Marta Moreno Vega
Author, professor, arts administrator, expert in Yoruba culture, education and cultural activist on the African diaspora
Marta Moreno Vega (born January 3, 1952) is the founder of the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute.
Quotes
edit- I think without question there’s room for progress. Probably the question you asked was there with Rita Moreno when she did “West Side Story.” I don’t think the question would have been very much different than the questions being asked of Lin-Manuel. The fact that these events happen 40 or 50 years apart and the conversation is a recurring conversation as to being the first, right, in 2016, speaks to the lack of parity, the lack of equity, the lack of access. Every time there is a small breakthrough, it’s seen as, that’s phenomenal, when it should be part of our lives to have equity, to have inclusion, to have diversity in the workplace – and maybe have equal access to resources.
- On whether Latinos have broken into U.S. culture in Documenting the diaspora with Dr. Marta Moreno Vega” in City & State New York (2016 Mar 15)
- I think you can’t talk about Puerto Rico without saying the colony of Puerto Rico and the colony of the United States. What is the purpose of having a colony? Historically, you own property or you own a colony because you exploit it. That’s not a benevolent relationship and it has not been a benevolent relationship historically, so that the United States still owning a colony in 2016 is horrific. The exploitation by the United States of Puerto Rico is horrific, and therefore the financial condition that Puerto Rico finds itself in is horrific. It’s a direct result of being a colony of the United States.
- On how she views the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States in “Documenting the diaspora with Dr. Marta Moreno Vega” in City & State New York (2016 Mar 15)
- The center has been having cultural exchanges with Cuba since my first trip in 1979. I went when the Russians were still there. (Laughs.) We’ve been having cultural exchanges, bringing musical groups, bringing scholars, writers, exhibitions, so it’s been an ongoing exchange with Cuba, because Cuba has been very influential in the Puerto Rican community, and the Puerto Rican community has been very influential in Cuba.
- “Documenting the diaspora with Dr. Marta Moreno Vega” in City & State New York (2016 Mar 15)
- I think the biggest challenge for people is to understand still that we are result of 500 years of enslavement. And that the process of education has been one to erase us. And it can erase you intellectually and convince you that you don’t exist. So it doesn’t matter the color you are phenotypically, you don’t see yourself. And the challenge is for us to see ourselves as rooted in one experience…
- On the challenges facing a diaspora community in “The boundaries of how we think of the Global African Diaspora: AN INTERVIEW WITH Dr. Marta Moreno Vega” in Africa is a County (2018 Apr 5)
