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On Thursday, Latinx student organization La Casa held the La Unión cultural fair in the Diag. About 20 students from Latinx backgrounds tabled at the event, sharing posters and food related to their cultures and countries of origin. The event was held in collaboration with the University of Michigan’s Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs as part of their Latine Heritage Month celebrations.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, LSA junior Briana Gonzalez, La Casa’s director of culture and diversity, said she organized this year’s event to highlight the many distinctive Latinx cultures at the University.
“The majority of people in the Latino community on campus are Mexican, and I’m Peruvian and Cuban,” Gonzalez said. “I wanted people to get out of their shells and experience other cultures and other Latino countries. Growing up in Miami, I was always exposed to a diversity of Latino countries, so I wanted people to have that experience as well.”
Each table at the event was staffed by students who presented posters about the history and culture of their countries and shared food native to those countries. Gonzalez said she invited students who she knew were of certain nationalities or belonged to cultural student organizations. Gonzalez also introduced a new component to the event this year, as event attendees received bags to collect candy from each Latin American region, similar to trick-or-treating.
Gonzalez said that, despite differences, Latinx people on campus often connect through elements of their shared culture.
“Even if we’re not all from the same Latino country, Latino people as a whole share a lot of customs and culture,” Gonzalez said. “It’s good to have someone that looks like you, especially in a predominantly white institution like the University of Michigan.”
LSA junior Khyara Roble helped run La Unión’s table representing El Salvador. In an interview with The Daily, Roble said people with Latin American heritage are often generalized but actually have very diverse backgrounds.
“I feel like a lot of the time, people seem to generalize us all into one category of ‘Mexicans’ or ‘Latinos,’ but we’re not,” Roble said. “We all have very distinct cultures, traditions, language. Even though we all speak Spanish, we all speak very different forms of Spanish. We have different foods, different customs, totally different identities.”
Roble said she had difficulties connecting with other people with Salvadoran heritage in Ann Arbor, and hopes this event will help fellow Salvadorans feel recognized.
“I have met two (Salvadorans) probably the entire time that I’ve lived here for the past three years,” Roble said. “I came to this event representing my people, being like, ‘Hey, we’re here. There’s very few of us, but we’re still here.’ And hopefully, if somebody is Salvadoran, seeing me will make them feel like they belong more at the University, and that they have a place here.”
In an interview with The Daily, LSA senior Manuel Maya said he organized the first La Unión event in 2022 as La Casa community director, alongside LSA senior Vanessa Gonzalez. Maya said his rationale for developing the event was to include a broader range of perspectives from the Latinx community.
“A lot of the Latino diaspora here is Mexican American and/or Mexican,” Maya said. “That’s not, per se, a bad thing, because we both are Mexican Americans. However, when the narrative is only dominated and controlled by Mexican Americans and by Mexican cultural ideas and beliefs, we can see it harming our diaspora.”
Maya said he is grateful to see other students carrying on the spirit of La Unión in new ways.
“It’s been really cool to have a legacy of an event carry on over the last three years here, not really being involved in the process of planning for the last two years and letting other people take control of what La Unión means to them,” Maya said. “It just fills me with joy because it reminds me every year that there’s a community here.”
Daily Staff Reporter Thomas Gala-Garza can be reached at tmgala@umich.edu.
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