On Monday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. in the Hawkins-Conard Student Center Auditorium, the editors of the anthology Sangre mía / Blood of Mine will share a message of peace in their presentation and reading from their bilingual collection of 53 poets whose verses denounce violence committed against women along the U.S. – Mexico border region of Ciudad Juárez – El Paso, Texas.
The event is presented as part of the College of Arts & Sciences' biennial Symposium Against Indifference which is focusing on "Liberty and Responsibility." Co-sponsored by the Department of Foreign Language, the event is free and open to the public.
The title of Dr. Juan Armando Rojas Joo and Dr. Jennifer Rathbun's anthology Sangre mía / Blood of Mine Poetry of Border Violence, Gender and Identity in Ciudad Juárez pays homage to writer, social activist and media blogger Susana Chavéz, who was best known for coining the phrase “Ni una muerta más” used in the social campaigns against femicide in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
In January of 2011, Chavez fell victim to the very violence she denounced when she was brutally murdered. Her mother laid her to rest with a copy of “Blood of mine”, the only poem Chavez published while alive, whose title she later changed in her blog spot to “Blood of ours”.
Rojas, Professor of Modern Foreign Languages at Ohio Wesleyan University, is a transborder poet, narrator and essayist from Ciudad Juárez, México. In addition to co-editing two anthologies with Rathbun, he has published Sanctuaries Desert Sea / Santuarios desierto mar (2015, 2004), Light / Luz (2013), Vertebral River / Río vertebral (2009, 2002), Ceremonial of Wind / Ceremonial de viento (2006), and Lluvia de lunas (1999). Rojas has participated in many national and international conferences and poetry festivals and his scholarly and literary work has also been published in reviews and anthologies of several countries. Currently his main professional and personal interests are Academic Leadership, Mexican and Border Studies and Poetry. He received his doctorate from the University of Arizona.
Rathbun, Professor of Spanish at Ashland University, also received her doctorate from the University of Arizona . She has translated and published complete poetic works by Mexican authors Alberto Blanco, Minerva Margarita Villarreal, Juan Armando Rojas Joo and Ivan Vergara. In 2018, Artepoética Press published her translation of La llama inclinada/The Inclined Flame by Colombian author Carlos Satizábal. Her poetry, translations and articles on contemporary Latin American literature appear in numerous international reviews and journals.
