Dr. Grisel Pujalá-Soto.  B.A. Marymount College and Hunter College; M.A. and Ph.D, University of Miami
Lecturer in Spanish, Latin American  and U.S. Latino   Literatures.

Tel.: (246) 417-4414
Fax: (246) 424-0634
E-mail: grisel.pujala-Soto (at) cavehill.uwi.edu

Brief Bio

Grisel Pujalá was born in Cuba. She studied at Marymount College  and Hunter College, CUNY in New York City, obtaining her doctoral degree from the University of Miami. Dr. Pujalá has taught Philosophy, Hispanic Intellectual History, Spanish, Latin American and U.S. Latino literatures. She brings to the classes her teaching experience in various prestigious institutions: Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, State University of New York at Buffalo, Miami Dade College and Arizona State Univerisity. For many years, she was the literary advisor for the International Hispanic Theater Festivals in the U.S. 

Research Interests

Visual History of the Cuban Diaspora, Cuban literature and culture, Spanish philosophy, Hispanic intellectual history, and U.S, Latina writers.

CAFÉ: The Journeys of Writers and Artists of the Cuban Diaspora

Grisel Pujalá-Soto is the Director of the project tilted CAFÉ : The Journeys of Writers and Artists of the Cuban Diaspora.¨  This project was originally conceived as an alternative space to delve into the Art of the Cuban Diaspora, focusing on the cultural meaning of displacement. 

Its objective is to explore how writers, dancers, visual or media artists deal with issues of disarticulation of their identities, how they build meaningful dialogues to handle new surroundings, and finally how they use their art to weave together cultural elements from both their original and their host countries.

The word ¨café¨ is used here as a poetic metaphor for an essential component of the Cuban identity: its ethnic and cultural synthesis. Artists may specifically address this central trope in their work, or they may examine the Cuban Diaspora imaginary, or look into the transnational notions of “space” versus “location” and how these factors modify and transform the writer or artist concept of “home”. 

CAFÉ  today  is a cultural event that features scholarly lectures, poetry readings, curator's talk, panel discussions, films, documentaries and multimedia itinerant exhibitions that highlight a wide range of artists working with installation, performance art, photography and sculpture. Participating artists are Cuban diasporic, as well as "heritage artists", (artists born and raised in the Diaspora).

A book on the CAFÉ  project titled Cuban Artists Across the Diaspora has just been released by The University of Texas Press (2011) published by Dr. Andrea Herrera, Director of the Ethnic Studies program of the University of Colorado  Co Springs. (See The New York Times:  http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/bookshelf-6/).

Related Links:

• CAFÉ Blogspot: http://www.cafeartistjourneys.blogspot.com/ - Explore how writers, dancers and visual artists deal with issues of displacement in their work, and how they weave together elements from their original and their host cultures.
  
  
• Cuba Transnational: http://www.cubatransnational.blogspot.com/ - A site for anyone who has ever been displaced. Come and share your stories of displacement, and your idea of home, belonging, and non-belonging.

Select Publications 

Dr. Pujala has published two books on the poetry of the Cuban Diaspora:  Cuatro ensayos sobre poesía cubana.  and Siete ensayos sobre la poesía de Amando Fernández.   She has  published in the following academic journals, among others: Revista hispánica moderna, (Columbia University);  Nueva revista de filología hispánica, (Colegio de Mexico); Anales de la literatura española, (Universidad de Alicante, Spain); and Perspectivas docentes, (Universidad de Tabasco, Mexico.  She has a volume accepted for publication  by Edwin Mellen Press in Great Britain titled  Spanish Postmodern Thought Revisits the Conquest of America.