CSRC Newsletter - December 2014

With 46 percent of eligible faculty voting, the final count was a squeaker. Three hundred and thirty-two faculty members voted in favor, 303 voted against, and 24 abstained, but by the end of the day on October 31, the UCLA College of Letters and Science faculty had approved a new undergraduate diversity course requirement. The CSRC and the other ethnic studies centers in the Institute of American Cultures were vocal advocates of the proposal. I, in my capacity as chair of UCLA’s Committee on Diversity and Equal Opportunity, had reached out aggressively to my colleagues. Then, on November 20, the Academic Senate passed the resolution 85-18, followed by a unanimous show of support by the Undergraduate Students Association Council this past Tuesday. Needless to say, my ethnic studies colleagues and I are thrilled with the outcome.

At the CSRC we agree with the diversity initiative’s proposal that “in an increasingly diverse, complex, and interconnected global society a modern university must provide its students with the ability to understand the perspectives of others whose views, backgrounds, and experiences may differ from their own,” and we agree further that students in the College be required to complete, with a grade of C or better, one course that seriously engages diversity issues. This new requirement, which will go into effect next year, is actually quite modest in scope. It will not add to the number of courses students need to graduate; many courses already on offer will satisfy the requirement; and the chancellor will commit resources toward TA-ships, lectureships, and course development.

A vast and growing body of research has demonstrated the power of diversity course requirements. Studies, for example, by Thomas F. Nelson Laird (Research in Higher Education, 2005), Nelson Laird, Mark E. Engberg, and Sylvia Hurtado (Journal of Higher Education, 2005), and Mitchell J. Chang (Journal of General Education, 2002), show that these courses can boost students’ academic self-confidence, increase civic engagement, and reduce racism, respectively. Given these findings, and given the minimal impact that implementation will have on faculty and student time and resources, the number of faculty voting against the proposal is troubling. Such resistance foregrounds the continuing importance of the CSRC’s community programs and research projects. Our mission—to create a broad base of knowledge about and opportunities for Chicana/os and Latina/os in California and beyond—works in concert with the purpose of the diversity requirement and, in turn, with the broader UC mission. The CSRC is proud to be part of an academic community that not only recognizes the value of our work and the efforts of our colleagues across campus but also understands UCLA’s responsibility to teach the future leaders of our ever-more diverse society.

 

Spotlight: Luis Cruz Azaceta

From national crises such as the AIDS epidemic to the devastation and dislocation caused by Hurricane Katrina, Cuban-born artist Luis Cruz Azaceta responds to what biographer Alejandro Anreus calls the “wounds and screams” of the human condition. The milestone tenth volume in the A Ver: Revisioning Art History series from the CSRC Press, Luis Cruz Azaceta is the first book to examine this widely collected artist, who for over forty years has created graphically powerful paintings, mixed-media pieces, and installations that address national crises as well as the realities of exile and life after the diaspora. For more information and to purchase copies, visit the CSRC website.

 

Edward R. Roybal receives Presidential Medal of Freedom

Edward R. Roybal, a Mexican American who, beginning in 1963, served thirty years as a U.S. congressman representing California’s 25th District, posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 24. His daughter, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, accepted the award, the nation’s highest civilian honor, at a White House ceremony. An NBC News video of the ceremonies featuring the Roybal presentation can be viewed here. The CSRC archive has the Edward R. Roybal Papers, 1919-2003, which consist of historical photographs, correspondence, and personal and organizational papers reflecting Roybal’s family history and years of public service as a Los Angeles city councilman and U.S. congressman.

 

Richard Duardo, presente!

The CSRC mourns the passing of printmaker and artist Richard Duardo, a key figure in the L.A. art scene starting in the 1970s. Duardo’s work was recently featured in the CSRC’s L.A. Xicano exhibitions. Shortly after the announcement of the artist’s death, CSRC director Chon A. Noriega wrote on Facebook, “I’m in shock at the news of Richard Duardo’s passing. He was one of the most dynamic artists, always figuring out how to make something happen, and working with so many artists across the full artistic and social spectrum of Los Angeles. He was also one of the best storytellers about the L.A. art scene.” Duardo was interviewed by Karen Mary Davalos in 2007 for the CSRC’s Oral Histories Series. Topics covered during their wide-ranging discussion include the artists’ collective Centro de Arte Público, Duardo’s work with Sister Karen at Self Help Graphics & Art, and his fine art print studio, which he founded in 1978 as Hecho in Aztlán. The interview is available for downloading (PDF) from the CSRC website. A public prayer vigil for Richard Duardo will be held Sunday, December 7, 7:00–8:30 p.m., at the Chapel on the Hill at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills (6300 Forest Lawn Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90068). The Los Angeles Times ran an obituary on Duardo that can be found here.

 

Munro named AAAS fellow

The CSRC congratulates distinguished UCLA linguistics professor Pamela Munro for being among the fellows named this year by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Munro, who co-authored the first Zapotec-English dictionary, which was published by the CSRC Press in 1999, is being honored for her work constructing dictionaries, her significant contributions to linguistic theory, and her support of language programs with Native American communities. For more information about Munro and the other four UCLA professors recently named AAAS fellows, visit the UCLA Newsroom here.

 

Noriega and Iribarren publish essay on hate speech

“Studying Hate Speech on Commercial Talk Radio,” by Chon A. Noriega and Javier Iribarren, appears in Shock and Hate: The Legal, Economic, and Social, a special issue of the Journal of Radio and Audio Media published in November. The essay is drawn from the reports written for the CSRC's research project Hate Speech in the Media, for which Noriega and Iribarren served as principal investigators. The reports are available in PDF format on the CSRC website.

 

World AIDS Day panel to discuss “Queer Latinidad”

“Queer Latinidad: Histories of AIDS Consciousness from Los Angeles,” sponsored by the Munroe Center for Social Inquiry at Pitzer College, will take place on World AIDS Day, December 1, at 2 p.m. in Pitzer's Benson Auditorium. Monica Palacios, Joey Terrill, and Robb Hernandez will discuss visible queer Latina/o artists, scholars, and activists who have shaped social consciousness through their creative forms of expression in Los Angeles. Hernandez, an assistant professor of English at UC Riverside, is the author of the essay in VIVA Records, 1970–2000: Lesbian and Gay Latino Artists of Los Angeles (2013), which will be available for purchase at the event. Hernandez also authored the essay in The Fire of Life: The Robert Legorreta–Cyclona Collection (2009). Both volumes are in the CSRC Press’s Chicano Archives series, which focuses attention on CSRC collections. For more information about the panel, which is part of a weeklong schedule of activities and events supporting World AIDS day, visit the Munroe Center’s website.

 

CSRC on Twitter!

For daily updates on public programs, publications, archive projects, calls for papers, grant information, impact, and more, follow @UCLA_CSRC.

 

New videos on CSRC YouTube

On November 5, CSRC director Chon A. Noriega was honored by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) with an Excellence in Community Service award. The video that MALDEF produced to pay tribute to Noriega at the awards gala is viewable on CSRC YouTube here.

 

In addition, video recordings of many of our fall quarter public programs are also now available for viewing and sharing:

 

“Richard Duardo, L.A. Master Printmaker and Artist, Has Died”

LA Observed announced the passing of L.A. artist Richard Duardo and included a link to the 2007 oral history of the artist published by CSRC Press.

LA Observed, November 12, 2014 (PDF)

 

“Luis Cruz Azaceta in New Orleans (and in Print)”

Luis Cruz Azaceta, the tenth volume in the A Ver series from the CSRC Press, was cited on La Bloga in a post celebrating a current solo show by the Cuban American artist.

La Bloga, November 6, 2014 (PDF)

 

“Chon Noriega Honored for Excellence in Community Service”

UCLA Newsroom reported on CSRC director Chon A. Noriega’s receipt of a 2014 Excellence in Community Service Award from MALDEF’s Los Angeles chapter.

UCLA Newsroom, Faculty Bulletin Board, November 4, 2014 (PDF)

 

“UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Presents Book Talk: Lowriting on 11/18”

Broken Sword Publications promoted their book event, held in collaboration with the CSRC, on the BSP blog.

Broken Sword Publications website, November 4, 2014 (PDF)

 

All ‘In the News’ articles are available in PDF format on the CSRC website.

 

 

Project update: Roberto Sifuentes Papers

CSRC work-study library assistant Estefany Garcia has been diligently working on processing and describing the Roberto Sifuentes Papers. Professor Sifuentes was a member of the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at CSU Northridge for thirty-five years and a graduate student in the UCLA Department of Spanish in the 1960s and 1970s. An active participant in the Chicano Movement, Sifuentes contributed to the establishment of the CSRC, Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, and UCLA’s High Potential Program (the predecessor of the Academic Advancement Program). The collection includes papers that relate to his activism and research, plus ephemera and serials dating from the 1960s to the 1990s. They were donated to the CSRC Library in 2013 by his widow, Loretta, who is a UCLA alumna and cofounder of the UCLA Chicano Law Review. To learn more about this collection, please contact the CSRC librarian, Lizette Guerra, at lguerra@chicano.ucla.edu.

 

Guerrero exhibition in final weeks

That's Entertainment: Dan Guerrero and the Making of a Hollywood Original, now on view at the CSRC Library, centers on the life of a man Hispanic magazine named “one of the twenty-five most powerful Latinos in Hollywood.” Son of the legendary musician Lalo Guerrero, Dan Guerrero is an award-winning television and live event producer, a Broadway talent agent, a Latino and LGBTQ activist, and a writer and performer. The exhibition includes documentary images of Guerrero’s youth in East Los Angeles, his years in the New York theater, his return to Los Angeles as a Hollywood producer, and his work as an outspoken activist for the Latino and LGBTQ communities. His lifelong friendship with Carlos Almaraz, the late celebrated Chicano visual artist, is also represented. The materials for this exhibition are taken from the Dan Guerrero Research Collection at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and the Dan Guerrero Collection on Latino Entertainment and the Arts at the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA) in the UCSB Library’s Department of Special Collections. The exhibition runs through December 19 and is open to the public during regular library hours, Monday–Friday, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

 

To learn more about CSRC collections and projects please email your queries to the CSRC librarian, Lizette Guerra, at lguerra@chicano.ucla.edu.

 

CSRC Press holiday book sale!

Give the gift of books! CSRC Press books are now 50 percent off (plus tax and shipping) through December 19. Stop by 183 Haines Hall, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. or 1:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m. or contact Darling Sianez, press support, at support@chicano.ucla.edu or 310-825-3428. Browse all of our titles on our website. Please note: Books in the A Ver series and subscriptions to Aztlán are not included in the sale.

 

New home for Aztlán

Aztlán's online home is moving from MetaPress to ingentaconnect early next year. Subscribers will enjoy ingentaconnect's state-of-the-art functionality, including RSS feeds for new issues, easy citation export, interlinking between articles, and social bookmarking. And, as always, subscribers have full access to every issue of Aztlán, from Spring 1970 through the present. If you are a current subscriber—individual or institutional—you will receive an email alert from the CSRC within the next several weeks that will provide information about when Aztlán’s new hosting site will go live and how to access the journal through the ingentaconnect research platform.

 

IUPLR Mellon Fellowships for UCLA doctoral students with a Chicana/o or Latina/o research focus

The UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) is pleased to announce a new “IUPLR Mellon Fellowship” at UCLA for doctoral students completing a Chicana/o or Latina/o studies–focused dissertation based on humanities disciplines and methods. At least one fellowship will be awarded at UCLA for 2015-16. The fellowship includes a $25,000 stipend, travel support to attend IUPLR conferences to present research, and participation in a two-week summer institute. The fellowship is intended to facilitate completion of the dissertation and to provide professional development workshops and mentoring.

 

The Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR), with support from the Andrew G. Mellon Foundation, will select six fellows through five designated research centers: the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, the Center for Mexican American Studies at University of Texas–Austin, the Dominican Studies Institute and the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at City University of New York, and the Latin American and Latino Studies Program at University of Illinois–Chicago. The CSRC is a founding member of the IUPLR, which was established in 1983.

 

Who is eligible? Applicants must have advanced to candidacy, be completing a dissertation focused on Chicana/o or Latina/o studies in the humanities at UCLA, and planning to pursue a career in teaching or research. Applicants must have completed all degree requirements and have a portion of the dissertation already drafted.

During the fellowship year, recipients must be registered and enrolled in at least twelve units during the entire academic year. Fellows may not be employed at UCLA more than 25 percent time.

 

Application materials:

NOTE: Recommendation letters must be sent by the authors, not the applicant, directly to the contact below by the application deadline.

 

Application materials must be submitted by January 2, 2015, 11:59 p.m., PST. Decisions will be made by January 30, 2015.  Selected fellows and mentors will attend the IUPLR Siglo XXI Conference, University of Notre Dame, April 23–25, 2015, and the IUPLR Summer Institute in Chicago, Summer 2015. Participation is mandatory. Fellowship stipends will begin July 1, 2015.

 

Application materials must be submitted by email as PDFs. PDFs may be combined or sent individually. For your protection, please include your first initial and last name within each file name (ex: REpstein_FullApplication).

 

Email queries and application materials to:

Rebecca Epstein, PhD

CSRC Communications and Academic Programs Officer

repstein@chicano.ucla.edu

 

IAC Visiting Researcher/Scholar and Graduate/Predoctoral Fellowships for 2015-16

The Institute of American Cultures (IAC) makes funds available annually through its Visiting Researcher/Scholar and fellowship programs. These awards have resulted in the publication of hundreds of books, monographs, and articles as well as the completion of many dissertations, master’s theses, and MFA film projects. They have contributed significantly to the fund of new knowledge about America’s underrepresented populations.

 

IAC Visiting Researcher/Scholar and Graduate/Predoctoral Fellowships are competitive awards that support scholarships on African Americans, American Indian, Asian Americans, and Chicanas/os. The acceptance of a fellowship carries with it a commitment to contribute to the research activities of the sponsoring ethnic studies research center and, in some cases, to teach a ten-week seminar based on the fellow’s research.

 

Online applications are now available. Applications are due February 9, 2015 (revision to previous deadline).  For more information including a link to the applications, visit the following pages on the IAC site:

 

Visiting Researcher and Visiting Scholar Program in Ethnic Studies: http://www.iac.ucla.edu/fellowships_visitingscholar.html

 

Graduate and Predoctoral Fellowship in Ethnic Studies: http://www.iac.ucla.edu/fellowships_graduate.html