CSRC Newsletter - October 2016

Villaseñor Black wins Gold Shield Faculty Prize

The CSRC congratulates Charlene Villaseñor Black, CSRC associate director and professor of art history and Chicana/o studies on winning the 2016 Gold Shield Faculty Prize. The award is given by the Gold Shield Alumnae of UCLA to a mid-career faculty member who has displayed outstanding accomplishments in teaching, research, and community service. For UCLA Newsroom coverage, see In the News below.

 

Tucker and Haro elected to Faculty Center Association board of governors

M. Belinda Tucker, former vice provost for the UCLA Institute of American Cultures, has been elected president of the 2016-17 board of governors of the UCLA Faculty Center Association. Carlos M. Haro, CSRC assistant director emeritus and research project coordinator, has been elected a member-at-large.

 

Vargas Bustamante to co-chair faculty search committee

Arturo Vargas Bustamante, CSRC faculty associate and associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, is serving as co-chair of a search committee to fill two open-ranked tenure-track or tenured faculty positions at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. For information about the positions, contact Sheleana Varvaro at svarvaro@ph.ucla.edu.

 

Noriega appointed to Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute advisory board

Chon A. Noriega, CSRC director, will serve on the internal advisory board for the UCLA Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) in 2016-17. The CTSI’s mission is to create a borderless institute that serves the most pressing health needs of the diverse Los Angeles Latino community. From 2010 to 2014, the CSRC collaborated with CTSI on the Community Engagement and Research Program (CERP) to promote dialogue between the community and scientific researchers at UCLA. In June it was announced that CTSI received a $69.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

 

Díaz presents at Ford Foundation conference

On September 23, Vanessa Díaz, this year's CSRC IAC postdoctoral scholar and a Ford fellow, moderated and presented a paper at a session titled “Building Community in the Classroom” at the annual Conference of Ford Fellows in Washington, DC. Díaz also organized the session.

 

Lacayo publishes on Latino segregation in Orange County

In August, Celia Lacayo, CSRC visiting scholar, published the article “Latinos Need to Stay in Their Place: Differential Segregation in a Multi-Ethnic Suburb” in Societies, an open access sociology journal. The article features Lacayo’s research on Latino segregation in Orange County, and can be read here. The study was cited in The Guardian and the OC Weekly.

 

Blackwell quoted in story on Eastside Mujeres Network

Maylei Blackwell, associate professor of Chicana/o and gender studies and member of the CSRC Faculty Advisory Committee, was quoted in an L.A. Weekly cover story on a group of local Chicanas and their actions to end violence against women. The story can be read here. Blackwell is currently researching indigenous women’s social networks in Guerrero and Oaxaca, Mexico, funded in part by a CSRC research grant.

 

Hidalgo publishes book

Jacqueline Hidalgo, associate professor of Latina/o studies and religion at Williams College, is author of the recently published  Revelation in Aztlán: Scriptures, Utopias, and the Chicano Movement (Palgrave MacMillan, 2016). Hidalgo conducted research and completed her manuscript while a visiting scholar and Ford fellow at the CSRC in 2013-14.

 

Jones wins MacArthur fellowship

Kellie Jones, associate professor of art history and archeology at Columbia University, is the recipient of a 2016 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, also known as a “genius” grant. Jones curated the exhibition Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960–1980 that opened at the Hammer Museum in October 2011, and she is a member of the advisory board for the A Ver book series published by CSRC Press. The series showcases the cultural, aesthetic, and historical contributions of U.S. Latina/o artists.

 

CSRC holdings on display in exhibitions

A signed print of El Pachuco by Ignacio Gómez that is a holding of the CSRC will be displayed in Tastemakers & Earthshakers: Notes from Los Angeles Youth Culture, 1943–2016, on view October 15 through February 25 at the Vincent Price Art Museum. Yarn paintings obtained by U.S. poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera on a CSRC-sponsored research trip to Mexico in 1970 will be on display in the exhibition Elotes con Sangre, the Journey Home, Photographs and ‘Neirikas’ (Yarn Paintings) of the Land of the Wixáritari, First Peoples, the Huichol Nation of Mexico, on view October 6–21 at the M Street Arts Complex Graduate Studios at California State University, Fresno.

 

Castillo prints acquired by University of Texas

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) has acquired two sets of thirteen black and white prints from the Oscar Castillo Photograph Collection housed at the CSRC. UTSA president Ricardo Romo donated a set each to the UTSA Special Collections and the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection at University of Texas at Austin. Castillo took the photos as a student at California State University, Northridge, during an independent study and internship in the fall of 1970. He traveled with La Raza Unida leader José Angel Gutiérrez to San Antonio and Austin and used his camera to document party activities, farm workers, and everyday life.

 

Rodriguez named assistant dean at Yale School of Drama

Chantal Rodriguez has been appointed assistant dean at Yale University's School of Drama. Rodriguez previously served as programming director and literary manager at the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC) and was an adjunct lecturer of theater at UCLA, CalArts, California State University, Northridge, and Loyola Marymount University. She is the author of The Latino Theatre Initiative/Center Theatre Group Papers, 1980-2005, volume 4 in the Chicano Archives series from CSRC Press.

 

Tucker presents on La Raza collection

Evan Tucker, MLIS student and graduate student researcher at the CSRC, presented a poster about the CSRC’s La Raza Newspaper and Magazine Records Collection (1967–1977) at the Society of American Archivists conference in Atlanta, July 31–August 6. Titled “Signs of the Time: Using Images of Protest Signs from a Chicano Archive to Give Voice to a Historically Marginalized Community,” Tucker’s poster explored the wide variety of messages written on the protest signs captured by La Raza’s photographers. In September, Tucker gave the talk “Expanding the Archival Reach: Using Strategic Community Partnerships to Improve Outreach by University Archives” at the International Council of Archivists Congress in Seoul, South Korea. This talk focused on planned outreach efforts for the La Raza collection, which is being processed and contains roughly 20,000 images of important historical and political events in Los Angeles, including the East L.A. “blowouts” and the Chicano Moratorium.

 

A Ver artists and authors recognized

On July 13, President Obama announced he would nominate Puerto Rico–born artist Pépon Osorio to serve on the National Council on the Arts (NCA), an advisory committee to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEH). Osorio teaches in the division of Community Arts Practices at Temple University's Tyler School of Art and is the subject of an award-winning monograph by Jennifer A. González published by CSRC Press.

 

Ramón García, author of Ricardo Valverde, published by CSRC Press, was named by The Culture Trip as one of the top ten Los Angeles–based poets to know. García teaches in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at California State University, Northridge.

 

New York–based artist Freddy Rodriguez, a native of the Dominican Republic, has been awarded a 2016 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship. The announcement was made in June. A monograph on the artist by Carmen Ramos is forthcoming in the A Ver series published by CSRC Press.

 

New issue of Regeneración Tlacuilolli

Volume two of Regeneración Tlacuilolli: UCLA Raza Studies Journal, is now available through eScholarship. Regeneración Tlacuilolli is an interdisciplinary Chicana/o and Raza studies journal produced by graduate students and published electronically once a year. The CSRC sponsors the journal on eScholarship.

 

Welcome, Cheyenne Lentz!

The CSRC welcomes Cheyenne Lentz as the new communications and academic programs assistant. Lentz graduated from University of Wisconsin at Madison with a bachelor’s degree in communications and comes to the CSRC with work experience in communications and broadcast media production. We’re pleased to have her on board!

 

“New Exhibition Shows Poet Laureate Herrera’s Indigenous Perspective”

A preview of the exhibition Elotes con Sangre at California State University, Fresno, featuring yarn paintings acquired by U.S. poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera on a CSRC-sponsored research trip to Mexico in 1970.

FresnoStateCAH.com, September 30, 2016 (PDF)

 

“How ‘Brangelina’ Gave a Couple Its Mystique”

This story about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie quotes Vanessa Díaz, CSRC IAC postdoctoral scholar, who has written an essay on the practice of combining the names of celebrity couples into a singe term like “Brangelina.”  

The Atlantic, September 23, 2016 (PDF)

 

“Why the Angelina Jolie–Brad Pitt Marriage Mattered So Much in Modern Hollywood”

Vanessa Díaz, CSRC IAC postdoctoral scholar, comments on the public’s interest in the marriage and divorce of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

Los Angeles Times, September 20, 2016 (PDF)

 

“Why We Study Hispanic Heritage Month”

A study titled “California Identity Project,” the subject of No Longer a Minority, a monograph published by the CSRC in 1992, was mentioned in this story on the meaning of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Angelus.com, September 15, 2016 (PDF)

 

“Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA Reveals Partial List of Exhibitions”

The CSRC-organized exhibition Home—So Different, So Appealing was mentioned in The Architect’s Newspaper in a preview of PST: LA/LA.

The Architect’s Newspaper, September 13, 2016 (PDF)

 

“Star Montana at UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center”

Selections from Star Montana: Tear Drops and Three Dots, on display at the CSRC Library until October 28, was profiled in the ARTnews online feature “Pictures at an Exhibition.”  

ARTnews, September 2, 2016 (PDF)

 

Review of Luis Cruz Azaceta

Abigail McEwen, assistant professor of art history and archaeology at University of Maryland, College Park, reviewed Luis Cruz Azaceta from CSRC Press, calling it “the definitive publication on the artist.”

caareviews.com, August 4, 2016 (PDF)

 

“Charlene Villaseñor Black Is as Good as Gold as Recipient of Top Faculty Prize”

UCLA Newsroom featured a story on Villaseñor Black, CSRC associate director and professor of art history and Chicano studies, who was named winner of the 2016 Gold Shield Faculty Prize.

UCLA Newsroom, July 8, 2016 (PDF)

 

“Pick of the Week: Los Tigres del Norte”

The L.A. Weekly previewed a concert by Los Tigres del Norte to take place June 25 at the Forum in Los Angeles. The preview mentioned the Los Tigres del Norte Fund at the CSRC.

L.A. Weekly, June 23, 2016 (PDF)

 

“An Invisible Man in America: Interview with Artist and Filmmaker Willie Varela”

Fusion Magazine featured a Q&A with filmmaker Willie Varela. Varela's work is the focus of Video Art by Willie Varela, volume 9 in the CSRC’s Chicano Media and Video Art DVD series. 

Fusion Magazine, June 23, 2016 (PDF)

 

“Tune In Tuesdays: Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Recordings”

The National Endowment of the Humanities featured the Frontera Collection on its website, which funded in part by the NEH. The collection is under the stewardship of the CSRC.

NEH.gov, June 21, 2016 (PDF)

 

Events

The CSRC welcomes Selfa A. Chew, who will discuss her book, Uprooting Community: Japanese Mexicans, WWII, and the US-Mexico Borderlands (University of Arizona Press, 2015). The book examines the difficult circumstances of Japanese Mexicans during World War II. Through new archival discoveries and oral histories, the author challenges the notion that Japanese Mexicans enjoyed the protection of the Mexican government during the war and argues that they were instead victims of racial prejudices. Chew teaches classes on US history, Afro-Mexican history, the Asian diaspora in Latin America, and African American history at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and New Mexico State University. Joining Chew will be Miguel Juárez, a doctoral candidate at UTEP.

Join us for an artist’s talk by Star Montana, whose exhibition Selections from Tear Drops & Three Dots, curated by Emily Butts, is currently on view at the CSRC Library through October 28. Comprised of photographic portraits and a video installation, the exhibition captures an acute sense of time and timelessness, deep heartbreak and loss. Although vulnerable and intimate, Montana’s portraits find strength in the commonality of difficult—and often unspoken—narratives. The exhibition draws from Tear Drops & Three Dots, which was on display at the Vincent Price Art Museum from February 27 to May 21, 2016.

For both events, the first five people to RSVP to clentz@chicano.ucla.edu will receive free parking.

New Issue of Aztlán

The fall 2016 issue leads off with two essays that examine how artistic portrayals of the world are used to contest and reframe dominant narratives. Kristin E. Pitt looks at the “poetics of vulnerability” that links immigrant farm labor, farmers, and the food supply with “unsustainable immigration policies” in the United States, and Erin Murrah-Mandril’s investigates what she calls “multifarious time” in The Squatter and the Don. The next two essays consider the complimentary topics of healing and disease. Sofia Ruiz-Alfaro’s essay employs Gloria Anzaldúa’s conceptualization of writing as healing to examine Chavela Vargas’s life story, and Natalia Molina’s traces the roots of contemporary disease-based stigmatizations of Mexicans and Mexican Americans to the scientific racism of the mid-nineteenth century.

 

The dossier section features the writings of Chon A. Noriega, director of the CSRC and editor of Aztlán from 1996 through 2015. Noriega selected seven of the thirty-seven editor’s commentaries that he wrote for the journal. These commentaries, which appeared in Aztlán between 1999 and 2007, reflect on the nature of narrative. Their varied cinematic subjects all “put Chicanos at the center of a history told on other terms,” as he notes in his introduction to the dossier. The cover and the artist’s communiqué feature the work of Jesus Barraza and Melanie Cervantes’s Oakland-based graphic arts collective Dignidad Rebelde. Subscribe today!

 

Call for submissions: Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies

Aztlán, the premier journal of Chicana/o studies, is inviting new submissions! Aztlán publishes scholarship relevant to Chicana/o studies from all disciplines and interdisciplinary research as well. We welcome submissions in English and Spanish. We are seeking submissions for all three areas of the journal:

 

Essays

Our essays are research-based and come from a wide variety of disciplines—literature, sociology, history, political science, the arts, linguistics, gender studies, ethnic studies, and many other fields—but they always engage the Chicana/o experience. All essays are peer reviewed and are frequently revised to meet the journal’s standards for quality research. Essays typically run about 10,000–12,000 words in length.

 

Dossiers

The dossier section provides a forum for multiple and shorter engagements with a specific theme that examines an aspect of Chicana/o studies; this might be an object of study, theoretical or disciplinary questions, a methodology, or one scholar’s work. The dossier section, while still of a scholarly nature, is designed to be exploratory, provocative, or experimental in approach. Aztlán will consider working with a guest curator—a scholar who wishes to create a dossier theme and can help manage dossier development. Contact Heather Birdsall at hbirdsall@chicano.ucla.edu to explore this opportunity.

 

Book Reviews

If you are interested in writing a book review for us, we will gladly consider suggested titles, or we can recommend a book that matches your field of interest. To inquire about reviews, contact our book review coordinator at revieweditor@chicano.ucla.edu.

 

To submit: All submissions should be sent to our submission inbox at submissions@chicano.ucla.edu. For complete information about Aztlán and our submission guidelines, please visit the CSRC website. Please direct queries to Heather Birdsall, assistant editor, at hbirdsall@chicano.ucla.edu. We look forward to receiving your submissions.

 

Call for Papers: IUPLR Siglo XXI Conference

The Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR) will hold its sixth biennial Siglo XXI Conference at the University of Texas, San Antonio, May 17-19, 2017.  This year’s conference theme is “Mapping Latino Research.” Papers and panels are requested that address the state of Latino research, and research and methods that have the potential to improve understanding of U.S. Latinos today. Deadline for submissions is January 30, 2017.

For more information: https://iuplr.uic.edu/iuplr/conferences/siglo-xxi-2017-call-for-papers.

The CSRC is a founding member of the IUPLR.