About me

Who’s behind Mango Podcast?

Welcome!

I am an spoken word performance, educator, content creator, and crochet enthusiast. I love podcasting, reading, history, camp, watching movies and writing. I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. I am a Black cis woman and an immigrant who lives in Sweden.

Currently a lot of my other projects and work focuses on spoken word, and using podcast as a medium of expression, education, discussion, and archiving.

Here bellow you can see a list of other projects I’ve worked on, as well as publications and spoken word performances.

Thank you for visiting!

Publications:

In the Dominican Republic, where the supposedly moral society and the Church espouse often virulent homophobia and transphobia, an unusual alliance has appeared among the very poorest: singers and producers of popular music genre Dembow are working with queer people and trans women, who have become huge stars in their own right. Princess Jiménez
writes for Kultwatch about how some trans women are using ultra-visibility and social media fame to navigate a hostile environment.

How discrimination and racist legal structures affect foreigners in the Swedish job market.
https://www.thelocal.se/20190308/opinion-low-paid-jobs-for-foreigners-wont-solve-the-issues-on-the-swedish-labour-market

Finnish magazine Astra published my opinion piece “why am I scared of white feminism” in their edition 103, which topic is “Black feminism in the Nordic countries”.

Projects:

As part of La Dekoloniala, I worked in a podcast project commissioned by Statens Konstrad (Public Art Agency Sweden) a stand alone podcast series with four episodes. In this podcast series they discuss public spaces through a decolonial, anti-racist perspective. The podcast audio is in English.

Link to the podcast here

Fire Market/Eldmarknaden Sancocho:
Food, colonialism, and fine dinning.

As part of Eldmarknaden, organized by producer of public art in Sweden Mossutställningar, I did a Dominican sancocho, and invited a discussion about how we perceive food from a Decolonial perspective. It also included a pamphlet with information.

EVENT TEXT:

Fire is a neutral force which gives us the opportunity to create. In almost all types of cuisines it is the main ingredient. Cooking is also a manifestation of culture, community, love, and friendship.

As part of Eldmarknaden, organized by Mossutstalningar, I will make a Sancocho, which is a Dominican stew that is often cooked for big gatherings, where people would come together and bring some of the ingredients, and hang out while the food is cooked. Sancocho is not just a dish, but also an “excuse” to connect with others during the preparation of it. Some people would bring ingredients, others would help, and everybody would share their time and company while waiting for the tasty stew.

And since food, culture, and society are intertwined, I will also talk about how class and colonialism have played a big roll in the construction on what we know as “fine dinning”, and why is important to discuss our views on different food cultures.

I invite you to participate! Please feel free to bring something from the ingredients´ list.

The “Sancocho”, like when building communities and relationships with others, takes time. If you´re bringing ingredients, please be there by 12:30pm. Any questions, please feel free to message me.

This spoken word podcast was commissioned by the Finnish Magazine NO NIIN. NO NIIN is an independent online monthly magazine at the cusp of art, criticality, and love.

In this podcast I take listeners on a journey through the central topic of how migrants and refugees are always asked “what are you doing here?” Or “if you don’t like it, leave”.

https://no-niin.com/issue-6/the-question/

Spoken Word

Installation and live paint by Rossana Mercado-Rojas and Milagros Bedoya as part of Rundgång at the Royal Institute of Art (Kungliga Konsthögskolan), Stockholm, Sweden 8th-9th November 2019. “La Gozadera, invasión efímera para resistir, festejar y hacer bulla. Livepaint e installation”
Video from performance in Exhibition Min Kropp Mitt Vall/ Mi Cuerpa, Mi Decisión. This was about abortion rights and reproductive justice in Latinamerica. Detroit Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
Spokenword performance plus artist painting. Detroit Gallery
Decolonize food series:
In collaboration with the exhibition 3.5%: Our Voice, Our Gaze, this is part of a series of videos, where we will decolonize food together by starting a discussion and challenging how food is seen as an extension of colonial values. Curated by Sarah Tawiah Svärd . website to the exhibition: https://tawiahcurating.com/exhibitions/730/