��������

The Center for José Martí Studies Affiliate at UTampa, directed by James López, professor of Spanish, and Denis Rey, associate professor of political science and international studies, is celebrating 10 years of operation.

An event Friday will commemorate the anniversary with a lecture by Kenya Dworkin, professor of Hispanic studies at Carnegie Mellon University, titled, “Rehearsing Rebellion: Cigar Workers, Performance and the Radicalization of José Martí in Tampa.”

Also Friday, the Center announced that Adolfo Lagomasino, assistant teaching professor of communication, is joining as co-director.

José Martí is an icon of Cuban independence and famously rallied the Cuban diaspora in Florida, particularly the cigar workers in Key West and Ybor City, to unite for the cause.��These intensely patriotic working-class communities played a critical role in the anti-colonial struggle against Spain, while formulating notions of identity and self-determination in the Jim Crow South. The Center is dedicated to unearthing, preserving and studying this fascinating history, the lessons from which reverberate to this day.

The Center has been the recipient of two��National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute grants, a Florida Humanities grant and numerous internal grants from UTampa, totaling nearly $500,000.

“We were able to bring people from all over the United States and Puerto Rico here to learn the fascinating history of Tampa in the late 19th century, and its historical importance, both domestically and internationally,” López said.

From those Summer Institutes, there are now 59 professors in disciplines ranging from history to political science to literature across the U.S. and Puerto Rico teaching the early history of Tampa to both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as publishing original scholarship and presenting at academic conferences.

“That influence I think is our greatest accomplishment,” López added.

López said that the Center has contributed to the University becoming internationally known as a place to study early Cuban history,��José Martí,��and the immigrant history of the United States.