An Evening with Oscar Rodriguez Thursday, April 04, 2024
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Oscar Rodriguez’s presentation will honor the Texas borderlands patois (lingo) commonly called Caló. Words like vato (dude), canijo (rugged), and gabacho (Anglo) are words found in the dialect of Caló, which originated from the Iberian Romani in Europe. Through storytelling he will describe life in barrio communities such as in Odessa and Ojinaga (Mexico). His stories will provide insight into the lives of borderlands inhabitants, their understanding of space in a multi-cultural environment, and transborder experiences. He hopes his work will help people recognize and highlight the important heritage of this little-known dialect.

 

Oscar is the host of Marfa Public Radio show, “Caló: a Borderland Dialect.” He was born and raised in Ojinaga, West Texas, and Southeastern New Mexico. He has lived in and out of Texas since he graduated from Ector High School in Odessa in the late-1970s, including a couple of years in the 1990s when he lived in Marfa and taught at Sul Ross State University. Oscar is also an enrolled member of the Lipan Apache Tribe and an avid researcher of Native history in Texas and New Mexico �" specifically in the La Junta region.