CSRC Newsletter February 2008

Volume 6, Number 5

Director's Message

Last month I learned from a Mexican diplomat that there is still a Mexican American candidate left in the U.S. presidential primaries: Mitt Romney! Furthermore, Romney is eligible for Mexican citizenship, whereas someone like me (a third-generation Chicano) is not. On January 29, the CSRC, in conjunction with the UCLA Office of the Chancellor, hosted a dinner for Carlos González Gutiérrez, Executive Director of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad at Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr. González Gutiérrez, who was on campus for one week as a UC Regents Lecturer, represents a new policy perspective on the part of Mexico toward the Mexican population in the United States. Suffice it to say, in the past Mexico has often been as conflicted about immigrants and immigration as the United States, pitting economic necessity against social and political hostility. Mr. González Gutiérrez has advanced new thinking about Mexico’s relations to the Mexican American population, as evidenced in his fascinating recent article in the Journal of American History, “Fostering Identities: Mexico’s Relations with Its Diaspora.” What most impressed me about Mr. González Gutiérrez is his willingness for honest dialogue that takes into account the best interests of both nations and their various populations. That is a good place to start.

So what about Mitt Romney? It turns out his great-grandfather was a polygamous Mormon who evaded prosecution by crossing the border into Mexico with his family, including his son Gaskell, Mitt’s grandfather (see reference). George Wilcken Romney, Mitt’s father, was born in 1907. The Romneys re-entered the United States in 1912, during the Mexican Revolution (although some relatives still live there). In other words, the Romneys violated federal law, and rather than face the music they fled the United States, crossing illegally into another country, where their Mexico-born descendants acquired the rights of citizenship in the host country. Sound familiar? Since the Mexican constitution now allows the children of Mexican citizens to petition for Mexican citizenship, Mitt Romney could become not only the first U.S. president of Mexican descent but also the first U.S. president to be a citizen of another country! I raise this possibility not as a constitutional question, but rather as one about the need for some perspective on immigration. The gander expects something that it denies the goose; but on this issue, they’re both cooked.

Chon A. Noriega

Director and Professor

News

Change in Library Staff

The CSRC Library and Archive would like to note the departure of our interim librarian, Greg Hom. We are grateful for his immense contribution to the Library and the Center since the untimely death of Librarian Yolanda Retter Vargas. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors. The Center would also like to welcome Lizette Guerra as our new interim librarian. A recent graduate of the UCLA Department of Information Studies and a native Angelino, Ms. Guerra will be serving the needs of students and researchers at the Library as well as supporting the archive’s metadata initiatives and cataloging needs. We look forward to a successful collaboration with Ms. Guerra.

Thinking Gender Conference

The UCLA Center for the Study of Women, in conjunction with the USC Center for Feminist Research, presented the 18th Annual Thinking Gender Graduate Student Research Conference on Friday, February 1, at the UCLA Faculty Center. Thinking Gender is a public conference highlighting graduate student feminist research on women, sexuality, and gender across all disciplines and historical periods. CSRC is delighted to have been a co-sponsor of this event.

CSRC Events

Adelina Anthony Talk and Performance
On Thursday, February 7, 4:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m., the UCLA Center for Performance Studies, in association with the CSRC, will present “Adelina Anthony: Mastering Sex and Tortillas, A Talk/Performance” at the CSRC Library, 144 Haines Hall. Ms. Anthony, a Xicana lesbian and multidisciplinary artista, will speak about her work and perform excerpts from her hit show. Her work addresses such issues as colonization, queerness, feminism, trauma, memory, gender, race/ethnicity, sexuality, and migration. A reception will follow.The event is co-sponsored by the LGBT Studies Program.

Performance by Nao Bustamante
“Pathetic Instructions and the Longevity of Exchange,” a performance by Nao Bustamante, will be held on Thursday, February 28, in the CSRC Library, 144 Haines Hall, 4:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m. Ms. Bustamante is an internationally known performance and video artist. Her work encompasses performance art, sculpture, installation, and video. She has performed in galleries, museums, universities, and underground sites all around the world. A reception will follow the performance.

Celebrate AAP’s Anniversary
On Thursday, February 28, UCLA’s Academic Advancement Program (AAP) will celebrate its thirty-fifth anniversary in a ceremony in Royce Hall at 7:00 p.m. AAP is the nation’s largest and most successful university diversity program. Among the AAP alumni to be honored are Devon Carbado and Saul Sarabia, both UCLA law faculty; Laura Romero, Marguerita Lightfoot, and Tara Yasso, educational professionals who received their PhD from UCLA’s Graduate School of Education; Daphne Calmes, Associate Dean at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, who received a master’s degree in public health; Jacquelyn Sims, a graduate of the Anderson Graduate School of Management; Judith Mitoma, a faculty member in the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures; and Carlos Vigon, an engineering graduate who is now the CEO of Wilshire Holding. To RVSP, click here.

CSRC Library & Archive

New Works from Self Help Graphics
Self-Help Graphics & Art has donated ten recent prints produced at its facilities to the CSRC Library and Archive. These prints (and the artists) are: Cyber Mexica New Year (2006), by Nuke & One; Looking for the Birds (2006), by Ami Motevalli; Mexica New Year ’07 (2007), by Kay Brown; The Big Dime (2006), by Alberto Ibarra Del Alto; Transcendental Love, by Wayne Healy (2006); Corky (2006) and Speedy (2007), by Raul Caracoza; and Glare (2006) and SKB-SHG (2007), by Miguel Angel Reyes. Self Help Graphics & Art is a community arts center located in East Los Angeles. It is internationally recognized for its exhibitions and programming and its contributions to Chicano/Latino art and culture.

Slides Document L.A. Mural Movement
The CSRC would like to thank Nancy Tovar for her donation of five hundred color slides of murals painted in Los Angles during the 1970s. The slides, which will be scanned to preserve these exceptional images for future research, are an invaluable contribution to Chicano and art historical scholarship. Another donation from Ms. Tovar was incorrectly titled in an earlier newsletter; the name of the collection is the Church of the Epiphany Chicano Civil Rights Collection. This important collection, created by Ms. Tovar and Father Wauters, documents much of the history of the Farm Worker’s movement and the Brown Berets. The collection is currently being preserved and should be available to researchers this summer.

Poster Collection

The CSRC Library, under an initiative spearheaded by Interim Librarian Greg Hom, has completed the reorganization and preservation of the more than 1,000 posters that have been collected over the past forty years. The reorganization will allow researchers to trace Chicano and Latino history through the posters, which document films, theater productions, political movements, and printmaking styles. Work also continues on improving access to other library materials. For instance, members of the library staff are improving the interface to our video collection through UCLA’s online catalog.

Thanks …

Angeline Macaspac will soon finish her last quarter as an undergraduate student at UCLA. Angeline, who has worked at the CSRC Library since her first year in school, has given an extraordinary amount of dedicated attention to the CSRC’s collections.

CSRC Press

Policy Brief Available through OTAN

CSRC Latino Policy and Issues Brief No. 16, An Examination of Latina/o Transfer Students in California’s Postsecondary Institutions, by Martha A. Rivas, Jeanette Pérez, Crystal R. Alvarez, and Daniel G. Solorzano, has been added to the online resources of OTAN (Outreach and Technical Assistance Network for Adult Educators). The brief, originally published in May 2007, examines the status of the transfer function for Latina/o students as they prepare to move from community college to a four-year college or university. OTAN provides resources to adult educators throughout California, including curriculum materials, training and workshops, and access to scholarly research. To access the posting, go to the “Community Colleges” section under “Online Documents” at the OTAN website. All CSRC Latino Policy and Issues Briefs are available on the Press website.

Aztlán Is Journal of the Month

Aztlán has been selected as the Journal of the Month by the Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ) for the month of February. Aztlán will be featured on the CELJ website. CELJ is the leading international organization of scholarly journal editors.

Opportunities

Polanco Fellowship Applications

The California Latino Caucus Institute for Public Policy (CLCI) has announced the 2008 application deadline for the Richard G. Polanco Fellows Program. Designed as a public policy leadership training program, the program gives college graduates the opportunity to serve as full-time staff in the California Legislature or in other branches of government in Sacramento. A new cohort of Polanco Fellows will be selected from across California to participate in the sixth annual class. The program is based in Sacramento and is associated with California State University, Sacramento (CSUS). The application deadline is Tuesday, April 1, 2008. For more information, and to download a PDF of the application, go to the CLCI website.

Contacts

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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