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CSRC Newsletter - February 2021

VolumE 19, Number 6

Director’s Message

The United States imprisons more people than any other country in the world, and its largest prison system is run by Los Angeles County. Since 2016, Million Dollar Hoods  has presented data showing the fiscal and human cost of mass incarceration and its disproportionate impact on communities of color. Led by Kelly Lytle Hernandez, director of the Bunche Center for African American Studies and former CSRC associate director, this Bunche project is now teaming up with the American Indian Studies Center, the Asian American Studies Center, and the CSRC on a new effort to archive LAPD records from the 1970s through the early 2000s that tell this history. The new project, “Archiving the Age of Mass Incarceration,” will also add oral histories and personal papers from the impacted communities and develop a digital archive to house these materials as well as other digital collections from the four centers. The CSRC is proud to be part of this collective effort, which has been awarded a $3.65 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.  This is the largest collaboration among the centers since their founding, and it aims to provide access to information that can help end mass incarceration. For more information and press coverage, see In the News, below.

Chon A. Noriega
Director and Distinguished Professor
 

News

City of Los Angeles declares Día del Profesor Juan Gómez-Quiñones
On January 27, members of the Los Angeles City Council presented a resolution to recognize January 28, the birthday of the late Juan Gómez-Quiñones, as Día del Profesor Juan Gómez-Quiñones / Day of Professor Juan Gómez-Quiñones. Gómez-Quiñones, a UCLA professor of history and a co-founder of the CSRC, passed away last November. The resolution was the result of an organized effort on the part of many people who knew and were influenced by the professor and poet. A video of the presentation by council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León may be viewed here.
 
Villaseñor Black receives visiting professorship at Oxford
Charlene Villaseñor Black, CSRC associate director and professor of art history and Chicana/o studies, has been named the Terra Foundation for American Art Visiting Professor for 2021-22 at Oxford University. Her appointment includes teaching and conducting a series of lectures, in addition to research opportunities.
 
Palacios wins playwright award
L.A.-based playwright and performance artist Monica Palacios has received the inaugural Nancy Dean Lesbian Playwright Award from the Open Meadows Foundation for her unproduced play I Kissed Chavela Vargas. An oral history of Palacios conducted by Karen Mary Davalos for the CSRC Oral Histories Series is available for download here. In addition, Palacios’s work is discussed in the CSRC Press publication VIVA Records, 1970–2000: Lesbian and Gay Latino Artists of Los Angeles, by Robb Hernández.
 
Rodríguez exhibition on view
An exhibition of early works by Dominican painter Freddy Rodríguez is on view through February 13 at Hutchinson Modern & Contemporary gallery in New York City. Freddy Rodríguez: Early Paintings 1970–1990 includes works from his Paradise (1985–1988) and Cimarrón (1985–1988) series, which address Afro-Dominican history and the Dominican diaspora. An online viewing room of the exhibition is on the gallery website. Rodríguez is the subject of a forthcoming volume in the A Ver series from CSRC Press.
 
LALAVC journal wins awards
The journal Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture, edited by Charlene Villaseñor Black, CSRC associate director and professor of art history and Chicana/o studies, recently received two awards: PROSE Award for Best New Journal in the Humanities and Social Sciences, from the Association of American Publishers, and Best New Journal, from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals. The journal is published by University of California Press. Black is also the editor of Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies from CSRC Press.
 
Lozano named to board of Apple
CSRC collections donor Monica Lozano has been named to the board of directors of Apple. The former publisher and CEO of La Opinión, Lozano’s donation comprises materials related to the newspaper and includes over one hundred boxes of photographs dating to the 1980s. She is currently the president and chief executive officer of College Futures Foundation.
 
PST grants awarded to projects led by Noriega and Black
CSRC director Chon A. Noriega and CSRC associate director Charlene Villaseñor Black have each received grants from the Getty Foundation for exhibition projects that will be presented in the third iteration of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time initiative. Opening in 2024, this Pacific Standard Time will explore the intersections between the visual arts and science. Noriega is co-PI with Maya Montañez Smukler for “Science Fiction against the Margins,” organized by the UCLA Film and Television Archive in collaboration with the cinema and media studies program. Black will co-lead “Verdant Worlds: Exploration and Sustainability across the Cosmos,” a collaboration between UCLA’s Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies and the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories of the California Institute of Technology. (For press coverage, see In the News, below.)
 
Fernandez exhibition receives grant from Warhol Foundation
Christina Fernandez: Multiple Exposures, a midcareer survey opening at the California Museum of Photography at UC Riverside in September 2022, has received a $65,000 grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The exhibition curator is Joanna Szupinska-Myers. CSRC director Chon A. Noriega is the curatorial consultant. The exhibition catalog will be a joint publication of the museum and the CSRC Press. (For press coverage, see In the News, below.)
 
O’Farrill conversation with West now online
On January 12, Arturo O’Farrill, CSRC faculty advisory committee member and professor of global jazz studies in the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music (where he also serves as associate dean of equity, diversity, and inclusion), interviewed Cornel R. West, professor of the practice of public philosophy at Harvard University. The interview was the inaugural conversation in the speaker series “Still Waiting,” hosted by the music school and its Anti-Racism Action Committee (ARAC). The conversation between O’Farrill and West can be viewed on the school’s YouTube channel.
 
Frontera Collection live show on YouTube
Don’t miss this month’s live shows from Frontera Collection ¡En Vivo!, featuring music from the Arhoolie Foundation’s Frontera Collection. Hosted and DJ’d by Juan Antonio Cuellar, the two two-hour bilingual programs will feature music from the collection. Tune in Thursday, February 4, and Thursday, February 18, starting at 6:00 p.m. on YouTube. For more information, visit the Arhoolie Foundation website. Complement your experience by exploring the Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Music, which is hosted by the CSRC, the Arhoolie Foundation, and the UCLA Digital Library and features blog posts by Agustín Gurza.
 

Events

Talk: “A Sociologist’s Reflections on Discipline, Research, and Advancing Your Academic Career in the Cal State System”
Wednesday, February 10, 3:00–4:00 p.m.
Online via Zoom
Please join us when José Muñoz, associate professor of sociology at Cal State Bernardino and the 2020-21 Institute of American Cultures Visiting Research Scholar at the CSRC, discusses his research and scholarship on first-generation and working-class Latino scholars. The event will also include an interactive discussion with the audience, during which Muñoz will offer guidance on applying for tenure-track positions within the Cal State system plus related job-market advice. This event is open to UCLA students, staff, and alumni only. Enrollment is limited. The event is organized by the CSRC and co-sponsored by the UCLA First Gen Alumni Network. A Zoom link will be sent to registrants the day of the event. Register at Eventbrite.
 
IAC Research Grant Program Information Session
Tuesday, February 16, 12:30–1:30 p.m.
Online via Zoom
Learn more about the Institute of American Cultures Research Grant Program in Ethnic Studies! We will discuss the grants, the application process, and more! IAC research grants are available to UCLA faculty, SOE lecturers, staff, and graduate students who demonstrate interest in ethnic studies. The program is based on a reimbursement basis. Ordinarily, faculty projects will be funded no more than $10,000 and student projects for no more than $7,000. Deadline to apply for grants: March 1, 2021. Register via Zoom.
 
Panel: “Show and Tell: What Can We Learn from Artifacts of California Elections?”
Thursday, February 25, 4:00–5:30 p.m.
Online event
Take a trip through California’s voting history in a virtual show-and-tell of artifacts that represent historic elections, the vote, and the struggle for representation. Archivists from across the state, including from the California State Archives in Sacramento, the African American Museum and Library in Oakland, California Newsreel in San Francisco, and the CSRC, will each present one artifact from their collections and discuss the significance of the items in a conversation led by Susan D. Anderson, history curator and program manager at the California African American Museum. The panel will also respond to questions submitted by the online audience. The event is part of “California on the Ballot,” a series of online conversations organized by California Humanities, in which archivists, historians, journalists, and election experts explore the role of electoral engagement in California life. The series is supported by the “Why it Matters: Civic and Electoral Participation” initiative, which is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by the Federation of State Humanities Councils. Register at Eventbrite. 
 
All CSRC events are free to the public. Programs are subject to change. For the most current information, visit the Events page on the CSRC website.
 

CSRC in the News

The announcement of the Mellon Foundation grant for the project “Archiving the Age of Mass Incarceration” was covered by multiple outlets:
 
        The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation blog, January 28, 2021 (PDF)
 
      Los Angeles Times, January 28, 2021 (PDF)
 
      An excerpt from the feature in the Los Angeles Times.
      History News Network, January 28, 2021 (PDF)
 
      UCLA Newsroom, January 28, 2021 (PDF)
 
       MyNewsLA.com, January 28, 2021 (PDF)
 
       Tech Crunch, January 28, 2021 (PDF)
 
This story on the impact of the Million Dollar Hoods project references the archiving project funded by the Mellon Foundation, which is a collaboration among all four ethnic studies research centers.
UCLA Newsroom, January 28, 2021 (PDF)
 
The Center of Medieval and Renaissance Studies shared the news of the grant received for the project “Verdant Worlds: Exploration and Sustainability across the Cosmos” for which CSRC associate director Charlene Villaseñor Black will serve as a principal investigator.
UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, January 27, 2021 (PDF)
 
UCLA Newsroom reported on the Getty Foundation grants for Pacific Standard Time that have been awarded to projects at UCLA, including those led by CSRC director Chon A. Noriega and CSRC associate director Charlene Villaseñor Black.
UCLA Newsroom, January 27, 2021 (PDF)
 
CSRC director Chon A. Noriega was quoted in a feature on May Hong HaDuong, the newly appointed director of the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
Daily Bruin, January 24, 2021 (PDF)
 
A story on the UCLA Connections panel “Science, Facts, and the Public Debate” that took place on January 14. CSRC director Chon A. Noriega moderated the discussion.
University Business, January 20, 2021 (PDF)
 
A story on the awarding of a grant to UC Riverside’s California Museum of Photography to support the exhibition Christina Fernandez: Multiple Exposures, opening in Fall 2022. The CSRC Press will co-publish the exhibition catalog.
Inside UCR, January 13, 2021  (PDF)
 
The forthcoming exhibition Christina Fernandez: Multiple Exposures was named in a story about recent grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
Hyperallergic, January 13, 2021 (PDF)
 
A preview of the UCLA Connections panel discussion with speakers and UCLA professors Ursula K. Heise, Gilbert Gee, and Safiya U. Noble, moderated by CSRC director Chon A. Noriega.
UCLA Newsroom, January 6, 2021 (PDF)
 
All “In the News” articles are available in PDF format on the CSRC website.
 

CSRC Library

Flores provides research support to CCAS students
On January 25, CSRC librarian and archivist Xaviera Flores met on Zoom with thirty-four students in CCAS 138B: “Barrio Suburbanism,” taught by professor Genevieve Carpio. Flores will be supporting the students in their class project to create a digital map that explores Latinos’ relationship to the suburbs. In this Zoom session she introduced students to online resources and digital archives at the CSRC and UCLA more broadly. Flores also met with eighteen students in one of the discussion groups for CCAS 10B: “Social Structures and Contemporary Conditions,” taught by professor Leisy Abrego, to provide library instruction and research support. Flores will also be supporting research and digital archiving for CCAS 191: “Community Histories and Archives,” taught by professor Maylei Blackwell. On January 27, Flores introduced twenty-nine students in this class to community-driven archives. She will be helping students create a digital memory project for which they will gather community histories and documents from indigenous organizations.
 
Humberto Cané Record Collection finding aid updated
The finding aid for the Humberto Cané Record Collection has been updated. Born in Cuba in 1918, Cané was a multi-instrumentalist and bandleader who enjoyed a successful career with several musical groups in Cuba, Mexico City, and Los Angeles. The collection consists of approximately 450 vinyl LPs and 200 audio cassettes. Most of the recordings are Latin jazz and dance music that encompasses a variety of styles such as rumba, cha-cha-cha, and mambo. The finding aid can be found at the Online Archive of California.
 
Exhibitions with CSRC loans
The following exhibitions, opening this month or currently on view, include images and artworks from CSRC collections and publications:
 
Library and archive available remotely
In accordance with Chancellor Gene Block’s directive to suspend most on-campus operations, the CSRC Library and its archive are closed until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. During this time, CSRC Library staff will remain available via email, and we look forward to engaging with community members remotely. For assistance, please email librarian@chicano.ucla.edu.
 

CSRC Press

New A Ver volume: José Montoya
José Montoya (1932–2013) was a leading figure in bilingual and bicultural expression, drawing inspiration for his art, poetry, and music from barrio life and producing iconic works that depict pachuco and pachuca culture. In this latest volume in the CSRC’s A Ver: Revisioning Art History series, author Ella Maria Diaz examines Montoya’s remarkable career not only as an artist and poet but also as an influential educator. The book features dozens of illustrations, including works in the Montoya Family Collection and reproductions from rarely seen archival slides and documents. The book is available through the distributor of the A Ver series, University of Minnesota Press.
 
Aztlán available for download
All back issues of Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, including the fall 2020 issue as well as individual essays, are available for download at IngentaConnect. Print and digital subscriptions are also available through this platform. The fall 2020 issue includes an analysis of the public rhetoric of Donald Trump that documents the president’s racist statements about immigrants and Latinos, an examination of how literary strategies challenge established frameworks and preconceived binaries in the work of novelists Ana Castillo and Tómas Rivera, and a look at Mexican American masculinities in the reality TV show Los Cowboys. The dossier section, curated by Rafael Pérez-Torres, focuses on the temporality of Latinx and Chicanx studies, and Antonio Bernal, whose mural in Del Rey, California, is considered one of the earliest of the Chicano art movement, is featured in the artist’s communiqué and on the cover. To explore all issues from the past fifty years, and purchase or subscribe, click here.
 

Opportunities

IUPLR/UIC Mellon Fellows Program, 2021–22
Dissertation-Completion Fellowship for Humanities-Based Latino Studies
The Inter-University Program for Latino Research is now accepting applications for the IUPLR/UIC Mellon Fellowship Program (academic year 2021–22). This is a comprehensive program that provides financial, writing, and professionalization support to doctoral students in the humanities who are writing dissertations in Latino Studies. The fellowship includes a $25,000 stipend, participation in an intensive summer institute and an academic conference, a year-long structured writing program, outside faculty mentorship, and ongoing professionalization support. Please read more about the mission of the fellowship here: https://mfp.lals.uic.edu
 
Eligibility and Requirements:
  • Fellows must be affiliated with the six designated research centers listed below. Applicants must have advanced to candidacy (ABD status with defended proposal) and be completing a Latino Studies dissertation in the humanities or in a humanities-adjacent discipline.
  • Applicants should already have a significant portion of the dissertation drafted and anticipate defending their dissertation by the end of the fellowship year.
  • Applicants should be planning to pursue an academic career in teaching and/or research.
  • During the fellowship year, students must be enrolled at their home institution. Fellows must forego other employment during the year.  
  • Selected fellows are required to participate in the IUPLR/Mellon Summer Institute in the summer of 2021 (may be online pending Covid-19), attend and present in a Latino Studies conference (pending), and take part in a year-long highly structured mentorship, professionalization, and writing program. Failure to participate in all aspects of the program may result in the loss of funding. 
IUPLR will select fellows affiliated with the following six designated research centers:
Application Deadline: February 15, 2021
UCLA doctoral students interested in applying are to contact Rebecca Epstein, Assistant Director, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, at repstein@chicano.ucla.edu, to determine eligibility.
 
*Note: Fellowship is currently pending funding
 
UCLA IAC 2021–2022 Research Grant Program in Ethnic Studies
The Institute of American Cultures (IAC) invites applications for support of research on African Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans, and Chicana/os for 2021–2022. The Institute also invites proposals on interethnic relations that will increase collaboration between the UCLA ethnic studies research centers and/or between the centers and other campus units.
Eligibility Requirements:
UCLA faculty, lecturers with SOE, staff, graduate students, and IAC visiting research scholars.
Funding: The Research Grant Program is on a reimbursement-basis only. Funds for the purchase of permanent equipment will be provided only under exceptional circumstances. Conference travel, whether the applicant is presenting or attending, is not eligible.
Grant Period: July 1, 2021, through May 31, 2022
Application Deadline: March 1, 2021
Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. Applicants will be notified in May. Prior to submission of the application, applicants should briefly discuss their proposal with the coordinator of the appropriate center, or in the case of interethnic proposals, with each applicable center. All grant recipients, where appropriate, must comply with UCLA’s Protection of Human Subjects in Research before receiving funding. All grant recipients, where appropriate, must comply with UCLA’s Protection of Human Subjects in Research before receiving funding. If you have been awarded this grant for the last two academic year (2019–2020 and 2020–2021), you are not eligible to apply for a 2021–2022 grant.
For more information and to preview the application, visit the IAC site: https://www.iac.ucla.edu/funding/grants
The application is available online at https://sa.ucla.edu/IAC/ResearchGrant.
 
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CSRC available remotely
In accordance with Chancellor Gene Block’s directive to suspend most on-campus operations, the CSRC is closed until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. During this time, CSRC staff will remain available via email (http://www.chicano.ucla.edu/about/staff) and at csrcinfo@chicano.ucla.edu.
 
The UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (the Los Angeles basin and So. Channel Islands). As a land grant institution, we pay our respects to the Honuukvetam (Ancestors), ‘Ahiihirom (Elders) and ‘Eyoohiinkem (our relatives/relations) past, present and emerging.