Lecture on U.S. Hispanics and the American Civil War

Marymount University’s Bisson Lecture in the Humanities will feature Dr. Jesse Aleman, professor of Literature and coordinator of American Literary Studies at the University
of New Mexico. His topic is Wars of Rebellion: US Hispanic Writings and their American Civil Wars. This event is free and open to the public.

Dr. Aleman will discuss the life and writings of nineteenth-century U.S. Hispanics who participated in the Civil War, focusing on the way the war transformed Hispanic participants. They underwent their own "civil wars" of identity conflict in terms of race, religion, and the feeling of transnational belonging across US, Mexico, Cuba, and the Confederacy.

Dr. Aleman's work focuses on the literary histories and national identities that were forged in the U.S. Southwest as a result of the 1846-1848 U.S.-Mexico War. He is
currently working on Wars of Rebellion, a book that places 19th century Hispanic writings about the U.S. Civil War within a context that considers related wars of rebellion in Cuba and Mexico.