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SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2022

VOLUME CLVII, ISSUE 50

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

UNIVERSITY NEWS

The legacy of Professor José Amor y Vázquez

U. holds student listening session on provost search

Amor y Vázquez supported John Carter Brown Library, Latin American studies

Student attendees share concerns, questions with Paxson, search committee members

BY KAITLYN TORRES AND ALEX NADIRASHVILI UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITORS Under the dim lighting of her office, Professor of Hispanic Studies Mercedes Vaquero sits in a cozy chair surrounded by walls of colorful posters. Located in Rochambeau House, home of the Department of French and Francophone Studies, her office boasts a variety of knick-knacks, like a bronze medallion — engraved with Spanish artist Lorenzo Goni’s illustration of a flying witch — which sits atop her desk. Her bookshelf is brimming with the weathered spines of old books, including “El Tapaboca,” written by José Amor y Vázquez Ph.D’57. “I inherited this office from Pepe,” Vaquero said, referring to Amor y Vázquez, late professor emeritus of Hispanic studies. Many of the trinkets around the office once belonged to Amor y Vázquez, including those on

BY EMILY FAULHABER UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

COURTESY OF DOMINGO LEDEZMA

Jose Amor y Vazquez Ph.D ’57 became the second Hispanic professor in the Hispanic Studies department in 1958. Vaquero’s desk. Amor y Vázquez arrived at Brown as a graduate student in 1951, spending the next six years on his Ph.D. In 1958, Amor y Vázquez became a faculty member of the Department of Hispanic Studies — then known as the Department of Spanish and Italian — becoming the second Hispanic professor in its history. Amor y Vázquez remained in the department until his retirement in 1991,

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when he became a professor emeritus. During his tenure at the University, Amor y Vázquez was instrumental in establishing the Latin American Studies Program, which grew into the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. He was also deeply supportive of the John Carter Brown Library, in 2004 establishing the José Amor y Vázquez

SEE PROFESSOR PAGE 6

President Christina Paxson P’19 led a student listening session for the ongoing provost search in Petteruti Lounge Thursday. Students in attendance shared questions, comments and suggestions with Paxson and search committee members Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, associate professor of sociology, and Jennifer Friedman ’92 MD’96. The event was open to undergraduate, graduate and medical school students. Provost Richard Locke P’18 announced in August that he would depart his role as provost at the end of 2022 to become vice president and dean of Apple University, The Herald previously reported. The provost will have responsibil-

ities related to admissions, financial aid, implementing policies, budgeting and “making sure things run smoothly,” Paxson explained. She also said the provost will have a significant role in working with deans and academic leaders to create “diverse and inclusive environments with academic departments and schools.” Paxson and the provost will work “really close on taking the vision of where (the University) is going and actually executing it,” she said. In September, Paxson announced that she would lead a search committee, The Herald previously reported. The committee comprises ten faculty members from “all over the University,” Paxson said. Gonzalez Van Cleve said that the committee is looking for a provost candidate with “exceptional judgment … (who) operates with integrity… (and) broad intellectual interest.” While previous provost search committees have included students, Paxson said, the search committee for Locke’s successor does not. Rath-

SEE PROVOST PAGE 2

ARTS & CULTURE

Protests in Iran advocate Latin American literature over time Faculty offer insight for women’s rights U. community members speak on protests, economic sanctions, hopes for future BY ALEX NADIRASHVILI UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR Mahsa Amini was 22 years old when Tehran’s Guidance Patrol — a dedicated morality police established by the Islamic Republic of Iran that enforces strict dress codes for women — apprehended her for improper dress and drove her to a detention center for re-education. Mahsa Amini was 22 years old when just two hours after her arrest she fell into a coma and was transferred from the police station to a hospital. Two days later, she died from a heart attack, despite her family members’ claims that she did not have any pre-existing conditions. The Iranian government has since released edited footage of Amini at the police station, raising suspicion that she was abused by authorities before going to the hospital. Mahsa Amini was 22 years old when her death sparked protests across Iran

championing women’s rights. “These protests have not only crossed lines in terms of provinces in areas of Iran, but class lines,” said Manijeh Nasrabadi, assistant professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Barnard College, during an event entitled “Iran Protests: Gender, Body Politics and Authoritarianism” co-hosted by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs and the Center for Middle East Studies. “They have brought out the religiously devout people as well as more secular people,” Nasrabadi said. “There’s this deep, embodied sense that the killing of Amini could happen to any woman, any day. And people are just not willing to continue to live like that under daily fear.” Protests began Sept. 17 at Amini’s funeral in Iran’s Kurdistan Province and have since spread across the country and the globe. Led largely by women, these demonstrations have included women going out in public without hijabs, burning their veils and publicly cutting their hair as symbols of defiance against the government’s veiling mandate. Recent estimates suggest that

into Latin American literary traditions, cultural influence

BY AALIA JAGWANI ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Throughout the history of Latin America, writers have challenged notions of a white-dotminated literary canon by leaving an undeniable mark on literature in their home countries and across the world. Take Gabriel García Márquez, for example, who “deeply influenced” the British-Indian Salman Rushdie, or Jorge Luis Borges, who has been regarded as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. But beyond the household names of García Márquez and Borges, a deeper diversity and richness of Latin American literature remains widely underappreciated. Reflecting more earnestly on the role Latin American writers and creatives have played in shaping modern literature contributes greatly to conversations about world literature and sociocultural change across the region at large.

SEE PROTESTS PAGE 3

U. News

Commentary

U. News

Marielle Segarra ’10 starts hosting NPR podcast “Life Kit” Page 4

Gaber ’23: Attitudes on campus threaten Open Curriculum ethos Page 8

Yale professor Cécile Fromont discusses Italian images Page 12

SIMONE STRAUS / HERALD

A Latin American literary tradition Literature has historically allowed Latin American nations to “imagine themselves as national communities,” while also providing “ways in which they resisted or reacted to nationalizing tools by the state,” said Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies Felipe Martínez-Pinzón. Different works of Latin American literature draw from written archives, oral histories and Indigenous and diasporic stories, he added, forming a more fluid form of history. “There’s a long history in Latin America of literary and political culture being quite close in the sense that a lot of literary writers are also political

figures,” said Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Hispanic Studies Esther Whitfield, citing the well-known Peruvian novelist and politician Mario Vargas Llosa as an example. “Most Latin American countries became independent beginning in the early 1800s, and that’s the time when a literary culture started developing as well,” Whitfield added. “The sense of an independent literary culture really went hand in hand with the sense of an independent political culture too.” More recently, since the late 19th century, Latin American literature has also carved out a place for itself “sep-

SEE LITERATURE PAGE 6

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JULIA GROSSMAN ’23 DESIGN EDITOR