November 1, 2005
Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417

AMHERST, Mass.—Amherst College will join with Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Hampshire College and the University of Massachusetts in hosting a colloquium on “The Multiple Caribbean” on Saturday, Nov. 5. The event will begin at 8:30 a.m. in Room 165-169 of the Campus Center at the University of Massachusetts and move to the Pruyne Lecture Hall (Fayerweather 115) at Amherst College at 2:30 p.m. A reception will follow at 7 p.m. in the Cape Cod Lounge at the University of Massachusetts. These events are free and open to the public.

The colloquium, a memorial tribute to acclaimed writer and Amherst College Spanish professor Antonio Benítez-Rojo, who died last year, will feature several of the leading thinkers on the Caribbean and Caribbean studies. Presenting will be Rhonda Cobham-Sander of Amherst College, George Lamming of Brown University, Yolanda Martínez San Miguel of the University of Pennsylvania and others. The morning session will focus on discussions of the Caribbean and its varied nature while the afternoon session will specifically remember Benítez-Rojo and his manifold contributions to the study and creation of Caribbean literature. The Robert Frost Memorial Library at Amherst College will also feature a biographical display of Benítez Rojo's objects and works all day in the Archives and Special Collections.

This colloquium is sponsored by Amherst, Hampshire and Mount Holyoke Colleges; the Latin American Studies Program at Smith College; and the Department of Spanish, the Dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, the Dean of the Graduate School, the Vice Provost for Research, the Council for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies, the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures and the Spanish and Portuguese Program at the University of Massachusetts.

###