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2022 Latinx/e Mental Health and Social Justice Symposium
Dr. Roberto Swazo
Dr. Swazo will explore the dimensions of memory such as individual, collective, cultural, linguistic, national, ethnic, and religious among others. He will address the power of language and how it is used to shape the realities of Latinx populations in the U.S.A., and how Latinx populations have lost their ability to use language (Spanish, English, and others) constructively to reshape their realities through ideals, symbolisms, and deep self-reflection. Dr. Swazo will launch a challenge to the Latinx audience to reflect and strategically reconquer and decolonize areas that have been lost, and how there is a need to reposition themselves individually and collectively to become agents of change and transformation. The presentation will be delivered in English and interspersed with Spanish quotes, phrases, and words to create a linguistic and cultural context.
- Attendees will identify and categorize the types of memory and how these can serve as catalysts to reflect on one own’s cultural identity.
- Attendees will deconstruct the power of language among Latinx populations in the U.S.A., and how its analysis empowers one’s awareness in the reconstruction of reality.
- Attendees will evaluate the interconnections among culture, symbolisms, and linguistics, and their role in the decolonization process.
Dr. Roberto Swazo
“Language, Symbolisms, and Reality: Re-Constructing and Decolonizing the LatinX Identity in the U.S.”
Dr. Swazo has served as a school counselor in private and public schools, a college counselor, and a mental health consultant for private practice and nonprofit organizations. He is a full professor at the school and mental health counseling program at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), Cedar Falls, and has served as Program Director at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) in Tallahassee, Florida, Roosevelt University (RU) in Chicago, and University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls. He currently holds a Professional Service License (PSL, K-12) in the state of Iowa.
Dr. Swazo is a frequent speaker at professional conferences and conducts workshops throughout the United States and abroad on multicultural issues and psycho-bilingual training (teaching basic Spanish interventions) for schools and mental health agencies. He has been keynote speaker in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Russia, Spain, Romania, Czech Republic, and Italy. He also teaches frequently as an invited professor at the Universidad del Valle in Guatemala in the school and mental health programs. He is a former Fulbright Scholar at the University of Palermo, Italy where he lived for a period of time. Dr. Swazo is a dual citizen from the European Union (Spain) and the USA. He has a co-authored book with Routledge focusing on Narrative Therapy interventions with Spanish-speaking clients to be published in September 2022.
Join us virtually at the 2022 Latinx/e Mental Health and Social Justice Symposium on October 11th and 12th, 2022
