Oxford celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month sans UniDiversity Festival; Miami to host cultural dance and music event

For the past 20 years, September in Oxford has been marked by vibrant celebrations of Hispanic food, dance and culture with the annual Latin American and Caribbean UniDiversity Festival. This year that is no longer the case.

Budgetary and staff cuts at Miami University have led to the cancellation of the festival, leaving many residents and faculty members disappointed.

Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, is a national celebration recognizing the histories and cultures of Americans with roots in Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

Last school year, Miami restructured and cut a number of its humanities majors due to low enrollment, including the Latin American Studies (LAS) major. While the university continues to offer a minor, the department has downsized, and the community cultural programming provided by the Center for American and World Cultures has been reduced as well.

While the festival is no longer taking place, the Office of Transformational and Inclusive Excellence is hosting a “Celebrating Culture Through Music and Dance” event featuring Latin American dance performances and lessons from the Salsa Center. People of all skill levels can learn the samba, bachata and salsa dance styles.

The event will take place on Sept. 13 in the Heritage Ballroom at the Shriver Center.

Reflecting on the loss of UniDiversity

“I think it was an important tradition of Miami,” said senior lecturer and department lead of LAS, Juan Carlos Albarrán. “It was a great bridge between the university and the community, between the students and the people in town.”

Albarrán incorporated the festival into the curriculum of his Intro to Latin American Studies class in the past and even had his students volunteer for the event.

“Let’s say we are understanding aspects or cultural parts of Latin America, so they go actively engage in tasting the food and seeing some of the events,” Albarrán said.

Associate professor of history and LAS Elena Jackson Albarrán said she misses the visibility the festival brought and the opportunity to educate through that event.

“It’s not just one culture that’s associated with Fiesta, dancing and certain types of food, but that there’s real political, economic, cultural issues that are worth studying and diverse populations [to be] represented,” Elena Albarrán said.

Elena Albarrán said she thinks the cancellation of UniDiversity and other events is connected to Miami’s curricular restructuring and that the lack of events will create a big gap in Oxford's cultural programming.

“The way the university has disinvested from programs that educate Miami students and the community at large about the diversity and contributions of the Hispanic or Latino population is going to have longer-term effects on general ignorance and lack of understanding or appreciation of the countries with which we share our hemisphere,” Elena Albarrán said.

Despite the lack of a UniDiversity Festival this year, Oxford is still making an effort to recognize Hispanic Heritage Month. At a city council meeting on Sept. 3, Oxford Mayor Bill Snavely read a proclamation formally recognizing the heritage month within the city. Cristina Alcalde, Miami’s vice president for transformational and inclusive excellence, encouraged Oxford residents to attend the cultural dance event on Sept. 13.

“This is really important for everyone at Miami … but also everyone in Oxford, whether you identify as Latino, Latinx or not,” Alcalde said at the meeting.

Even without the UniDiversity Festival, Juan Carlos Albarrán said students can voice their support and look for other ways to engage with Hispanic culture.

“I think it’s a loss to Miami that we’re losing the UniDiversity festival,” Juan Carlos Albarrán said, “if it cannot be replaced with something meaningful or impactful, at least at that level.”