The public is invited to join Bemidji State University’s Department of Languages and Indigenous Studies for a presentation by visiting associate professor Dr. Juan Carlos Callirgos regarding the eighteenth century pictorial genre known as “casta paintings”.

Casta paintings, known for their depiction of interracial relationships and the progeny thereof, imply societal elitism with regard to lifestyle, ethnicity, and gender as it relates to a perceived “distinction and respectability” within Spanish American colonial society.

Callirgos will address the function of these peculiar pieces of art as well as reflect on this genre from a twenty-first century perspective which includes the question, “Are these conceptions of gender and race similar to those currently held?”

Dr. Juan Carlos Callirgos, associate professor of anthropology and director of the gender studies program at the Universidad Pontificia of Lima in Perú, has joined the Bemidji State University faculty as a visiting scholar for the 2023-24 academic year.

His stay at BSU is sponsored by the Fulbright program, the United States’ flagship program for international education and cultural exchange. He will teach “Latin American Civilization” and “From Multiculturalism to Critical Interculturality” as part of the department’s programming.

Callirgos has a Ph.D. in Latin American history from the University of Florida. With a background in cultural anthropology and gender studies, his courses focus on anthropology, race and ethnicity, colonial and postcolonial history and gender.

The presentation will be held at Watermark Art Center on February 3, 2024 at 2pm. The event is free and no registration is required. If you need an accommodation for this program/event, please contact the BSU Accessibility Services office (Decker Hall 202) at (218) 755-3883. If an interpreter is needed, two weeks’ notice is requested.