CSRC Newsletter - May 2019

VOLUME 17,  NUMBER 8

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

When my grandfather died in the late 1970s, I came across my dad in his study one night. He was sitting at his desk looking inward. He turned to me and said, "I'm on the front line now. My father isn't out there ahead of me anymore. It's just me and death." My father knew how to sum things up in an axiomatic, yet also poetic way:

"Be right, be wrong, but be definite!"
"If you are going faster than them, they can't hit you from behind."
"You must have a philosophy, otherwise you are not a person."
"Be careful, people here don't like Mexicans."
"Don't let the bastards get you down!"
 

My father grew up in Alamogordo, New Mexico, in a large working-class family. With a high school degree he went on to become a journalist for the Associated Press who covered the Cuban Revolution, a public relations executive, a "business man," a mayoral candidate in Chicago, and, in off-hours, a poet, painter, dancer, and singer. We would watch football together on weekends and then go outside and toss the football back and forth in an empty field until it was too dark. And he enrolled the two of us in ballet lessons at the Ruth Page Academy. He was driven and easy going, righteous while also inclined toward the absurd. We were, he always said, "Mexican." But it never seemed that way in Mexico. I now have his extensive papers, photographs, and books, including a 1907 series of tiny paperbacks, “An Evening With: Burns, Tennyson, Irving, Lamb, Thackeray, Hawthorne, Longfellow,” that his father had given him as a child. Reading them, he saw a world outside the sawmills and apple orchards his family worked. And now he no longer stands between me and death. Saturnino Noriega, presente!

Chon A. Noriega
Director and Professor
 

NEWS

Lytle Hernandez named director of Bunche Center

The CSRC congratulates Kelly Lytle Hernandez, holder of the Thomas E. Lifka chair in history, on being named director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, effective July 2019. Since the 2017-18 academic year, Lytle Hernandez has served as interim director of the Bunche Center, which is one of the four ethnic studies research center in the Institute of American Cultures (IAC). The appointment was announced by IAC vice provost David K. Yoo on April 9. Lytle Hernandez is one of the nation’s leading historians of race, policing, immigration, and incarceration in the United States. She is a former associate director of the CSRC.

López named Mellon/ACLS Scholars & Society fellow

The CSRC congratulates Marissa K. López, associate professor of English and Chicana/o studies, CSRC faculty advisory committee member, and former CSRC associate director, on being named a 2019 fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) in the Mellon/ACLS Scholars and Society program. López will be in residence at the Los Angeles Public Library to conduct research on her latest project, “Picturing Mexican America: A Digital, Visual, Networked History of the Future.” As part of her fellowship, she will develop public programming on and off campus that will pertain to her project and will aim to foster greater understanding of the humanities and applications of a doctoral education beyond the academy. López’s new book, Racial Immanence: Chicanx Bodies beyond Representation, will be released in August by New York University Press.

Pérez publishes article on racist police humor

Raúl Pérez, assistant professor of sociology at the University of La Verne and CSRC visiting scholar, has published the article “From Insult to Estrangement and Injury: The Violence of Racist Police Jokes” in American Behavioral Scientist (access for subscribers only). The article, which Pérez co-authored with Geoff Ward, associate professor and associate chair of African and African American studies at Washington University in St. Louis, examines racially derogatory police jokes and how they foster the social acceptability of prejudice and discrimination and describes how they can cause harm across multiple contexts.  

Torres-Gil speaks at LBJ Washington Center

On April 29, Fernando Torres-Gil, professor of public policy and social welfare at UCLA, director of the UCLA Center for Policy and Research on Aging, and CSRC faculty associate, participated in the discussion “Beyond Immigration Politics: Preparing for the Aging of a Majority-Minority Nation” at the LBJ Washington Center at UT Austin. Also participating was Jacqueline L. Angel, professor in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at UT Austin and co-author with Torres-Gil of The Politics of a Majority-Minority Nation: Aging, Diversity and Immigration (Springer Publishing Company, 2018).

Aztlán Anthology Series wins IPPY

The Aztlán Anthology Series from CSRC Press has won a bronze medal for non-fiction book series in the 2019 Independent Publishers Book Awards. Books in the series, which present the scholarship of both established and emerging scholars, are drawn primarily from Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies and are widely used in college courses. The series currently boast six volumes; the most recent is The Aztlán Mexican Studies Reader, 1974–2016, edited by Héctor Calderón, professor in the UCLA Department of Spanish and Portuguese and faculty affiliate in the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies.

Gomez works acquired by MFAH

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) recently announced the acquisition of five works by Los Angeles–based artist Ramiro Gomez. In these paintings Gomez used acrylics to add Latina and Latino domestic workers to pages torn from glossy magazines that feature luxury homes. The five works were featured in the CSRC-organized exhibition Home—So Different, So Appealing at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and MFAH in 2017 and 2018.

New blog entry on the CSRC Post
In the latest blog entry for the CSRC Post, CSRC archives specialist Doug Johnson looks at papers, cartoons, and ephemera pertaining to the US Census and drawn from collections in the CSRC archives.

 

CSRC IN THE NEWS

“Reflections of a 68er”
CSRC assistant director emeritus Carlos Haro’s recent “Director’s Message,” which appeared in the April 2019 CSRC newsletter, discussed the opening at Theodore Roosevelt High School of an exhibition featuring photographs from CSRC collections that were taken during the 1968 student walkouts. The message was reprinted in a digital newsletter from Mónica García, president of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education and board representative for District 2, which includes Roosevelt High.  

Los Angeles Unified Board District 2 newsletter, April 16, 2019 (PDF)

“American Academy in Rome Announces New Rome Prize Winners and Italian Fellows”
The American Academy in Rome announced the winners of the 2019-20 Rome Prize and Italian Fellowships. CSRC director Chon A. Noriega was mentioned as being on the jury for applicants in the visual arts.   

American Academy in Rome press release, April 9, 2019 (PDF)

All “In the News” articles are available in PDF format on the CSRC website.

 

EVENTS

Lecture: Priscilla Ybarra presents “Who Stole the Planet: Colonization, Capital, and Enslavement”
Friday, May 10, 3:30 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
CSRC Library–144 Haines Hall
Priscilla Ybarra, associate professor of English at the University of North Texas, will explore how a consideration of environmental issues offers a way of studying commonalities and differences within the diversity of Latina/o/x literatures in a lecture titled “Who Stole the Planet.” Ybarra will argue that hierarchies established through colonization and capital have led to the destruction of the land as well as the domination of indigenous peoples and peoples of color. This event is co-sponsored by the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts at Loyola Marymount University, the UCLA Dean of Humanities, the UCLA Laboratory for Environmental Strategies, the UCLA Department of English, and the CSRC. A reception will follow the presentation.
 
Book Talk: Aurora Levins Morales presents Medicine Stories: Essays for Radicals
Tuesday, May 14, 5:00 p.m. –7:00 p.m.
UCLA Faculty Center, Hacienda Room
Please join us when Aurora Levins Morales, a Puerto Rican Ashkenazi writer, activist, poet, and visual artist, reads from the newly revised and expanded edition of her book Medicine Stories: Essays for Radicals (Duke University Press, 2019). A lifelong arts-based organizer who uses history as a mode of storytelling, Levins Morales has been active in many social justice movements. This event is organized by the UCLA Department of History and co-sponsored by the Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in United States History, the UCLA LGBT Campus Resource Center, the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy, the UCLA Center for the Study of Women, and the CSRC
 
UCLA Alumni Day Roundtable Discussion
Saturday, May 18, 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
CSRC Library–144 Haines Hall
Join us for a roundtable discussion featuring the directors of UCLA’s four ethnic studies centers, the only organized ethnic studies research units within the ten University of California campuses. The discussion will address the significant contributions to ethnic studies and social justice made during the past fifty years by the American Indian Studies Center, Asian American Studies Center, Bunche Center for African American Studies, and CSRC—all part of the UCLA Institute of American Cultures (IAC), which serves as a hub for the centers. Working closely with students, alumni, community partners, and faculty, the IAC and its centers explore emerging social and cultural realities in the United States through research projects and public programming as well as fellowships, grants, and scholarships. The fiftieth anniversary year of the IAC and its centers, 2019, is being celebrated as part of UCLA's centennial year. For more information on Alumni Day, including admission fees, and to see the full calendar, visit: https://alumniday.ucla.edu/
 
Book Talk: Laura Velasco Ortiz and Carlos Hernández Campos present Migración, trabajo y asentamiento en enclaves globales: Indígenas en Baja California Sur
Wednesday, May 22, 12:00 p.m.–1:30 p.m.
CSRC Library–144 Haines Hall

Laura Velasco Ortiz, professor of cultural studies at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, and Carlos Hernández Campos, statistical analyst at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, will discuss their 2018 book Migración, trabajo y asentamiento en enclaves globales: Indígenas en Baja California Sur. The book examines the living conditions of indigenous workers and residents who arrived in Baja, California, over the past three decades. This event is organized by the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment and co-sponsored by the Center for Mexican Studies and the CSRC.

Book Talk: Genevieve Carpio presents Collisions at the Crossroads: How Place and Mobility Make Race
Thursday, May 30, 4:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m.
CSRC Library – 144 Haines Hall
In her new book, Collisions at the Crossroads: How Place and Mobility Make Race (University of California Press, 2019), Genevieve Carpio, UCLA professor of Chicana/o studies and CSRC faculty advisory committee member, demonstrates how regional authorities constructed racial hierarchies in the Inland Empire by controlling the mobility of residents. Carpio argues that permitting some people to move freely while placing limits on the mobility of others, through restraints that ranged from bicycle ordinances and traffic checkpoints to the enforcement of immigration policy, shaped attitudes toward minority populations in the region. This event is organized by the UCLA César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies and the CSRC. Books will be available for purchase at the event. A reception will follow the presentation.
 
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 assists musicology students
In collaboration with Matthew Vest, music inquiry and research librarian at the UCLA School of Music, and Cesar Favila, assistant professor of musicology and CSRC faculty advisory committee member, CSRC librarian Xaviera Flores is working one-on-one with students taking Musicology (MUSCLG) 191G, “Mexican Soundscapes,” as they develop and research their final projects. The class, taught by Favila, focuses on the influence of Mexican music on American culture.
 
CARA finding aids updated
The finding aids for the CSRC’s two CARA (Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation) collections have been updated. CARA was a groundbreaking exhibition of Chicano and Chicana artists that originated at UCLA’s Wight Gallery in 1990. Over the course of three years, the exhibition, which included approximately 180 individual art works, traveled to ten US cities. The CSRC collections consist of information on the artists, including personal statements and photographs of their art, as well as essays that were intended for a catalog. In addition, the collections contain administrative records, including grant proposals and budget information, and information on the considerable educational outreach made in conjunction with the exhibition. The updated finding aids can be found on the Online Archive of California:
Sonidos de la Frontera: Music across Borders and Time, currently on view at the UCLA Music Library, highlights the Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Recordings, the world’s largest repository of commercially produced Mexican and Mexican American musical recordings. The exhibition provides a gateway to the collection by using a fraction of the music in combination with material from more than a dozen of the CSRC’s archival collections to present significant moments in Mexican and Mexican American music history. Curated chiefly by CSRC archives specialist Doug Johnson, in collaboration with CSRC librarian Xaviera Flores and music inquiry and research librarian Matthew Vest, the exhibition includes photographs, posters, clippings, pamphlets, flyers, songbooks, and audio recordings in a variety of formats. CSRC collections represented in the exhibition include the Humberto Cané Papers, the Pedro J. Gonzalez Papers, and the Anthony Beltramo Collection. The exhibition, which is a collaboration between the Music and CSRC Libraries, will be on view outside the Music Library Reading Room at the Schoenberg Music Building through summer 2019. The Music Library is open seven days a week during regular session. For hours, click here. An online version of Sonidos de la Frontera: Music across Borders and Time, featuring images of artifacts and links to recordings, is now available as a UCLA Library Research Guide. The recordings in the Frontera Collection are available to the public through the University of California’s Digital Library Program.
 
Exhibitions with CSRC loans
The following off-campus exhibitions opening this month or currently on view include images and artworks from CSRC collections and publications:
 
To schedule a tour of the CSRC Library, contact CSRC librarian Xaviera Flores at floresx@ucla.edu or fill out the form on the CSRC Library Services page.

 

CSRC PRESS

Aztlán, the premier journal of Chicana/o studies, is inviting new submissions! Aztlán publishes scholarship relevant to Chicana/o studies from all disciplines and interdisciplinary research as well. We welcome submissions in English and Spanish. We are seeking submissions for all three areas of the journal:
 
Essays

Our essays are research-based and come from a wide variety of disciplines—literature, sociology, history, political science, the arts, linguistics, gender studies, ethnic studies, and many other fields—but they always engage the Chicana/o experience. All essays are peer reviewed and are frequently revised to meet the journal’s standards for quality research. Essays typically run about 10,000–12,000 words in length.

Dossiers

The dossier section provides a forum for multiple and shorter engagements with a specific theme that examines an aspect of Chicana/o studies; this might be an object of study, theoretical or disciplinary questions, a methodology, or one scholar’s work. The dossier section, while still of a scholarly nature, is designed to be exploratory, provocative, or experimental in approach. Aztlán will consider working with a guest curator—a scholar who wishes to create a dossier theme and can help manage dossier development. Contact Heather Birdsall at hbirdsall@chicano.ucla.edu to explore this opportunity.

Book Reviews

If you are interested in writing a book review for us, we will gladly consider suggested titles, or we can recommend a book that matches your field of interest. To inquire about reviews, contact our book review coordinator at revieweditor@chicano.ucla.edu.

To submit: All submissions should be sent to our submission inbox at submissions@chicano.ucla.edu. For complete information about Aztlán and our submission guidelines, please visit the CSRC website. Please direct queries to Heather Birdsall, assistant editor, at hbirdsall@chicano.ucla.edu. 

 

Opportunity

Job opening: CSRC Business Assistant
The CSRC is looking for a full-time business assistant! Under the direct supervision of the budget analyst, the business assistant will provide administrative fiscal support; act as a contact for customers and vendors for the CSRC Press; process time-reporting for biweekly and monthly employees; process purchases in BruinBuy; and other administrative duties as assigned. Ability to speak, read, and write Spanish is preferred. Ability to lift forty pounds is required. To apply, visit www.ucla.edu/about/careers and search for requisition 30182. Applications will be accepted through May 10, 2019.