Festival brings Pittsburgh’s Latin American population to the forefront

31st Annual Latin American and Caribbean Festival

William Pitt Union

Saturday,… 31st Annual Latin American and Caribbean Festival

William Pitt Union

Saturday, noon-midnight

Hosted by the Center for Latin American Studies

http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/clas/index.html

For many Pitt students, conceptions of Latin America and the Caribbean are gleaned from movies, television and maybe the odd trip to Taco Bell or Chili’s. But as Pittsburgh’s population of Latinos increases, the Center for Latin American Studies believes a more thorough understanding is in order.

This weekend, CLAS, along with co-sponsors the Latin American Cultural Union and Med Health Services & Pittsburgh Cardiovascular Institute, will sponsor the 31st Annual Latin American and Caribbean Festival on the main floor of the William Pitt Union.

The event, which runs from noon to midnight, will showcase a variety of different Latin American and Caribbean customs and traditions — from music to foods and crafts — alongside a variety of interactive programs, including activities for children and dancing after 9 p.m.

Although the event is held on Pitt’s campus, it isn’t just for students, according to CLAS director Kathleen DeWalt. In the past, community members have composed a large percentage of attendees.

“We believe that it’s the largest celebration of Latin culture in this region on an annual basis,” DeWalt said. “We have estimated the number of people attending over the past couple of years has been more than 2,000, which includes a number of our students, but also a lot of people from the community.”

Aside from being a means for students and community members to learn about Latin American and Caribbean customs, the festival organizers hope the event can serve as a way for CLAS students to hone their expertise in a fun and relaxed atmosphere.

“We have a lot of student volunteers, and this is one of the few times they get to interact with people in the community,” CLAS assistant director for outreach Karen Goldman said. “Spanish majors or Portuguese students get the chance to use those languages in a really more authentic setting.”

In Pittsburgh, such authentic experiences are hard to come by: The city has a strikingly small Latino population. Although the national average is around 15 percent, the percentage of Latinos in Pittsburgh is only around 2 percent, according to Laura Macia, a doctoral candidate in the anthropology department.

Macia has been studying Latin American culture in the United States and believes that Pittsburgh’s numbers provide an interesting foil to other Latin American populations.

“Until recently, a comparatively high number of Latinos that came to Pittsburgh were from places that you don’t typically find elsewhere in such big numbers, like [from] South America,” Macia said. “It was a highly educated population, which is kind of different from what you’d usually think. Most of these were doctors or grad students that came to the region and stayed.”

Macia believes that recently Pittsburgh has seen a surge of more blue-collar, service-oriented immigrants from Central America and Mexico, but the earlier population is still around.

As such, this weekend’s festival will reflect the varying populations of Latin American and Caribbean communities in Pittsburgh. However, unlike other types of presentations throughout the year, this festival is more a reflection of pure Latin American culture than of Latino culture, a more hybridized culture reflecting both Latin and U.S. traditions.

“This is not a Latino festival, so if you come you would see more of a presentation of traditional dance than you would, for example, Cuban hip-hop,” DeWalt said.