Presented by the Latin American and Latino Studies Program

Brown Bag Lunch Discussion:

The Venezuelan migration and refugee crisis, also known as the “Venezuelan diaspora,” has impacted politics, economics, security, and human rights globally, including the United States. The Venezuelan diaspora is the largest exodus in Latin America’s recent history and one of the largest displacement crises in the world, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. The discussion explores how various fictional and semifictional narratives represent the construction of the memory and national identity of Venezuelan migrants from dissimilar social classes and races.

Prof. Maggi is an Assistant Professor of Spanish and Hispanic Studies at the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Lehigh University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Spanish Literature and Cultural Studies at Georgetown University in 2024. His research examines the intersections of mass migration, collective memory, trauma, nostalgia, national identity, and inequities of race and gender in literature and film from Venezuela and other Latin American countries in the 20th and 21st centuries.

REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED