CSRC Newsletter - March 2006

Exactly one year ago in this newsletter, I wrote about Chantico—Starbucks’s new chocolate drink, inspired by the Aztecs—which I recommended despite some skepticism about its cultural politics. At the time, I wondered tongue-in-cheek if the Chantico media campaign was an attempt to reach the ever-elusive Latino chocolate-drinking market.

Absolutely not, wrote Starbuck’s director of public affairs, who assured me that they wanted the drink to reach a global market: “Passion for chocolate is very similar to passion for coffee and it has a rich history of connecting people. Chocolate has been consumed as a beverage for 90 percent of its history and chocolate houses in Europe predated coffee houses. We wanted to share this experience and tradition with all of our customers.”

Alas, this month we learned that Starbucks had failed in this effort and that Chantico would be removed from the menu. Apparently, customers objected to the fact that they could not “personalize” the drink. It came in one size and could not be modified with spices, foamed milk, or wheatgrass shots. We’re a long way from Henry Ford, who is rumored to have said, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.”

Indeed, our current tastes call for exotic names and stunning concoctions—like the new Marble Mocha Macchiato, perhaps sprinkled with nutmeg—that put us at some remove from the role that black (coffee) and brown (cocoa) beans have played in “connecting people” since the early modern era. We want that buzz, and we want to believe that it is a result of our highly individual tastes and choices, not the “discovery” of the Americas and other parts of the world.

 

 

Blanx (1984), an independent film by Harry Gamboa Jr., has been selected for Los Angeles–Paris, an exhibition at Centre Pompidou in Paris, France, March 8 through July 17, 2006. Gamboa is an internationally recognized writer and visual artist and a cofounder of Asco, a Los Angeles–based collective of Chicano artists. Los Angeles–Paris comprises the work of over sixty artists who were active in Los Angeles from the 1960s through 1985. The exhibition includes assemblage, pop art, Californian minimalism, conceptual art, performance art, installations, and video and experimental film. Blanx is contained in volume 2 of the Chicano Cinema and Media Art Series published by the CSRC Press; the original film is archived at the CSRC Library.

 

The CSRC will hold its annual Latino Education Summit on Friday, March 24, 2006. Its purpose is to create collaboration between the UCLA campus and the greater Los Angeles community in improving the Latina/o educational pipeline. The goals of the summit include identifying how Latino students make successful transitions through the primary, secondary, and postsecondary levels of education; compiling policy recommendations and practical solutions; and disseminating that research to educators, researchers, policy makers, and community leaders. The summit will achieve these goals by creating a forum of discussion among UCLA education faculty, invited scholars, educators, community representatives, policy makers, and students.

 

A book signing will be held for Professor Tara J. Yosso’s new publication, Critical Race Counterstories Along the Chicana/Chicano Educational Pipeline. The event will be held on Friday, March 24, 2006, at 5:30 p.m. at the UCLA Faculty Center, Hacienda Room. For more information, email the CSRC.

 

The following collections were recently received by the CSRC. When they are processed and have finding aids, we will announce that.

 

Given to the CSRC Archive by series producer and writer Dennis E. Leoni, the collection consists of all the scripts, production books, and videos of the first two seasons of this ground-breaking Latino-themed television series. The collection's videos will be deposited at the UCLA Film and Television Archive in Hollywood; the papers will be preserved by the CSRC Archive and housed at the Southern Regional Library Facility. The CSRC would like to thank Mr. Leoni for his generous and culturally important gift and we look forward to providing assistance with the release of the series on DVD.

 

This collection consists of papers, photographs, and bound volumes of UCLA’s vital Latina/o newspaper, La Gente de Aztlan, from 1972 onward.

 

This collection is on loan to the CSRC as part of an arts scanning project. It consists of hundreds of drawings, studies and original graphics created by the talented artist and designer, Andy Zermeño.

 

Latino immigrants face a greater risk of HIV due to lack of information, health services, and culturally relevant resources, states a new policy brief by Evelyn González-Figueroa and Deborah Koniak-Griffin of the UCLA School of Nursing. Their study of adolescent parents in Los Angeles suggests ways to develop programs and processes to better serve this at-risk population.

 

Academic institutions facilitate the flow of knowledge, skills, and students through the educational pipeline. Yet, no matter how one measures educational outcomes, Chicana/os suffer the lowest educational attainment of any major racial or ethnic group in the United States. Written by Tara J. Yosso and Daniel G. Solórzano, this brief calls for the repair of the serious and persistent leaks in the Chicana/o educational pipeline. It will be available by Friday, March 24, 2006, in time for the Latino Education Summit. For more information on the upcoming policy brief, click here.

 

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.

 

The Institute of American Cultures invites applications for support of research on African Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans, and Chicana/os for 2006–07. UCLA faculty, staff, graduate students, and IAC postdoctoral fellows are eligible to apply. The IAC particularly encourages proposals that will make a contribution to the ethnic studies centers. Prior to submission of the application, applicants should discuss their proposal with the relevant assistant director(s) or director(s) of the appropriate center(s). Deadline: 5:00 p.m., Friday, April 28, 2006. Awards will be announced by the third week in June. To obtain information about IAC research grants and applications, visit the website. For Chicano studies research grants, email Carlos Manuel Haro, or call 310-267-5290.

 

The CSRC, in cooperation with the IAC Research Grant Program in ethnic studies, announces 2006–07 grants for the promotion of policy-relevant research on Chicano and Latino issues in California by UCLA faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students. To be considered for a Latino policy studies research grant, please submit a proposal through the Institute of American Cultures Research Grant Program and check both the Chicana/o Studies and the Latino Policy Studies boxes on the application. Grants of up to $7,000 for faculty and postdoctoral research and $3,000 for graduate student projects are available. For more information and to download an IAC grant application, click here. Deadline: 5:00 p.m., Friday, April 28, 2006. Awards will be announced in early June. For further information, email Carlos M. Haro or call him at (310) 267-5290.

 

This four-week seminar, from June 18 to July 14, 2006, is designed to provide participants with the tools to enhance their leadership, research, and creative skills through a series of lectures, panel sessions, and practical experiences at the Smithsonian Institution and other cultural organizations within the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Participation is free and includes the cost of round-trip travel to Washington, DC, and housing accommodations for the duration of the seminar. Open to graduate students enrolled or engaged in the fields of Latino and Latin American art, culture, and history. Application form is available on the SCLI website. Deadline: Friday, March 24, 2006.

 

UC graduate students in good standing, who are degree candidates or plan to advance to candidacy before July 1st of the application year and expect to receive a PhD within two years, can apply for a grant of $12,000 for up to two years for travel and research costs. The dissertation research should involve collaboration with a Mexican institution and/or scholars, or address issues of importance to Mexico or the Mexican-origin population in California. Awards are tenable in the U.S. and Mexico. Applicants must obtain approval from faculty advisor, academic standing must be certified by the Graduate Division, and the application must be submitted through the Grants and Contracts or the Research Office. Campus deadline: Tuesday, March 7, 2006. For more information, see the UCMexus website.

 

Current graduate students may apply for the David C. Lizarraga Fellowship Program if they are permanent residents of unincorporated East Los Angeles, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Huntington Park, City of Los Angeles, Montebello, Monterey Park, Pico Rivera, Pomona and the Inland Empire, Santa Ana, South Gate, or other communities selected by the LINC TELACU Education Foundation for inclusion in the program. The applicant must be a first-generation college student from a low-income family who has one year remaining in a graduate program and who is attending one of the partnering colleges. In addition, the applicant must have a minimum GPA of 2.5 and financial need. Grants range from $500 to $3,000. Up to six fellowships will be awarded to researchers who demonstrate the potential to be community leaders and the ability to help TELACU rebuild the communities it serves. Deadline: Saturday, April 1, 2006. For applications, click here.

 

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 listproc@weber.sscnet.ucla.edu 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.