The year 2020 will go down in history as the one that changed our lives. Everyone suffered during the pandemic crisis, many lives were lost, some too close to us, and families experienced chronic sadness in their shared struggle. People immersed in their own sorrows and sometimes forgot about the loved ones besides them, especially the young ones. De Aquí y de Allá: The Twins is a testament on focusing on the good around us in the face of adversity. Julián and Ana Marie, the beloved Venezuelan- Puerto Rican twins of Arepas y Piononos, turned four years old in the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The illusion of having a birthday party never vanished because their mom promised them two surprises despite social distancing guidelines. The book is written in both English and Spanish for beginner readers and showcases how creativity in challenging times can bring family and friends together no matter how far they live. The book’s colorful illustrations are conversation starters about places in the world, its flags, how to overcome the distance imposed by a pandemic and share the love.

The format of this book enables the student in spanish to understand being bilingual on the part of the communicative process; that of being bicultural is an indispensable element. The text tunes the learner, at the advanced level, by introducing the communicative performance taking into consideration the spanish dialectal variations into some cultural aspects of the traditional and contemporary systems of latin american societies. The book applies a practical approach to learning spanish as a foreign language by focusing on most latin american countries culture with specific topics: family, social stratification, politics, religion, the position of women, transportation problems, drugs and trafficking, traditional healers, the concept of time, the social stratification of language, the life of some indigenous cultures in the high Andes and in the deep jungles, students visiting a foreign country, in addition to some other topics of interest. Each chapter starts with an ethnographic description of some cultural aspects of a geographical area and its people. Some cultural aspects are suggested to participate on discussions related to the chapter. The student is asked to translate simple sentences into spanish. The verbal interaction among the people in the described area is reflected in the dialectal variations collected, which leads to questions to measure the students comprehension level. Cultural notes are explained at the end of each chapter.

In this book, the authors propose a multilayered reading of contemporary transnational cultural manifestations in which it is possible to recognize challenges and cultural strategies that transnational Mexican communities conceive in order to claim cultural, political and social agency.

Aquí and Allá: Transnational Dominican Theater and Performance explores how contemporary Dominican theater and performance artists portray a sense of collective belonging shaped by the transnational connections between the homeland and the diaspora. Through close readings of plays and performances produced in the Dominican Republic and the United States in dialogue with theories of theater and performance, migration theory, and literary, cultural, and historical studies, this book situates theater and performance in debates on Dominican history and culture and the impact of migration on the changing character of national identity from end of the twentieth century to the present. By addressing local audiences of island-based and diasporic Dominicans with stories of characters who are shaped by both places, the theatrical performances analyzed in this book operate as a democratizing force on conceptions of Dominican identity and challenge assumptions about citizenship and national belonging. Likewise, the artists’ bi-national perspectives and work methods challenge the paradigms that have traditionally framed Latin(o) American theater studies.