said she is looking forward to the month’s closing event Oct. 17, which will present Houston activists as keynote speakers. 

“I am most excited about highlighting the work of local Latine Houston activists who are working hard for us,” Turi wrote. “This year I have a representative from Yo Soy AfroLatina to speak about their work for Houston Afro-Latinas along with Daniela Garcia from Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, whose work is so important in the higher education context.”

Students said they cherished Latine Heritage Month as a reminder of home, fount of community bonding and an essential discursive moment. 

“I came from a small border town, and HACER, to me, was just like home away from home,” Duarte said. “I think celebrating and uplifting our culture is something that’s so beautiful, and increasing the visibility of the Latine community at Rice in general … I’ve found that amazing.” 

“I think what’s unique about Rice is that not only do we have social celebrations, but we also have spaces to talk about issues that pertain to the Latine community, and problems happening in the U.S. and all across the world,” DeAlba said. “That’s really important to me.”

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