Ignacio Olmos, Director of the Instituto Cervantes of New York will talk about the Spanish Language in the United States and the cultural policy of Spain worldwide.
Even though data regarding the rapid growth of Spanish in the USA need to be considerably relativized, the fact is that the fear of Spanish not only continuing its progress, but perhaps one day completely displacing English, has become widespread among certain English-speaking sectors. A fear that, while poorly founded, has given way to populist speech that picks up on old “English Only” campaigns that criminalize Hispanic communities. For more than 25 years, the Instituto Cervantes engages all around the world in a cultural policy based, on one hand, on the critical reflection on issues that concern all citizens, and on the other, on the “Ibero-Americanization” of all of its activities and the collaboration with all Hispanic communities. The future of Spanish will largely depend on the idea of unity of Spanish speakers regardless of their countries of origin.
Fecha y lugar / Date and venue: 05/16/2019. 5:30 - 7:00pm
Observatory of the Spanish Language and Hispanic Cultures in the United States
2 Arrow St. 4th floor. Cambridge, MA. 02138
http://cervantesobservatorio.fas.harvard.edu ; info-observatory@fas.harvard.edu
