Nuestras Voces: Celebrating Amherst's Bilingual Voices

Last Wednesday, students in the class Finding Your Bilingual Voice, taught by Senior Lecturer in Spanish Carmen Granda, and members of Amherst’s Spanish-speaking community gathered to share poetry, short essays, stories, and documentaries at Nuestras Voces. The annual event, now in its fourth year, aims to “showcase original works primarily related to bilingual identity.”

Since its inception, Nuestras Voces has been an outlet for students to share their experiences regarding Latine and Hispanic identity. “Bilingual and bicultural identities are often underrepresented in educational spaces,” Granda said. “Through both speaking opportunities and their work in the journal, ‘Nuestras Voces,’ I hope to create spaces where [students] can claim their voices with confidence and celebrate the richness of who they are.”

During the two hour event, students shared their stories through a multitude of mediums. Piero Campos ’25 recited a heartfelt poem dedicated to his mother over an instrumental version of “Amor Eterno.” Armando Garcia ’25 shared a poem on remembering one’s ancestors in relation to the story of their identity. Jorge Baruch Jiménez Escobar, a Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant from Mexico, relayed a tribute in memory of his father, with a sincere thanks for the conversations, music, and “nachos con extra queso” that they shared together.

Student Sarah Sobh ’25 shared an essay titled “Claro Que Sí,” which detailed their previous high school experiences in a predominantly white institution along with how their Hispanic identity relates to the broader Amherst community. They shared the frustration felt when faced with preconceptions based on their skin color, claiming that “they would look at me with a mix of wonder and disapproval … As if me having white skin and speaking Spanish was something rare, instead of realizing that Hispanics literally look like everything.”

“The ways in which my white peers don’t afford me my Hispanicness and my complex racial identity has been really damaging,” Sobh explained.

The latter half of Sobh’s essay sees them proudly proclaiming their identity. “I want to be every part of me, not just the ones you understand … I want to be bilingual! I want to be Hispanic! I want to be Puertoriqueña and Hondureña aka Boricua and Catracha,” said Sobh. “The next time someone asks me, ‘You’re really Hispanic?’ I’m just gonna say, ‘¡Claro que sí!’”

This year, Nuestras Voces also included an open mic portion, where all students and faculty in attendance were invited to share their own pieces on Latine identity. Attendees shared their works in various formats. One student showed a documentary short film featuring interviews with campus group La Causa on the insecurities of the Hispanic and Latine community during the 2024 election night. Others came to the microphone with recently written poems, stories, and commentaries on the importance of friends, family, and community to their bilingual identities.

Granda shared that an academic intern student, Briana Cajamarca ’25, introduced the open mic idea so that students “wouldn’t feel pressure leading up to the event.” Including the new section, in Granda’s mind, helped “remind us that building community means making space for every voice.”

As with previous years, this Nuestras Voces was accompanied by a complimentary journal of the same title, highlighting various poetry and nonfiction works from students in Finding Your Bilingual Voice. This year’s publication included a new section dedicated to highlighting graduating seniors and alumni, sharing the students’ experiences in the class and exploring their bilingual identities. In the editor’s note, Granda wrote, “These are just a small section of Latine voices on Amherst’s campus. I hope that they inspire more Latine readers to share their own stories in future publications.”

At the end of the event, Granda continued her tradition of inviting her students up to the stage to help read the final poem. Afterwards, Granda called up the graduating seniors of the class for a round of applause, gifting each of them a tote bag humorously lined with the text “I’m Bilingual[;] I haha & jaja.”  

During her closing speech, Granda noted that the first cohort of students to participate in 2022’s debut Nuestras Voces are now graduating. Granda reiterated the hope that “the next classes will continue to build on what we started: celebrating Hispanic and Latine voices with authenticity, creativity, and pride … and continue creating spaces where bilingualism, biculturalism, and diverse identities are recognized as sources of strength on campus.”

Sobh, one of this year’s graduating seniors, had some final advice to give prospective students of the bilingual community: “Just talk to each other … Share that you also feel a certain way — you also saw Caso Cerrado growing up, you also put Vicks on your chest when you have a cold … that births a lot of creativity and energy.”