Maritza Quiñones

I am a Black Latina. I am  originally from Carolina, Puerto Rico, a town with a strong black history and silent stories.  I am a first generation college graduate who came to the U.S. mainland in 1980 (something). My experiences with race, gender, sexuality, and language in Puerto Rico  and later at the university, in Indiana, led me to writing. Silence and secrecy were for ever present in my life, and writing became a way to share my voice. While in college, U.S. Black and Caribbean women writers helped me understand racism, violence, beauty, love, and the power of telling our stories as a form of pedagogy.  As a graduate student, I wrote for an audience, who like me, were not represented in books. From Trigueñita to Afro-Puerto Rican: Intersections of the racialized, gendered, and sexualized body in Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland represents a fusion of my experiences, academic journey, and hope for continued sharing.  I am a proud Salsa music aficionado and devout mother of two young adult Black Latinos.

 

B.S. General Studies,  Indiana University

MIS, Indiana University, School of Library and Information Science

Ph.D. Communication, Institute of Communications Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign