LEWISTON, Maine -- Gisela Arandia, a Cuban scholar who focuses on race issues in Cuba and among Cubans in Miami, will discuss "Race and Racism in Cuba: A Report from the Field" at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 25, in the Benjamin Mays Center at Bates College as part of the college's celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

A research associate at the Centro de Estudios Cubanos sobre Estados Unidos (CESEU) at the University of Havana since 1991, Arandia also directs a UNESCO community project in a mostly black neighborhood in Havana on community organization and the study of local African-origin religions.

Arandia worked as a professional journalist from 1973 through 1995 when she left journalism for full-time research. She has presented her work at major universities throughout the United States, including Johns Hopkins, NYU, Berkeley and Howard. Arandia received a 1997 Rockefeller Grant from Florida International University, where she began her work on Cuban Americans in Miami. She is also a member of the Union de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba in which she heads a "seccion de critica."

Arandia received her bachelor of arts in journalism from the University of Havana and subsequently worked in the fields of radio and television at Radio Reloj, Radio Progreso and Noticiero Nacional de Television.

This talk is sponsored by the Bates College Multicultural Center. For more information, call 207-786-8376.