CSRC Newsletter Volume 1, Number 2

Director's Message

This month the Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) will release two policy briefs on Latinos and education in California. The data -- drawn from the California Department of Education and the U.S. Census -- reveals that Chicanos and other Latinos in the state face shocking disparities in terms of access to quality education. The situation has become so stark that it calls to mind the phrase "educational apartheid." In responding to your concerns about this issue, CSRC has joined up with the other ethnic studies centers at UCLA. We have been consulting widely both on- and off-campus and expect to be able to report back to you about our findings and recommendations.

On another front, CSRC is now in the process of re-designing its web site. Look for a new design, and a higher level of access and service, this spring. For now, check out the transcription of the keynote address by the Hon. Marco Antonio Firebaugh at our Open House on October 17, 2002. His words offer much-needed leadership and insight on the need to make higher education accessible to all Californians.

Chon A. Noriega

Director and Professor

News

Amnesty International to Co-Sponsor CSRC Conference

CSRC Associate Director Alicia Gaspar de Alba received major co-sponsorship from Amnesty International for a bi-national conference she is organizing: "The Maquiladora Murders, Or, Who Is Killing the Women of Juarez?" The conference will take place on the Days of the Dead, October 31 - November 2, 2003, at UCLA, and will bring together academics, journalists, activists, families of the victims, students, and literary and visual artists. This conference will focus long overdue critical attention on a ten-year crime wave that has taken the lives of over 300 young women in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas. For further information on the conference, or to contribute funding, please contact Professor Alicia Gaspar de Alba.

CSRC Begins New Community Forum Series

CSRC held its first Community Forum on January 30, 2003. The forums will introduce small groups of community leaders to the Center and allow for dialogue with CSRC senior staff and researchers. The first forum focused on the arts. Participants included: Susana Bautista, Mexican Cultural Institute; Tomás Benitez, Self Help Graphics; Barbara Carrasco, Artist; Armando Duron, Lawyer and Collector; Harry Gamboa Jr., CSRC Artist-in-Residence; Oscar Garza, Los Angeles Times Magazine; Joe Smoke, City of Los Angeles, Cultural Affairs Department; Josephine Ramirez, Getty Grant Program; Alma Ruiz, Museum of Contemporary Art; David Valdes, Producer and Collector. We look forward to ongoing dialogue and to meetings with other community leaders in the arts. Future forums will address electoral politics, health, and education.

Search Underway for Permanent Librarian

CSRC has begun a national search for a permanent librarian. The CSRC Library includes three staff, plus student assistants, interns, and volunteers. Holdings include 12,500 volumes, 3,000 reels of microfilm, an extensive periodical collection, an audiovisual collection, a poster and flyer (or ephemera) collection, and an emerging archival collection. The Library is currently implementing several preservation and conservation projects in its special collections in cinema, music, and the arts. The Library serves faculty, students, visiting scholars, and other researchers and works closely with UCLA's highly ranked libraries to supplement services. The CSRC's goal is to make the library into the premier Chicano Studies research collection in the nation. For the full job description please visit the Library Employment website.

Book Review Workshop a Huge Success

The CSRC Writing the Academic Book Review Workshop drew thirty-eight graduate students from UCLA and universities across Southern California, including USC, CSU-Northridge, CSU-Long Beach, and UC-Santa Barbara. The two-hour session featured a panel with several editors of the Center's peer-reviewed journal Aztlán: Editor Chon A. Noriega, Co-editor Alicia Gaspar de Alba, and Managing Editor Wendy Belcher. Led by Belcher, the panel focused on why graduate students should (or should not) write book reviews, how to choose a book for review, how to chose a journal for submission, how to read a book for review, how to plan and structure a book review, and five common pitfalls of reviewing. After the panel, students gathered in three small groups with the editors to discuss the books they planned to review. The workshop group will meet two more time this spring. The workshop handout is available to everyone at the Chicano studies home page.

Events This Month

CSRC Research Exchanges

CSRC Senior Research Sociologist Lisa Catanzarite will present “Wage Penalties in Brown Collar Occupations across Metropolitan Labor Markets” on Monday, February 10, from 12:00 Noon to 1:00 pm. Due to limited seating, please RSVP to Tanya Boykin by 2:00 pm February 7. Lunch provided.

CSRC IAC Post-Doctoral Fellow Jose Alamillo will present “Mexicans at Play: Moviegoing, Drinking, and Other Amusements in a California Dry Town” on Tuesday, February 18, from 12 Noon to 1:00 PM. Due to limited seating, please RSVP to Tanya Boykin by 2:00 pm February 14. Lunch provided.

Ins & Outs of Orion2 Workshop

Learn efficient ways of searching the online catalogue and physically finding materials on the UCLA campus on Thursday, February 13, from 3:30 to 4:40 PM in the CSRC Library at Haines 144. The workshop will cover the three searching screens Orion2 offers, including Quick Search, Boolean Search, and Power Search. Sign up in person, by telephone at 206-6052, or via email. Space is limited to 10 students, so reserve your spot early!

Faculty Exchange with University of Veracruz

Professor Jose Luis Valenzuela (Theater), will represent CSRC at a Chicano film and theater program in Veracruz during February 12-15, 2003. Valenzuela's feature film Luminarias will be screened, along with other Chicano-produced works curated by UCLA Ph.D student Ernesto Martinez (Film and Television). Producer Dennis Leoni (Showtime's Resurrection Blvd.) will also participate and is already in discussion with the CSRC about establishing an archival collection related to his groundbreaking series.

Library

This month the library begins a regular workshop series (see Events This Month). Librarian Alma Ortega will also be giving presentations for courses in Chicano studies, education, and information studies. The Library provides reserve materials for courses as well as digital and in-person reference services. Interested faculty can contact the librarian in order to schedule a presentation or reserve materials. Request must be made three weeks in advance. Contact Alma Ortega. The librarian and archivist continue their efforts to upgrade the reference collection, stacks, microfilm, and special collections, and to update records management for all Library holdings.

Press

Latino Policy & Issues Brief No. 4

While Latinas account for nearly half of kindergarten through twelfth grade

female students, they remain excluded from academic enrichment programs that affect graduation rates and college admissions, says Professor Daniel G. Solorzano, Chair of the UCLA Department of Education, and his researchers. The press is launching the year 2003 with the new brief "Latina Equity in Education: Gaining Access to Academic Enrichment Programs" released on January 30. To receive an electronic copy, please send an email and include in the body of your message the line (and nothing but the line) SUBSCRIBE CHICANO STUDIES [first name, last name]. To receive a hard copy, please send your postal address to Press. Briefs can be read on-line at Latino Policy & Issues Brief.

Our next brief will be released in mid-February and will address new census data on Latinos and education in California, by Dr. Lisa Catanzarite, CSRC Senior Research Sociologist.

Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies

The next issue of the journal is due out next month. Subscribe now and read

all about Latina sexuality, contagion in Chicano literature, colonialism and

movies in southern California, medicalized representations of Chicanos, secular santos, and an amazing glass zoot suit. To receive a subscription

package, e-mail your postal address to Aztlán.

Opportunities

Latino Arts: Leadership Survey

In order to assess the state of Latino arts preservation, the CSRC recently conducted a leadership survey of experts in archiving, library science, arts administration, and art history. The forthcoming publication -- Archiving the Latino Arts Before It's Too Late -- will appear in the Latino Policy & Issues Brief series this spring. This report appraises the current state of Latino arts holdings in archival, library, and organizational locations. It also examines the status of archival practice in various institutional contexts and identifies key challenges facing the field. Support for this project was made possible through a grant from the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture.

CSRC Faculty Associates

Since its founding in 1969, the CSRC has played a preeminent role in producing and disseminating research about Chicanos and Latinos, who now make up one-third of the state population. The CSRC also has a significant track record in promoting multidisciplinary studies, community and public service, diversifying the curriculum, and training new generations of leading scholars in Chicano studies. Given its campus- and state-wide mandate, the CSRC -- along with the American Indian Studies Center, Asian American Studies Center, and Center for African American Studies -- reports to the Office of the Chancellor at UCLA.

These centers -- the major Organized Research Units (ORUs) dealing with race and ethnicity in the University of California -- have a total of 24 "institutional FTE" or faculty positions. These institutional FTEs are placed on loan to departments in order to facilitate hires in each area, and the appointed faculty are designated "Faculty Associates" in the Center. The institutional FTEs were originally designed to increase the research capacity of the ORUs, but also to allow the ORUs to serve as a vital force across campus for diversifying the curriculum, and for diversifying the faculty. Today the function of the institutional FTE is more important than ever before.

The CSRC has six institutional FTEs. These are currently occupied by five Faculty Associates with appointments in the professional schools -- Leobardo Estrado, Urban Planning; Steven Loza, Ethnomusicology; Fernando Torres-Gil, Social Welfare; Concepcion Valadez, Education; and Edit Villarreal, Theater -- and there is one open position.

The CSRC Faculty Advisory Committee is evaluating programmatic needs across campus and within the field in order to define the parameters for a national search to fill the open position. This search will start in Fall 2003.

Opportunities

Postdoctoral Research Residencies

UC MEXUS offers Postdoctoral Research Residencies to individuals who have

been awarded a Ph.D. in any University of California graduate program in the past two years. The fellowships support training and research at a UC department or center with $30,000 a year plus $15,000 for teaching. If you have any students or are a student who would fit this criteria, let us know. Applicants apply directly to UC MEXUS but need a letter of acceptance from a UC department or center as well as a faculty sponsor. The deadline is February 24, 2003 so there is a need to respond quickly. For complete guideline and application information please see UC MEXUS. To contact the CSRC about faculty sponsorship send an email to Carlos M. Haro.

IAC Research Grant Program in Chicano Studies

The Institute of American Cultures (IAC) in conjunction with the CSRC, announces the availability of small grants for support of research on Chicana/os. UCLA faculty, staff, graduate students, and IAC postdoctoral fellows/visiting scholars are eligible. Application forms can be obtained from the CSRC or the IAC Office, or on-line at IAC. The IAC particularly encourages proposals that will make a contribution to the CSRC. It also invites proposals on interethnic relations that will increase collaboration between the UCLA ethnic studies centers and/or between the centers and other campus units. Prior to submission of the research proposal, applicants are encouraged to email Carlos M. Haro to discuss their proposal. Applications must be received no later that 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 30, 2003. Awards will be announced beginning June.

Opportunities for Students

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.

Contacts

To learn more about us, visit the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center.

To subscribe to this newsletter, e-mail Aztlán and include in the body of your message the line (and nothing but the line)

SUBSCRIBE CHICANO STUDIES [first name, last name] (don't enter the brackets, just your name)