A photograph taken in 1986 of a mother and daughter walking down 7th St. is the inspiration for this conversation. Honduran-American, L.A. raised musician and composer Empress Of (Lorely Rodriguez) and Pitzer College professor Suyapa Portillo Villeda sit down with KPCC/LAist Immigrant Communities Reporter Leslie Berestein Rojas and series curator Josh Kun to talk about the history of Honduran immigration to Los Angeles and the influence of Honduran women in the city’s history.

Pitzer College Associate Professor of Chicano/a-Latino/a Transnational Studies Suyapa Portillo Villeda ’96 was a featured panelist in the inaugural event of “Evoke LA: The Heart and Soul of LA, reimagined,” a new series curated by scholar MacArthur Fellow and USC Annenberg Professor Josh Kun. Evoke LA is a collaboration between ALOUD, KPCC/LAist, and the Los Angeles Public Library.

Interview with Suyapa Portillo Villeda, associate professor of Chicanx, Latinx and Transnational Studies at Pitzer College, conducted by Scott Harris.

Years of corruption and conservative law-making “showed the Honduras people just how cruel the [National] Party was and … they voted in response,” adds Honduran scholar Suyapa Portillo. Castro’s likely win “is a testament to bottom-up organizing,” she says.

Roots of Resistance: A Story of Gender, Race, and Labor on the North Coast of Honduras just won the National Women’s Studies Association’s Sarah A. Whaley Book Prize for 2021. The prize is awarded “for groundbreaking scholarship in women’s studies that makes significant feminist contributions to the topic of women and labor” and will be presented to Suyapa Portillo Villeda during a ceremony on October 16.

Honduran scholar and ROOTS OF RESISTANCE author provides historical context to a recent conviction in the murder of Berta Cáceres, an award-winning environmental activist, on the July 6 episode of Democracy Now!

A former U.S.-trained Honduran military officer and businessman has been found guilty of plotting the assassination of Berta Cáceres, the award-winning Lenca land and water defender killed in 2016. “This is the first time in 12 years that we have seen any kind of justice in Honduras,” says Honduran scholar Suyapa Portillo Villeda, an associate professor at Pitzer College and the author of “Roots of Resistance: A Story of Gender, Race, and Labor on the North Coast of Honduras.”

It would be nice if the US government acknowledged that its imperialist meddling in Central America drove millions to flee to the United States. Instead, Kamala Harris went to Guatemala this week and had the gall to tell would-be migrants, “Do not come.”

We are a group of Honduran young progressives and Central American allies in the Americas coming together to build long term solidarity beyond charity for Honduras in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hurricane Eta and Iota.

In a country that is already home to some of the worst restrictions on women’s rights, the Honduran Congress voted last month to lock in its bans on abortion and gay marriage, making them almost impossible to overturn. It’s a reminder that, as the feminist green tide washes over much of Latin America, there is still much work to be done.

Hay tantas historias en Honduras que no nos cuentan, o que quieren que olvidemos. Una de ellas es la de las mujeres en el sector bananero, tanto en la huelga del 54, como en la actualidad. Para hablarnos de estas historias maravillosas dos grandes mujeres Suyapa Portillo (con la perspectiva histórica) e Iris Munguía, trabajadora e hija de trabajadora del banano (con la situación y la lucha actual) nos acompañan y nos comparten y nos ayudan a rechazar el olvido, y construir la memoria.

Decades of CIA death squads, economic warfare, coups, and support for authoritarian rule played a central role in the exodus of refugees from Central America. Donald Trump is now threatening to shoot the fleeing victims. Honduran professor Suyapa Portillo Villeda analyzes how Washington created the crisis.