Lourdes Perez to speak, perform at UT graduate student research conference

February 20, 2001

AUSTIN, Texas—A performance and talk by recording artist Lourdes Perez and Annette D'Armata will highlight "Out of Bounds: The Fifth Annual Graduate Student Conference on Race, Identity and Representation" on March 2-3. The event will take place in the LBJ Room (CMA 5.160) at The University of Texas at Austin.

Perez — a singer, songwriter, musician and social activist — will deliver the keynote address, "Out of Bounds in Vieques: Resisting the U.S. Presence in Puerto Rico," and perform along with D'Armata on Saturday, March 3, at 12:30 p.m.

Perez, a popular performer in her native Puerto Rico and in Austin, has made her mark with a "unique and powerful voice" and the forcefulness of her social justice messages. In addition to her own recordings, Perez has written and performed music for film and theater.

The conference will open on Friday, March 2, at 6:30 p.m. with a panel on the politics of music. Also on Friday, Joni Jones, professor of communication studies, will perform a segment of her acclaimed one-woman show, "sista docta," followed by a reception.

On Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the conference will continue with panels on visual representation, Latino-American identity and stereotypes, global communication, and studies of race and gender identities in popular culture.

The conference, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the College of Communication. For more information, contact Bob Jensen at 471-1990 or e-mail: rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu For more information about Lourdes Perez, go to www.lourdesperez.com/ or www.rootsworld.com/rw/feature/perez.html