CSRC Newsletter - January 2009

Volume 7, Number 4

Director's Message

Happy New Year! The CSRC ushers in 2009 with more publications, projects, and events than ever before. We look forward to the release later this month of our research study on hate speech in commercial radio; the release of three books in our A Ver: Revisioning Art History series, two books in our Chicano Archives series, and our long-awaited collection on Selena (!); new collections and initiatives at the CSRC Library, including the launch of our online digital archives of music and images; and our fourth annual Latino Education Summit in May. In late spring we will also begin our yearlong celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the Chicano Studies Research Center at UCLA. Hoping to see you at one of our events this year!
 
Chon A. Noriega
Director and Professor
 

News

Phantom Sightings in Mexico City
Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement, the first comprehensive consideration of Chicano art in almost two decades, opened at the Tamayo Museum in Mexico City on October 16 and continues through January 9. Go online to view recent photographs and a video taken at the exhibition. LA Weekly included Phantom Sightings in its list of mixed media highlights for 2008. The exhibition, which originated at LACMA, was curated by CSRC Director Chon A. Noriega, Rita Gonzalez, and Howard N. Fox.
 

Events

Presentation on The Latino Education Crisis
The CSRC, in conjunction with the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles and the UCLA Migration Studies Group, will host a book signing and discussion on The Latino Education Crisis: The Consequences of Failed Social Policies. Just published by Harvard University Press, this is the first book to take a comprehensive look at the social and educational landscape for Latinos in the United States. Co-authors Patricia Gándara, CRP co-director and professor of education at UCLA, and Frances Contreras, professor of education at the University of Washington, will be joined by UCLA sociology professor Rubén Hernández-León, who will serve as discussant. The book signing, discussion, and a reception will take place on Wednesday, February 18, 3:00–5:00 p.m., at the CSRC Library (144 Haines).
 
Screening of Father G and the Homeboys
During the winter quarter the CSRC will host a special screening of the documentary Father G and the Homeboys by John Bohn. The film chronicles the work of Father Gregory Boyle and his non-profit organization Homeboys Industries, which provides employment opportunities to former gang members as they redirect their lives. The event will include a presentation of highlights from the Homeboys Industries Papers. This collection, archived at the CSRC, contains correspondence, administrative papers, and documentary videos.
 

CSRC Library and Archive

Rigoberto González Papers
CSRC has received a collection of papers from poet, novelist, playwright, and memoirist Rigoberto González. Mr. González has been the recipient of many prestigious literary awards, including Guggenheim and National Endowment of the Arts fellowships. He writes a monthly book review for the El Paso Times and is currently an associate professor of English at Rutgers–Newark. We look forward to making his papers available to researchers and students.
 
New Spanish-Language Titles
Nearly fifty new books in Spanish were purchased last month at the Feria Internacional del Libro in Guadalajara, Mexico. This acquisition will augment the library’s existing collections on music, border studies, immigration, mestizaje, and gender. A list of the new titles is available on the CSRC Library’s webpage.
 
Collections Update
Collections that have recently been processed and preserved are those of America en la Mira, Isaac Artenstein, Gronk, Joe Ortiz, Charles Rozier, and Anthony Beltramo. Collections that have recently been published (or republished) are the Latino Theater Initiative/Center Theatre Group Papers, the Oscar Castillo Papers, the Grace Davis Papers, the Candelario Mendoza Record Collection, the Joe Ortiz Papers, and La Gente de Aztlan Archive.
 

CSRC Press

Available This Month
The second volume in the A Ver: Revisioning Art History series will ship from the printer in mid-January. Yolanda M. López, by Karen Mary Davalos, explores how López’s experiences have informed her art, which ranges from posters to portraiture and the highly influential Guadalupe Series to later installations. Bruce Robertson, professor of art history and architecture at the University of California, Santa Barbara, notes that Professor Davalos “makes a forceful and convincing argument that López is best understood as a conceptual artist—moving her and this canonical work from a rather simple representational relationship with Chicano/Chicana civil rights to a more complex understanding of how images work within political struggles.” Yolanda M. López can be ordered from the A Ver series distributor, University of Minnesota Press.
 
Teacher’s Guide for Gronk
Check out the innovative activities designed by arts educators Veronica Alvarez and Theresa Sotto to accompany Gronk, the first volume in CSRC’s A Ver: Revisioning Art History series. The Gronk teacher’s guide presents three lessons with hands-on activities for students in grades 6 through 12. The activities draw on the book’s text and images, exploring the artist’s life and work and touching on themes such as collaboration, self-identity, and neighborhood exploration. Each lesson is keyed to national assessment standards. The guide is available online, where it can be downloaded or printed. Look for the teacher’s guide for Yolanda M. López in February.
 

Opportunities

CSRC Postdoctoral Fellowship/Visiting Scholar Program
The CSRC announces the application process for its 2009–10 postdoctoral fellowship/visiting scholar program, which is offered in cooperation with the UCLA Institute of American Cultures (IAC). CSRC postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars are to be in residence during their tenure and to make a contribution to the research activities of the center, including teaching a ten-week undergraduate or graduate seminar based on the proposed research project. While all proposals related to Chicano-Latino studies are welcome, for 2009–10 preference will be given to applications focusing on the Mexican/Mexican American presence in Los Angeles art since 1945, the subject of a major CSRC research effort that receives support from the Getty Foundation. Applications are due by Friday, January 16; recipients will be notified in April. Submit applications to CSRC Assistant Director Javier Iribarren. For more information about how to apply, please go to the IAC’s website.
 

Contacts

UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center • 193 Haines Hall • Box 951544 • Los Angeles, CA 90095-1544 Campus Mail Code: 154403 • Tel: (310) 825-2363 • Fax: (310) 206-1784
 

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