A panel discussion featuring Mount Holyoke student Citlalli Caratachea (left), author Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez (center), and scholar Dr. Kristian Contreras (right). The three are seated in armchairs on a stage with a black curtain backdrop. Citlalli is smiling and holding a microphone, wearing a white top and black pants. Prisca is dressed in a colorful plaid outfit, sitting with a relaxed posture. Dr. Contreras, on the right, is wearing a white and black patterned dress, also holding a microphone. A small round table with books and papers is placed in front of them.
Photo by Emma Quirk '26
By Emma Quirk ’26
Photos Editor & Staff Writer
Community members gathered in the Blanchard Hall Great Room for an evening of dancing and conversation to celebrate the beginning of Latine/x Heritage Month on Sept. 16. Latine/x Heritage Month, also referred to as National Hispanic Heritage Month, begins on Sept. 15 and ends on Oct. 15.
This year’s theme at Mount Holyoke is “Iluminando el Camino del Éxito y la Brillantez/Illuminating the Path of Success and Brilliance,” with a goal of highlighting Latine trailblazers and the importance of building community.
“I really like this year’s theme, because it was honoring and shedding light on our community, which I feel like is a big thing we should do here at Mount Holyoke, putting a spotlight on trailblazers, on students, on our elders,” Mikayla Esquilin ’26, program assistant for the Eliana Ortega Cultural Center, said. “It’s important, not only [that] we face things together, but [that we] celebrate things together.”
The Eliana Ortega Cultural Center is the cultural center for Latine students on campus. The Building Manager, Citlalli Caratachea ’25, spoke about what this month means in an interview with Mount Holyoke News. “During this month, I am reminded of the countless contributions of the Latine community [in] every aspect of society: our ways of knowing, healing, our arts, the fight for liberation, our labor and love.”
She also shared that while “one month of celebration will never be enough … this month offers some space for joy and healing and draws us in to intentionally take time to celebrate where we come from, where we are and all the generations that will come.”
The keynote event was titled “‘Tías and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raise Us,’ An Evening with Author Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez and Dr. Kristian Contreras.” It began with a land acknowledgment by Program Coordinator for Residential Community and Belonging Katie Dick. Next, Esquilin welcomed everyone to the space. Organizers played a brief video explaining the significance and history of Latine/x Heritage Month.
Following this video, Sangre del Sol, Mount Holyoke’s only Latine dance team, performed. The group honors “intersectional identities and cultures through Latine folkloric, cultural and popular dances,” as explained in the group’s bio on Instagram. Caratachea is co-captain of the team, and Esquilin is also a member. Throughout the performance, audience members cheered and clapped, and the group ended their performance to tremendous applause.
Kijua Sanders-McMurtry, vice president for equity and inclusion and Posse Scholars liaison, then took the stage to introduce the two guest speakers of the night: activist, theologian and writer Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, and scholar, educator and activist Dr. Kristian Contreras. The two engaged in conversation with one another, discussing Rodríguez’s book “Tías and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raise Us,” as well as their friendship, upbringings, activism and experiences as Latine people in higher education.
Contreras describes the book, as well as Rodríguez’s first book “For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts” as “love letters” to women, Latina women and women of color. They are both ways for Rodríguez to celebrate her community, and to make the feminist theory that was so impactful for her in college accessible.
“I’ve always been adamant that theory is at the center of [my work],” Rodríguez said, stating that the goal is “translating theory and making theory accessible.”
“Tías and Primas” is split into 20 chapters, and each examines a different archetype of women in her life, with an introduction and conclusion on either end. In the conclusion, she writes, “What I hope is that in these pages you felt seen and that things were named for you that might’ve otherwise gone unnamed.”
Listening to Rodríguez and Contreras was emotional for some students. “I really loved our guest speakers … I was crying [for] most of it, it was so beautiful,” Esquilin said in an interview with MHN. “I do feel like everybody was touched in that moment when they were speaking … everything was just so captivating.”
Audience members resonated with their perspectives and the stories they told, both the negative and the positive. “At one point in the panel [Rodríguez] said ‘I will be the first to tell you these institutions do not love you.’ I think I needed to hear that,” Caratachea said. “I felt seen and was able to recognize my own hurt in the pain of what she said.”
On the other hand, Contreras’s pride in her own work was inspiring. It was impactful “when Dr. Kristian Contreras said her work was extraordinary because SHE did it,” Caratachea stated. “Moving through these institutions knowing that our work is valuable and worthy because WE did it was so important for me to hear,” especially when working within an institution “that [had] not been built for people from our communities.”
Another component of the keynote that stood out to Esquilin was the turnout. “I love to see when my community comes together, and especially this year, a lot more people, not only from our community but [from] other communities, came together, which I felt was very beautiful,” Esquilin said. “It's always important to see allyship within different communities.”
The event ended with a Q&A led by Caratachea, who then opened the floor for audience questions. Rodríguez and Contreras were met with enthusiastic applause, and attendees chatted with one another as they left.
Both Esquilin and Caratachea shared the importance of holding joy and fear at the same time and prioritizing community care. “One thing I have learned lately is [that] there’s a time to cry and there’s a time to laugh,” Esquilin said. “Always having that dual moment is so important for your community.”
Caratachea echoed this sentiment. “Being able to experience joy with the Latine community on campus [is important]. With the election coming up, I think fear, anxiety and worry are very present in our community,” she said. “I believe space needs to be made to feel those emotions together … this month is a moment for us to embrace each other and say, ‘We’re in it together and we can celebrate that and each other.’”
Quill Nishi-Leonard ’27 contributed fact-checking.