CSRC Newsletter - November 2005

In 1972, Self Help Graphics & Art hosted their first Dia de los Muertos event, an annual celebration that quickly came to have a significant impact on the cultural life of the city. The holiday dates back to pre-Columbian Mexico, when skulls were used to honor the dead, whom the Aztecs believed came back to visit. As the Los Angeles Times noted last week, the East L.A. art center has had “the greatest influence on how Day of the Dead is celebrated in and around Los Angeles." This year Self-Help will host its thirty-second celebration this Wednesday (see below for more information). What makes this year different is that Self Help temporarily closed in June 2005 and has been working to bring the organization... well, back from the dead. This year's celebration is its first public event since closing. Please come show your support and contribute to the rebirth of community-based art making and art-based community making. ¡Que viva la muerte!

 

 

UCLA Professors Judith Baca, A.P. Gonzalez, and Fernando Torres-Gil are among the “100 Most Influential Hispanics” selected this year by Hispanic Business Magazine. The story appears in the October 2005 issue. They are honored for, respectively, their leadership in creating city mural art, relevant films, and healthcare initiatives regarding the aging.

 

Eleven new members to the UC MEXUS Advisory Committee have been appointed by the UC Office of the President, including a member representing the Merced campus. Among them is CSRC Director Chon A. Noriega. Steven López, a member of the CSRC Faculty Committee, has an article about his research project, “Schizophrenia in Mexican Communities on Both Sides of the Border,” in UC MEXUS News, no. 42 (Summer 2005). To receive UC MEXUS News electronically, send an e-mail to UC Mexus.

 

Self Help Graphics & Art welcomes the community to its Dia de los Muertos celebration on Wednesday, November 2, between 3:00 pm and 10:00 pm. As in past years, the procession will begin at Cinco Puntos -- the intersection of Cesar Chavez Avenue and Lorena Street -- at 4:00 pm and end at Self Help, 3802 Cesar E. Chavez Ave. in Los Angeles. The festival features traditional food, arts and crafts, an Aztec dance blessing and ceremony, and a community altar. All events are free to the public. Calavera attire encouraged! For information, call (323) 881-6444.

 

Explore “Visionaries in the Academy: Women of Color at UCLA,” an exhibition at Young Research Library that focuses on women of color in tenure-track positions. The exhibition runs through December. In conjunction with the exhibition, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, professor in Chicana/o studies, will discuss her book, Desert Blood: The Juarez Murders, at the library on Monday, November 7 at 12:00 noon. Please call Norma Corral, 310-825-4945, if you have questions.

 

Juanita (Ramos) Diaz-Cotto, a longtime advocate of progressive causes and the editor of Compañeras: Latina Lesbians, will read from her ground-breaking book, accompanied by a slide presentation on Latina and Latin American lesbian activism. Diaz-Cotto, an associate professor at SUNY Binghamton, is also the author of a book on Chicanas in the legal system. The event will be held on Thursday, November 10, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm, in the Chicano Studies Library, Haines 144. Admission is free. Refreshments will be served. The presentation is co-sponsored by CSRC, MALCS, and Center for the Study of Women. For more information, call Yolanda Retter at 310-206-6052 or email her.

 

Are you interested in making a difference? Have you thought about becoming a teacher? Come to a joint workshop by CSRC and the UCLA Center X's Teacher Education Program, which focuses on urban education, social justice, and bilingual education. You'll have the opportunity to meet faculty, current students, and alumni, and to learn about the application process. The event will be held on Tuesday, November 15, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, Haines Hall Room 179. Please RSVP by emailing the program.

 

George Sanchez, visiting scholar and IAC postdoctoral fellow for 2005-06, will be welcomed to the UCLA community at a reception. Sanchez is an associate professor of history and American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California. The reception will be held on Tuesday, November 22 from 4:00 -to 6:00 pm at the UCLA Faculty Center. RSVPs must be received by Wednesday, November 16 at the IAC website. For further information, email Sagrario Hernandez.

 

Francisco Miranda Godínez and Steven Loza will participate in a faculty exchange on “Historical Issues Concerning Juan Diego and His Canonization.” The event will be held on Tuesday, November 22, at 12:00 noon in the CSRC Conference room, 179 Haines Hall.

 

The CSRC library is now equipped to scan and preserve archival items in various collections and to contribute to a documentation project sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

 

Hot off the press, Self-Help Graphics & Art: Art in the Heart of East Los Angeles documents the history of this important Latino visual arts center. The book includes a list of most of the artwork produced at the community center. Along with full information for each work is the artist's description of the motivation for creating it as well the meaning behind it. These microhistories are a particularly valuable part of the volume.

 

I Am Aztlán: The Personal Essay in Chicano Studies, has received a solid review in the September issue of Choice, a compendium of reviews for academic librarians. The reviewer, R. Acuña, notes that the collection “shows that the term Aztlán is much more complex than right-wing critics dare to acknowledge.... All of the pieces are quick... leaving readers wanting more.... Highly recommended. All levels/libraries." I Am Aztlán features intimate writing about the challenges of being a Chicana/o intellectual, academic, and activist. In its pages well-known scholars wrestle with childhood experiences of family and adult experiences of research in order to come to a better understanding of both. If you are teaching a class about research methods or the Chicana/o experience and are interested in a desk copy, please contact CRSC Press.

 

To support the mission of the press, the CSRC has designed and is selling t-shirts with the center's con safos/chicano studies logo. (There seems to be a lively competition to come up with other related c/s phrases [such as cultural studies].)

 

If you are a subscriber, the fall issue of Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies should have arrived. If you are not an Aztlán subscriber and want to be one, e-mail your postal address to the CSRC Press in order to receive a subscription package!

 

If you are interested in buying our books, click here.

If you are interested in buying our DVDs, click here.

If you are interested in subscribing to our journal, email your postal address to press@chicano.ucla.edu.

Information about all our publications is available at the CSRC Press website.

 

Four postdoctoral fellowships are available for conducting and theorizing oral history research in African American, American Indian, Asian American, or Chicano communities. Fellows' research must rely significantly on oral history or on qualitative interviews that have a comparable social or historical focus. The UCLA Institute of American Cultures, in cooperation with UCLA's four ethnic studies centers and the UCLA Center for Oral History Research, is offering one fellowship per center. The fellowship includes a stipend. Applications are available in November and are due by January 13, 2006. The application form is available online. For further information contact the IAC coordinator at (310) 825-1233.

 

Current UCLA students with a demonstrated interest in ethnic studies are eligible to apply for a graduate/predoctoral fellowship to aid in the completion of a thesis or dissertation. The fellowship consists of a stipend and all in-state fees. Restrictions apply regarding acceptance of supplemental employment and/or other awards during the fellowship year. On occasion, centers have chosen to divide the graduate fellowship between two or among three students. Applications are available in November and are due by January 13, 2006. The application form is available online. For more information and eligibility requirements contact the IAC coordinator (310) 825-1233.

 

Write it Right!, a program aimed at assisting high school seniors in the San Fernando Valley write their personal statements for college entry, is looking for volunteers to work with high school seniors. During the first three weeks in November they will work with students at San Fernando High, Polytechnic High, Sylmar High, Van Nuys High, Kennedy High, and Monroe High. For more volunteer information, phone Jose Atilio Hernandez in Senator Alarcon's 20th District office at (916) 445-7928 or email.

 

The CSRC website publishes a list of UCLA graduate students currently doing Chicana/o-related research. To be added to the CSRC Affiliated Students list, email the center with your information.

 

The CSRC welcomes undergraduate and graduate students with an interest in Chicano Studies to work as interns and volunteers in various areas of the Center. If interested, send an inquiry to Carlos M. Haro.

 

To learn more about us, visit our website or email us. To subscribe to this newsletter, e-mail CSRC Newsletter and include in the body of your message the line (and nothing but the line) SUBSCRIBE CHICANO [first name, last name] (don't enter the brackets, just your name). This automatically subscribes you to the electronic versions of the Latino Policy & Issues Brief and the CSRC Research Report.