As the Spanish-speaking population at the University continues to grow, a group of students have come together to publish the first Spanish-language magazine in Duke's history.
A collection of poetry, stories, politics, opinion essays and travel chronicles, Fusi--n was begun by the Latin American Graduate Student Association as an outlet for students to express themselves in their native language.
"The Latin American community at Duke needs to start getting involved with the University life beyond the individual level, and become more active as a whole," said Mario Vallejo-Marin, editor of the magazine and a graduate student in biology. "Spaces for expression like Fusi--n are intended to offer the first step towards this goal."
Vallejo-Marin stressed that anyone at the University, including undergraduates, can submit to the magazine.
It took Vallejo-Marin and his editorial committee's four members almost three months to produce the first issue, which came out April 5, but they hope to produce three to four issues next year.
Franco Gamboa-Rocabado, a graduate student in public policy, contributed an article that described the current socioeconomic situation in Latin America and the resources that he said have been wasted in attempts to modernize. Gamboa-Rocabado said Fusi--n has provided him the opportunity to voice his opinion on issues that face the Latin American community and become more involved with other concerned students.
"I definitely do not agree with many Latin Americans who are at Duke only to find out the best way to get a job and stay with a green card or to transmit the wrong idea regarding that Latin America is just salsa, cumbia or merengue, tarnishing deeper problems and worries," Gamboa-Rocabado wrote in an e-mail.
Vallejo-Marin said the magazine is directed at the 70 students in the Latin American Graduate Student Association and the 50 Latin American students in the Fuqua School of Business, as well as the other Spanish speakers at the University.
John French, director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, said the magazine reflects the great intellectual initiative of graduate students.
"Students involved with Caribbean and Latin American studies and the consortium with UNC, particularly graduate students, have always been the core of what happens intellectually," said French, also an associate professor of history.
French noted that although the center has ties to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke graduate students were the first to create a magazine oriented toward the Spanish-speaking community.
The magazine will be distributed to Latin American students via campus mail. Copies of Fusi--n can also be picked up at the International House, at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and by sending an e-mail to fusionduke@yahoo.com.
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