Smithsonian Latino Center (SLC)

Eduardo Díaz, Director

The Smithsonian Latino Center (SLC) is a pan-institutional incubator, and research and outreach center of the Smithsonian, focused on ensuring Latino presence at the Institution through the presentation, preservation and celebration of Latino contributions in the arts, culture, humanities and sciences, and management of leadership and professional development programs, and the Latino Virtual Museum.

The Center:

In collaboration with Smithsonian units and affiliated organizations across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and through its management of the Latino Initiatives Pool, the SLC provides funding, technical assistance and management services in support of the following:

• The Latino Curatorial Initiative, a multi-year program placing Latino curators in Smithsonian museums, research centers and its traveling exhibition service.

• Latino research, exhibitions, public and educational programs, web content, publications, and collections and archives in collaboration with Smithsonian units and its affiliated organizations across the Unites States and Puerto Rico.

• Young Ambassadors Program, a leadership development program for graduating high school, college-bound Latinos.

• Latino Museum Studies Program, a professional development program for emerging Latino scholars and museum professionals.

• Latino Virtual Museum, a trans-media hub that highlights Smithsonian Latino digital collections and exhibitions, and provides educational resources.

Programs and Research Projects

The Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum (LVM) is a trans-media hub for 2-D and 3-D collections, online games, simulations, virtual worlds and innovative programs in real-time, STEAM curriculum based bilingual eProducts and trainings, highlighting Smithsonian art and science collections. This virtual museum highlights the vast and rich collections, research and scholarship, exhibitions, and educational activities of the Smithsonian Institution as they relate to U.S. Latinos. The LVM offers interactive trans-media storytelling (telling a single story through multiple formats) with online games, virtual worlds and digitized collections. The LVM offers teachers and students engaging tools that connect STEAM learning to Latino cultural heritage. SLC has continued groundbreaking research, development and assessment of ‘real-time 3D collaborative spaces’ for immersive learning that has served as a primary test bed and working virtual museum model. During the 2015 fiscal year, various aspects of LVM are being assessed through curriculum based bilingual eProducts, teacher training workshops, audience studies, and an environmental scan of product and outreach.

The Caribbean Indigenous Legacies Project is a collaborative research effort by the Smithsonian Latino Center, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the National Museum of Natural History. Supported by a network of partnering institutions and scholars, it focuses on documenting Indigenous communities in the Caribbean, and exploring the cultural and historical legacies of Native peoples across the region. Research areas include agricultural traditions, spirituality and medicine, family and community histories, maroon communities, material cultural, and heritage recovery. A bilingual exhibition featuring iconic artifacts from the Smithsonian’s archeological and ethnographic collections is under development for 2017.

The Latino DC History Project is a multi-year initiative to document, preserve, and share the stories of Latino/as in the institutions, culture, economy and daily life of the nation’s capital. This project has roots in prior Smithsonian research on Washington’s local Latino community conducted by the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the Anacostia Community Museum, and is also connected to an ongoing Smithsonian research initiative on immigration and migration. The Latino DC History Project is a collaborative effort that is developing a series of neighborhood-based exhibits, displays, and place markers which connects local stories with national politics and global history. The project’s public program series began in 2010, and has engaged artists, scholars, youth, educators, and families in documenting and interpreting our local stories.

“Somos Americanos: The Visual History of Latino USA” is the working title of a bilingual traveling exhibition proposal which introduces visitors to key moments and concepts in Latino history. Interwoven into the standard timeline for U.S. history, this multimedia exhibit shows Latino/as as historical actors and provides a framework for integrating the complex histories of diverse Latino communities.

SI RESEARCH STAFF:

CARRILLO, Melissa, New Media/Creative Director. B.A.(1989), M.A.I.S (1999) University of Texas at El Paso; B.F.A (1991), Art Center College of Design. Research specialties: Immersive Education, Emerging Digital Arts, interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis on Cultural Studies.

AFFILIATED RESEARCH STAFF:

BARREIRO, Jose Eugene, Assistant Director for Research. B.A. (1988) University of Minnesota; M.A. (1990) State University of New York; Ph.D. (1992) State University of New York, Buffalo. Research specialties: Indigenous Caribbean Legacies; Indigenous Culture-based development; American Indian Contemporary Issues.

CADAVAL, Olivia, Folklorist/Curator. B.A. (1972), Ph.D. (1989) George Washington University. Research specialties: Latin American and Latino studies, American cultural history, material culture, folklife.

CURTIS, Ariana, Curator. B.A.(2002) Duke University; M.A.(2009) American University; Ph.D.(2012) American University. Research specialties: Racial constructions in the U.S.; Latino urban experiences; blackness in the U.S., Latin America, and the Caribbean; African Diaspora; urban immigration and migration; neoliberalism and globalization.

HERRERA, Olga U., B.F.A. (1985), M.A. Art History (1989), Louisiana State University. Ph.D. Cultural Studies in Latin American Art and Theories of Globalization (2014), George Mason University. Research Specialties: Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art; Latino and Latin American artists in the U.S.; Globalization and Hemispheric Transnational Art Networks; Digital Humanities and Virtual Museums; Art, Politics, Culture.

HOMIAK, John P., Head, Anthropology Collections & Archives Program. B.A. (1969) Franklin and Marshall College; M.A. (1975) U.S. International University; Ph.D. (1985) Brandeis University. Research specialties: Caribbean ethnology, diaspora studies, Rastafari, visual anthropology and ethnographic film.

REINER, Alyssa, Attorney-Advisor. B.A. (1994) Cornell University, J.D. (1998) Georgetown University Law Center. Specialties: copyright law, transactions.

SALAZAR-PORZIO, Margaret, Curator. B.A., California State University of Los Angeles (2005), M.A. (2008) and Ph.D. (2010), University of Southern California, American Studies and Ethnicity. Research specialties: U.S. Chicana/o and Latina/o History; Immigration and transnational history of the U.S.-Mexico Border Region and the Pacific Rim; Asian American Studies; Comparative Race Relations in the 20th-Century U.S.; Media Studies with an emphasis on Television, Photography, and New Media; Visual and Material Culture of Latinas/os in the U.S.; Civil Rights and Human Rights Law; Women’s and Gender Studies.

VIDAURRI, Cynthia L., Folklorist. B.A. (1979) University of Texas; M.A. (1991) Texas A&I University. Research specialties: Cuban, Mexican, and Mexican-American/Chicano folklore; U.S. – Mexico borderlands; traditional medicine, religious folk art; ranching culture;folk religion; cultural/heritage tourism.