Dr. Lorgia García Peña and Dr. Lourdes Torres Win LASA Awards

The Latin American Studies Association (LASA) announced its list of awardees for this year’s Latin American Studies Association Annual Meeting. Dominican Studies Association (DSA) members Dr. Lorgia García Peña and Dr. Lourdes Torres are among this year’s awardees. Both Dr. García Peña and Dr. Torres will be presented with the 2021 Frank Bonilla Public Intellectual Award.

The Frank Bonilla Public Intellectual Award is named after Dr. Frank Bonilla (1915-2010), Thomas Hunter Professor Emeritus at Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY). Dr. Bonilla served as founding director of the Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños at CUNY and made several contributions to the scholarly world.

As per LASA, “The awards will be presented at the Latino Studies Section Business Meeting to be held virtually on Wednesday May 26th at 11 am during the upcoming Latin American Studies Association Annual Meeting.”

List of Awardees

LSS Dissertation Award

“Constructing Mexican Atlanta, 1980-2016”

Iliana Yamileth Rodriguez

Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of History

Emory University

LSS Dissertation Award - Honorable Mention

“Uttering Sonic Dominicanidad: Women and Queer Performers of Música Urbana”

Verónica Dávila Ellis

Postdoctoral Fellow in Latin American and Latino/a Studies

Smith College

Outstanding Book Award

Abstract Barrios: The Crises of Latinx Visibility in Cities. Duke University Press, 2020

Johana Londoño

Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
Dept. of Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies

University at Albany, SUNY

Outstanding Book Award - Honorable Mentions

Archiving an Epidemic: Art, AIDS, and the Queer Chicanx Avant-Garde. NYU Press, 2019

Robb Hernández

Associate Professor of English

Fordham University

Policing Life and Death: Race, Violence and Resistance in Puerto Rico. University of California Press, 2019.

Marisol LeBrón

Assistant Professor
Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at the University of Texas at Austin

University of Texas, Austin

and

Outstanding Article Award

"Latinos in Kansas City: The Political Economy of Placemaking". Journal of Planning Literature 22 (3): 207–28.

To the co-authors:

Clara E Irazábal Zurita
Director, Urban Studies and Planning Program
Professor, Urban Studies and Planning Program
Affiliate, National Center for Smart Growth
School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
University of Maryland

and

Alejandro N. Garay-Huaman
Department of Economics
University of Missouri–Kansas City,

2021 Frank Bonilla Public Intellectual Award

Dr. Lourdes Torres,

Vincent de Paul Professor of Latin American Studies and Latino Studies at DePaul University

and

Dr. Lorgia García Peña
Roy G. Clouse Associate Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of History and Literature, Harvard University