CSRC Newsletter - April 2017

VOLUME 15, NUMBER 7

Director’s Message

Last month, actor and film historian Robert Osborne passed away. I had the honor of co-hosting a month-long series with him on Turner Classic Movies in May 2009. Over the course of eight nights, for a series called “Race & Hollywood,” we explored Latino images in Hollywood cinema from the silent era to the present, shooting “intros” and “outros” for thirty-two films (watch them on CSRC YouTube). Robert was the embodiment of Classic Hollywood Cinema and a true gentleman. What amazed me was that he not only had an encyclopedic knowledge about Hollywood, he also knew and deeply cared for many of the actors, typically discussing them as very vulnerable people. That made for some lively and thoughtful exchanges as we talked about films with white actors made up in “brown face” to portray Mexican American characters. I spoke about the politics of the image, but he spoke about the people who made the image. And it worked! Robert was both avuncular and dapper; he had his own worldview and life experiences, but he was also open-minded. I also enjoyed struggling to learn how to turn my head toward the camera, speak from memory and in a natural voice, and ignore the track for the camera dolly (which was just two feet away because Robert’s cataracts required the teleprompter to be very close). All too soon it was over, and I was heading back from Atlanta to Los Angeles, somehow feeling I was leaving the real Hollywood. I’ll always remember at our first shoot how a production staff member asked Robert what he thought of the suit he was wearing. Truth be told, it looked fabulous, while mine was bunching up around my chest. When Robert replied that he loved it, the person said, “Great, we can have one made for you.” I expressed surprise that he did not own the suit. “Oh, this is not a real suit,” he told me. “It’s just the front part draped across me, and if I like them they can make me a complete suit for public appearances.” Hollywood! Our connection to its past is less vital without Robert Osborne. He was not just the founding host for Turner Classic Movies, he was someone who shared a lived experience of Hollywood with his viewers for twenty-three years. That lives on. ¡Robert Osborne, presente!
 
In the March newsletter I wrote about how Latinos have become ghosts within our media and political culture. That continues in full force. MALDEF president and general counsel Thomas A. Saenz recently issued a statement on Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, noting that “the Latino community was totally unrepresented among the live witnesses presented by either the majority or the minority party.” This “absence of representation of the largest minority group in the country” is nothing new, as UCLA professors Gary Segura and Matt Barreto noted in regard to the polling during the last the presidential election. But, as José Montoya used to say, "Aqui estamos y no nos vamos."
 
Chon A. Noriega
Director and Professor
 

News

Noriega joins Latinx Talk  advisory board
Beginning in May 2017, CSRC director Chon A. Noriega will serve on the advisory board for the online forum Latinx Talk, currently known as Mujeres Talk. Like its predecessor, Latinx Talk will be an interdisciplinary, edited, and moderated academic and activist forum for the circulation and discussion of original short-form research, commentary, and creative work in brief and diverse formats pertaining to Chicanx, Latinx, and Native American populations and their diverse racial and ethnic allies.
 
Romero awarded Louisville Institute sabbatical grant
Robert Chao Romero, professor of Chicana/o studies and Asian American studies and member of the CSRC Faculty Advisory Committee, is the recipient of a Louisville Institute sabbatical grant for 2017-18. The grant will assist the completion of research for his current book project, “The Brown Church: Towards a Latina/o History and Theology of Liberation.”
 
Díaz speaks at CMCS
On March 18, CSRC visiting researcher Vanessa Díaz participated in the panel discussion “Scholars as Critics: Media and Career Workshop” at the Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies (CMCS) annual meeting in Los Angeles. The theme of this year’s conference was “Bridging Gaps: Where Is the Film Scholar in Hollywood Filmmaking?”
 
Haro speaks to students at CYLC and Venice High School
Carlos M. Haro, CSRC assistant director emeritus, was a guest speaker at the Chicano Youth Leadership Conference, March 17–18, at Camp Hess Kramer. This conference, serving Chicana and Chicano students since 1963, evolved through the efforts of Sal Castro and has provided important leadership training to high school students over the past five decades. One hundred thirty-four eleventh-grade students from the Los Angeles Unified School District attended the conference, along with a group of forty volunteers that included CYLC alumni. Presenters at the camp included representatives from the University of California, California State University, and private universities.
 
On March 23, at the invitation of Venice High School, Haro spoke to the school’s MEChA group and made a presentation to a class. He discussed the 1947 Mendez v. Westminster school desegregation case and the 1968 East LA walkouts, highlighting the role played by Sal Castro. Prior to his visit, students watched the HBO film Walkout! (2005) and two documentaries, Chicano: Taking Back the Schools (1995) and Mendez v. Westminster… For All the Children (2002).
 
López elected vice president of LSA
Marissa K. López, associate professor of English and Chicana/o studies, former CSRC associate director, and current member of the CSRC Faculty Advisory Committee, has been elected vice president of the Latina/o Studies Association. She will serve a two-year term concluding in March 2019. For more information about the LSA, visit http://latinostudiesassociation.org/.
 
Hernández releases new book
Kelly Lytle Hernández, associate professor of history and former CSRC associate director, is the author of City of Inmates: Conquest, Rebellion, and the Rise of Human Caging in Los Angeles, 1771–1965, a new release from University of North Carolina Press. In the book, Hernández explains not only how Los Angeles came to be the leading incarcerating city in the United States but also how targeted peoples and communities have consistently rebelled against imprisonment.
 
Villaseñor Black presents research and discusses ethnic studies publishing
In March, Charlene Villaseñor Black, CSRC associate director, professor of art history and Chicana/o studies, and editor of Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, gave talks at Dartmouth University and Princeton University. At Dartmouth, she presented “The Dangers of Intellectual Desire: Images of Sor Juana in Transhistorical Perspective” for the Department of Art History, a talk that included original research on colonial portraits of Sor Juana put in dialogue with contemporary Chicana images produced since the 1990s, and “Publishing in Latino Studies: Thoughts from the Editor of Aztlán” for the Department of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies. She gave two presentations at Princeton, one with other journal editors on a panel called “Why Articles and Books Get Rejected or Accepted: Straight-shooting from Book and Journal Editors in Ethnic Studies” and the other, “Chicanx and Latinx Art: Institutional Challenges,” for the Program for Latino Studies.
 
IUPLR-Mellon dissertation fellow announced
Chicana/o studies graduate student Kendy Denisse Rivera is the UCLA recipient of a dissertation-completion fellowship offered by the Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR) and the Mellon Foundation. Rivera will join a national cohort of six outstanding doctoral students at four universities taking part in the program. Fellowships include a stipend, mentorship, and participation in the IUPLR conference and summer institute. The CSRC is a founding member of the IUPLR and led the effort to establish this fellowship program for students writing dissertations focused on Chicana/o or Latina/o studies and utilizing humanities-based research methods.
 
Condolences
The CSRC expresses heartfelt condolences to Celia Lacayo, CSRC visiting scholar, and Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, former dean of the Graduate Division, who oversaw the UCLA ethnic studies research centers for twenty-one years. Both women’s spouses passed away in March. Lacayo’s husband, Mark Q. Sawyer, was a professor of political science and African American studies at UCLA. As a founder and subsequent director of the UCLA Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, he worked regularly with the CSRC. Mitchell-Kernan’s husband, Keith T. Kernan, was professor emeritus of psychiatry and biobehavioral science at UCLA.
 
New video on CSRC YouTube:
 
  • Brian E. Herrera presents "On the Presence (and Absence) of Latinx in U.S. Popular Performance" (February 27, 2017) (video) Why were more Latinx actors nominated for Oscars in the 1950s than any decade before or since? What happens after a “Latin Explosion” in U.S. pop culture? And why do “Latin Explosions" happen every few years or so? To answer these questions, the CSRC welcomed Brian Herrera, assistant professor of theater at Princeton University, who discussed the presence and absence of Latinx performers and narratives in U.S. popular performance.

CSRC in the News

“(Un)Masking Mexican American Identity in Chicanx Art: Chon Noriega’s Three Phantoms”
On his blog, scholar Adam Aziz discusses CSRC director Chon A. Noriega’s essay “Orphans of Modernism,” which addresses Chicanx art’s invisibility in the modern art world.
Adam Aziz, March 2, 2017 (PDF)
 
“Lupe Anguiano Biography Released”
Uncompromised: The Lupe Anguiano Story, released March 6, 2017, tells the story of Anguiano’s celebrated contributions to service in the L.A. community and welfare reform. Author Deborah Wright used the Lupe Anguiano Archives at the CSRC library as part of her research for the book.
PR Newswire, March 6, 2017 (PDF)
 
“Concrete History: Chicana Muralist Judith F. Baca Goes from the Great Wall to the Museum Wall”
The new issue of Art News includes a feature on artist and UCLA faculty member Judy Baca, who is the subject of a new monograph from CSRC Press that will be released in October. The book’s author, Anna Indych-López, associate professor of art history at the City College of New York, is quoted in the piece.
Art News, March 7, 2017 (PDF)
 
All “In the News” articles are available in PDF format on the CSRC website.
 

Events

I: WITNESS  Play Premiere
Friday, April 7, 8:00 p.m. and Saturday, April 8, 2:00 p.m.
Plaza de la Raza's Margo Albert Theater—3450 N. Mission Rd., Los Angeles, CA 90031
For the first time in About...Productions' history, a student-written play will premiere as a full production. Performed by students and professional actors, I: WITNESS parallels the lives of veterans from the East L.A. student walkouts, the National Chicano Moratorium, and seminal art movements with youth of current-day East Los Angeles. This production is part of the Chicano Legacy Project, which aims to enrich the public's knowledge of the rich history of the Chicano movement and provide youth with a transformative experience. Free lot and street parking. The CSRC is a co-sponsor of this event.
To purchase tickets, please visit: www.aboutpd.org/tickets.
 
Book Talk: U.S. Central Americans: Reconstructing Memories, Struggles, and Communities of Resistance
Monday, April 10, 3:30 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
CSRC Library—144 Haines Hall
The CSRC and UCLA Latin American Institute will cosponsor a roundtable on U.S. Central Americans: Reconstructing Memories, Struggles, and Communities of Resistance (University of Arizona Press, 2017). Authors Leisy Abrego (UCLA), Karina Oliva Alvarado (UCLA), Alicia Ivonne Estrada (CSUN), Ester E. Hernández (CSULA), and Yajaira Padilla (University of Arkansas, Fayetteville) will discuss their experiences as 1.5 and second-generation Central Americans in the United States as well as topics examined in the book, which explores the identities, cultures, and histories of U.S. Central American communities. The event will conclude with a reception.
 
Artist Talk: Salomón Huerta presents "Art, Identity & Place"
Tuesday, April 18, 1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m.
Kellogg University Art Gallery—3801 W Temple Ave., Pomona, CA 91768
The Kellogg University Art Gallery will present a lecture by artist Salomón Huerta, who is featured in the group exhibition About Face, on view at the gallery through April 27. Huerta was born in Tijuana (Baja California, Mexico) and raised in Boyle Heights’s Ramona Gardens public housing project. His artwork has been exhibited around the world, including at the Whitney Biennial in New York, the Gagosian Gallery in London, and Studio La Città in Verona. His work will appear in a CSRC-organized exhibition, Home—So Different, So Appealing, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) this summer. The talk will be moderated by Alvaro Huerta, assistant professor of urban and regional planning at Cal Poly Pomona. The CSRC is a cosponsor of this event.
 
Talk: "The Latino Paparazzi of Los Angeles: Life, Death, and Labor in the Celebrity Industrial Complex"
Tuesday, April 18, 4:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m.
CSRC Library - 144 Haines Hall
Please join us for a special presentation by IAC visiting researcher and Ford fellow Vanessa Díaz, who will explore the racial politics of representation and division of labor among paparazzi. Díaz has studied the transition of LA paparazzi from a labor force of predominantly white men to one of predominantly Latino men born in the United States and Latin America and how these cultural producers play a central role in shaping celebrity culture.  Her work examines the (in)visibility of Latinx labor, stereotypes around immigration, and the relationship between media, politics, and celebrity in the era of the reality star presidency. Two paparazzi will join Díaz for the discussion. The event will conclude with a reception. This event is organized by the CSRC and co-sponsored by the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, the UCLA Institute of American Cultures, the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, and the UCLA Department of Anthropology. Please RSVP to Eventbrite: http://bit.ly/2nNdIKU.
 
All CSRC events are free and do not require an RSVP unless otherwise noted. Programs are subject to change. For the most current information, visit the Events page on the CSRC website.
 

CSRC Library

Flores speaks at CYLC
On March 18, CSRC librarian and archivist Xaviera Flores attended the Sal Castro Foundation and Chicano Youth Leadership Conference Spring Career Fair. She was one of eleven guest speakers at the conference, and she spoke about her experiences and career path to becoming an academic librarian.
 
Flores presents at NACCS
On March 25, Xaviera Flores attended the National Association of Chicano and Chicana Studies Annual Conference (NACCS) in Irvine. She chaired the panel “All Power to the Archivists: Narratives in Action Against Colonialism” and presented the paper “Si Se Puede: Empowering the Chicana/o Community through Archives and Bilingual Access,” which touched on her previous work at Arizona State University, where she increased access to Spanish-only and bilingual collections by creating both English and Spanish database descriptions. In addition, she spoke about her work at the CSRC and how online resources and digitization are expanding access to archival materials. 
 
To schedule a tour of the CSRC Library, contact CSRC Librarian Xaviera Flores at xflores@chicano.ucla.edu.
 

CSRC Press

New anthology explores Chicana/o speculative literature
Altermundos: Latin@ Speculative Literature, Film, and Popular Culture, edited by Cathryn Josefina Merla-Watson and B. V. Olguín, is the first collection to explore Chicana/o and Latina/o speculative cultural production. Speculative fiction—encompassing both science fiction and fantasy—has emerged as a dynamic field within Chicana/o and Latina/o studies, producing new critical vocabularies and approaches to topics that include colonialism and modernity, immigration and globalization, race and gender.
 
Altermundos provides a comprehensive alternative to the view of speculative fiction as a largely white, male, Eurocentric, and heteronormative genre. It features original essays from more than twenty-five scholars as well as interviews, manifestos, short fiction, and new works from Chicana/o and Latina/o artists. Visit the CSRC website for the table of contents and ordering information.
 

Opportunities

2017 Getty Multicultural Undergraduate Internship: Preservation and Research at the CSRC
This paid summer internship at the CSRC is structured around current and ongoing CSRC projects in the arts. In addition to contributing to the CSRC’s mission to provide information resources on Chicano history and culture, the intern—who must be enrolled in an undergraduate program—will gain career-relevant archival experience.
 
Duties may include but are not limited to:
 
Arranging and describing collections
Uploading photographs and arts images onto the UCLA Digital Library
Describing and preserving digital objects
Creating finding aids using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) and Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
 
Applicants should submit a résumé and cover letter to Xaviera Flores, CSRC Archivist and Librarian, at xflores@chicano.ucla.edu.

Application deadline: April 28, 5:00 p.m. For more details about the MUI program, visit the Getty website.