NIU Latino and Latin American Studies

Fernando de Noronha is a remote tropical archipelago off the northeast coast of Brazil. It’s a protected nature reserve with volcanic landscapes, thriving marine life, vivid blue waters and glorious sandy beaches.

Fernando de Noronha is a breeding ground for turtles, sharks, rays and other marine life, it’s one of the best spots in Brazil for scuba diving and snorkeling.

Fernando de Noronha consists of 21 islands and islets, extending over an area of 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi) Only the eponymous main island is inhabited; it has an area of 18.4 square kilometres (7.1 sq mi) and a population estimated at 3,101 in 2020. While most of the archipelago is relatively low-lying, there are parts reaching more than 100 meters (330 ft) in elevation.

In 1988, 70% of the area of Fernando de Noronha was established as a national marine park. In 2001, UNESCO designated the islands as a World Heritage Site because of their importance as a feeding ground for tuna, sharks, sea turtles, and marine mammals.

https://visitbrasil.com/en/location/fernando-de-noronha-en/

photo credit By Fernandoantoniofotos - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=165883109

June 19 marks the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, finally received word of their emancipation—more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

This year will be the sixth year Juneteenth is observed as a federal holiday. It was established as a federal holiday under President Joe Biden in 2021.

Other Reconstruction amendments also helped solidify freedom for formerly enslaved Black Americans, Elliott said. The 14th and 15th Amendments granted citizenship, due process and equal protection to freed slaves and provided them the opportunity to vote and hold office

Maria Beatriz do Nascimento (12 July 1942 – 28 January 1995), known as Beatriz Nascimento, was an Afro-Brazilian academic and activist. She was an influential participant of the Black Movement of Brazil from its beginnings in the 1960s until her death. Through her academic research, she evaluated the importance of quilombos as autonomous spaces for people of African descent during the colonial period and challenged the political environment and racial policies of the government toward Afro-Brazilians. Her scholarship on the invisibility of black women, and particularly non-Anglo women of the African diaspora had an international impact on research regarding the complexities of the black experience and lack of attention focused on Afro-Latinas in transnational feminism.

Dangerously writing at the height of Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964-1985), Beatriz Nascimento played an integral role in the consolidation of the contemporary Black political movement in Brazil. Although she published only relatively few articles during her life, her ideas are a key part of the Black intellectual tradition in the Americas. As a Black woman and historian, she intervened in the question of how to write Brazilian history, for instance in her vital essay, “For a History of Black People” [Por uma história do homem negro]. Her essays on Brazilian politics and the racist structures of Brazilian society include “The Black woman in the Labor Market” [A mulher negra no Mercado de trabalho], “Towards Racial Consciousness” [Acerca da consciência racial] and “Black people and racism” [“O Negro e racism”]. She was also a prolific poet, and her collaboration on and narration of the film Orî, directed by Raquel Ge**er, is a key part of her legacy. A project of translating and editing of her work in English is underway, with a first collection of essays and poems published in Antipode in 2021 (link below).

https://globalsocialtheory.org/thinkers/beatriz-nascimento/

https://blackpast.org/global-african-history/nascimento-beatriz-1942-1995/

reposted from

NIU University Libraries is headed to DeKalb Pride Fest on Saturday, June 20, from 4 to 7 p.m.!

We are proud to be a vendor at this community celebration of inclusion, connection, and pride. Stop by our table to say hello, learn about library resources, and celebrate with us!

Twenty-two years and 15,000km later: fluke discovery sets new record for humpback whale journey

Whale first photographed off the coast of Brazil in 2003 spotted off north-east Australia in September 2025
By Donna Lu Assistant editor, climate, environment and science Tue 19 May 2026

A humpback whale has made a 15,000km journey from Brazil to Australia, marking what researchers believe is the longest distance ever documented between sightings of an individual humpback.

The whale was first photographed in 2003 at the Abrolhos Bank, Brazil’s main humpback whale nursery, off the coast of the north-eastern state of Bahia. In September 2025, it was spotted again in Hervey Bay off the Queensland coast, representing a travel distance of about 15,100km.

Stephanie Stack, a PhD candidate at Griffith University and co-author of new research published in Royal Society Open Science, said it was “extraordinary to photograph a whale that’s gone this distance – it has never happened before”.

“This particular whale had not been sighted for 22 years, which is really remarkable in and of itself,” Stack said.

The whale was detected in a repository of photos on the platform Happywhale, to which researchers and citizen scientists can contribute whale sightings. The photographs allow individual animals to be identified by their flukes – the underside of their tails.

A whale fluke is “unique to each humpback whale, very similar to the way fingerprints are unique to humans,” Stack said. Flukes are identifiable through their shape, patterns of black and white pigmentation, and distinctive features such as scars.

The Happywhale platform, co-founded by study co-author and Southern Cross University whale biologist Ted Cheeseman, uses an AI algorithm to identify matches, akin to facial recognition in humans.

Another whale was photographed in Hervey Bay in 2007 and seen again in the same area in 2013. Six years later, it was spotted off the coast of São Paulo. The distance between these two breeding grounds is about 14,200km.

🔗https://bit.ly/4veFRs1

Onze lições breves para entender as origens do racismo e como combatê-lo.

Neste pequeno manual, a filósofa e ativista Djamila Ribeiro trata de temas como atualidade do racismo, negritude, branquitude, violência racial, cultura, desejos e afetos. Em onze capítulos curtos e contundentes, a autora apresenta caminhos de reflexão para aqueles que queiram aprofundar sua percepção sobre discriminações racistas estruturais e assumir a responsabilidade pela transformação do estado das coisas.
Já há muitos anos se solidifica a percepção de que o racismo está arraigado em nossa sociedade, criando desigualdades e abismos sociais: trata-se de um sistema de opressão que nega direitos, e não um simples ato de vontade de um sujeito.
Reconhecer as raízes e o impacto do racismo pode ser paralisante. Afinal, como enfrentar um monstro desse tamanho? Djamila Ribeiro argumenta que a prática antirracista é urgente e se dá nas atitudes mais cotidianas. E mais ainda: é uma luta de todas e todos.

Eleven brief lessons to understand the origins of racism and how to combat it. In this short manual, philosopher and activist Djamila Ribeiro deals with topics such as current racism, blackness, whiteness, racial violence, culture, desires and affections, in this first edition of the book Small antiracist manual. In eleven short and forceful chapters, the author presents paths of reflection for those who want to deepen their perception of structural racist discrimination and take responsibility for transforming the state of affairs. For many years now, the perception has been solidified that racism is rooted in our society, creating inequalities and social abysses: it is a system of oppression that denies rights, and not a simple act of a subject's will. Recognizing the roots and impact of racism can be paralyzing. After all, how to face a monster this size? Djamila Ribeiro argues that the Antiracist Practice is urgent and occurs in the most everyday attitudes. What's more, it's a struggle for everyone.

𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐍𝐈𝐔 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲?> 𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐱 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲!
𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻? ask at the Academic Diversity Equity and Inclusion Table.
Community Highlights:
-Building connections with peers, faculty and staff.
-Empowering peer-to-peer learning and participating in peer mentor program.
-Guidance from the Latino Resource Center & Center for Latino and Latin American Studies.
-Taking one LATS class each semester.
-Explore Latinx culture through dynamic learning experiences.
-Get involved in planning culturally themed events.

𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲!
Tuesday June 9; 3:00-4:00p.m.
Monday June 22; 2:00-3:00p.m.
Friday June 26; 3:00-4:00p.m.
For more information visit: go.niu.edu/LatinxLLC ***link in bio

Deadline: September 18, 2026

The Center for Latino and Latin American Studies (CLLAS) at Northern Illinois University invites you to submit proposals for its seventh annual interdisciplinary conference, Treinta y tres, to be held on November 12-13, 2026. This year’s theme is Rhythms of Resistance: Music, Performance, and Cultural Expression and seeks to showcase the transformative power of performance alongside traditional scholarly presentations.

CLLAS invites faculty, graduate students, advanced undergraduate students, and independent artists to explore the ways music, performance, and cultural expression have served as sites of resistance, resilience, identity formation, and social transformation across Latin/Latinx America. Topics may include, but are not limited to, music and social movements, performance as protest, cultural heritage and identity, and community arts.

In keeping with the conference theme, we particularly encourage proposals of live performances, interactive workshops, and other hands-on sessions that engage participants through creative practices and collective experiences.

The deadline to submit proposals (150-300 words) for papers, panels, roundtables, performances, or workshops is September 18, 2026. Proposals should include a title, brief abstract, and contact information for each participant. Please also indicate if you prefer a virtual or in-person session. We will do our best to accommodate preferences, but flexibility on modality will be appreciated.

To submit a proposal, please email: [email protected]

For any questions, please contact: Dr. Christina D. Abreu ([email protected])

Brazil intercepts 108 Cuban immigrants amid growing asylum applications
Last year, for the first time in a decade, Cuban asylum applications exceeded Venezuelan ones in a sign of growing strain on the island.

By Al Jazeera Staff Published On 10 Jun 2026

Brazilian police have intercepted 108 Cuban nationals in a single day as they were being smuggled into the country.

In a statement on Tuesday, officials noted that the incident was part of a growing trend of undocumented immigration from the beleaguered Caribbean island to Brazil.

Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security described the operation as a “rescue”, designed to disrupt human trafficking and irregular migration.

“According to the Federal Highway Police (PRF), this was the largest humanitarian rescue operation ever recorded in a single incident in Roraima,” the ministry said, referring to one of Brazil’s 26 states.

Roraima is situated in the Amazon rainforest, along the border with Guyana and Venezuela. The ministry said that a “large portion” of Cubans are using Guyana as a gateway to enter Brazil.

Some 57.6 percent of the Cuban immigrants living in Brazil are either in Roraima or Amapa, another northern border state.

Cuba has been facing a heightened humanitarian crisis in recent months, as it weathers a de facto fuel blockade imposed by the United States.

Since January, no foreign oil has been allowed to reach the Caribbean island, save for one Russian tanker. The US has threatened steep tariffs against any country that might seek to supply Cuba with oil, a necessary fuel for its fragile energy grid.

The blockade has had wide-ranging repercussions, with public services in many areas grinding to a halt. The country has been gripped by multiple island-wide blackouts, and residents are reporting difficulties accessing basic supplies like food and medication.

🔗https://bit.ly/4amgL2o

reposted from NIU Huskies

NIU Athletics is teaming up with DeKalb County Health Department to spotlight the real impact of va**ng and connect you with free, confidential support to quit.
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