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CSRC Newsletter - January 2016

Volume 14, Number 4

Director’s Message

Happy New Year! Out with the old and in with the new, right? It’s that time of year when we make resolutions to start over, like a newborn baby with a “2016” banner across his or her body. Yet, as December came to an end, I found myself jotting down all the good things that had entered or blossomed in my life during 2015. I was surprised by how long the list grew, and by how it provided a different lens on even those things that proved most challenging. But I was also surprised by how my list ranged from the “big stuff,” such as belief, presence, and character, to the seemingly “small stuff” of daily life. Work per se never appeared on the list—although many of the entries provided an umbrella under which work flourished in meaningful ways. In the end, I found that my list allowed me to carry all of last year into 2016 with gratitude, continuity, and purpose. That said, 2016 brings another baby, El Niño, and the dirty diapers of a presidential campaign, so equanimity is not enough: I’ve also bought a raincoat and rain shoes. I hope many of you have done the same!
 
If my comments above sound a bit philosophical, I should note that December marked the end of an all-too-brief sabbatical. As I return to campus, I am grateful to the CSRC staff for keeping things going with their usual camaraderie and commitment, and to Charlene Villaseñor Black for graciously and gracefully stepping in as acting director during fall 2015. I am delighted to announce that Charlene will continue in two new roles—as CSRC associate director and as editor of Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, a position I have held for twenty years. Change is good, too! On behalf of everyone at the CSRC, we look forward to seeing you in our library or at one of our events in the coming months.
 
Chon A. Noriega
Director and Professor
 

News

 
Spotlight on Archival Research
Walter Wilson, associate professor of political science and geography at the University of Texas at San Antonio, is examining the Edward R. Roybal Papers, 1919-2003, one of the special collections at the CSRC Library, for his research on the founding of the U.S. Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Roybal, a Mexican American who, beginning in 1963, served thirty years as a U.S. congressman representing California’s 25th District, was one of five Hispanic congressmen who organized the caucus in 1976 to focus government attention on the needs of Latinos. Wilson’s findings will be shared in 50 Events that Shaped Latino History: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic, to be published this year by ABC-CLIO Press.
 
Juárez receives honorary designation
Nicandro “Nick” Juárez, CEO of the management consulting firm Juárez and Associates and former member of the CSRC Director’s Advisory Board, has been named a fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC). As stated in the announcement, this is an honorary designation presented by IMC USA “to recognize a Certified Management Consultant® who has demonstrated outstanding service to clients, to the management consulting profession, to IMC USA over an extended period of time at the national level, and to the non-consulting community.” Juárez and Associates provides research and consulting services to underserved populations in the United States and worldwide. 
 
Heredia to publish in Hispania
Juanita Heredia’s essay “Migrating to the City: Negotiating Gender and Race in Marie Arana’s Lima Nights” has been accepted for publication in the journal Hispania. Heredia is a professor of Spanish and global languages and culture at Northern Arizona University and a CSRC visiting scholar this year. She published her first journal article, “From Golden Age Mexican Cinema to Transnational Border Feminism: The Community of Spectators in Loving Pedro Infante,” in the Fall 2008 issue of Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies.
 
Haro and Bermudez present at Chicano Youth Leadership Conference
The Chicano Youth Leadership Conference (CYLC), founded by the late education leader Sal Castro, was held December 11–13 at Camp Hess Kramer in Malibu. One hundred and twenty LAUSD high school juniors attended the three-day event, which encourages academic achievement in Chicano and Latino students by teaching cultural history and building ethnic pride. Carlos Haro, CSRC assistant director emeritus, and Nadine Bermudez, UCLA alumna and professor of Chicano studies at East Los Angeles College, taught a session on the Mendez v. Westminster education case. Since the CYLC’s founding in 1963, nearly 10,000 Mexican Americans and other Latinas/os have attended the annual conference and gone on to attend college.
 
Crey publishes article on indigenous research ethics
Karrmen Crey, doctoral candidate in cinema and media studies and former assistant editor of Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, published the article “Why I Interview: Indigenous Research Ethics in Cinema and Media Studies” in the blog Knowledge in Indigenous Networks (K.I.N.). The article can be found here.
 
New videos on CSRC YouTube
 
  • Book Talk and Celebration: Mikamoxtzin, Little Book of the Day of the Dead Ritual  (November 4, 2015) (video) The CSRC welcomed professors Martha Ramirez-Oropeza and Alicia Valencia Reyes, co-authors of Mikamoxtzin, Little Book of the Day of the Dead Ritual/El Librito del Ritual del Día de Muertos (Astrolabio Editorial, 2015), for a discussion of their book and an ofrenda. Their presentation explored the deep roots of this ritual, its evolution in Mexico, and the impact it has on celebrations today. Guests were invited to bring a photo or memento to contribute to the community altar and to make paper flowers to invite the spirits. Ramirez-Oropeza is a visual artist and mural painter, a theater arts performer and director, and a researcher on Nahuatl philosophy, and she is currently a lecturer in art and Chicana/o studies at UCLA. Valencia Reyes is a professor of education at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional in Morelos, Mexico.
  • Talk: Grace Montañez Davis, Former Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, in Conversation with Anna NietoGómez (November 17, 2015) (video) The CSRC hosted a conversation between Grace Montañez Davis, political activist and former deputy mayor of Los Angeles, and Anna NietoGómez, Chicana feminist, writer, and educator. The event was moderated by Virginia Espino, program coordinator for Latina/o history in the UCLA Library’s Center for Oral History Research. This event was the first in a series of CSRC public programs for 2015-16 that have been created for “Latino Americans: 500 Years of History,” a national public programming initiative made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association.
  • The 2015 CSRC Latina/o Education Summit: Ten Years of the Latina/o Education Pipeline (November 6, 2015) (five videos) In 2006 the CSRC hosted the first Latina/o Education Summit to highlight significant issues related to the Latina/o education pipeline, from K-12 through graduate school. This year’s summit, featuring four panels and a keynote address, explored how educational access and opportunity for Latina/o students in California has changed since then. The keynote, “Immigration and the State of Latina/o Education in 2015,” was given by Marcelo M. Súarez-Orozco, Wasserman Dean and Distinguished Professor of Education in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. The conference was organized by the CSRC in conjunction with the GSEIS and received additional support from the Institute of American Cultures, UCLA Student Affairs, and the UCLA Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

CSRC in the News

 
“Why Oscar Castillo’s Photos of Chicano Life and Protest are Essential for Understanding L.A.”
A feature in the Los Angeles Times discussed photographer Oscar Castillo and his extensive collection of images of Chicano life in Los Angeles. Scholars regard Castillo’s work, which includes iconic photographs of Chicano protests during the late 1960s and early 1970s, as both journalism and fine art. CSRC director Chon A. Noriega is quoted in the piece. Castillo’s image collection at the CSRC is available for viewing through the UCLA Digital Library.
Los Angeles Times, December 5, 2015 (PDF)
 
All “In the News” articles are available in PDF format on the CSRC website.
 

Events

 
Book Talk: Jesús Treviño presents Return to Arroyo Grande
Thursday, January 14, 2:00–4:00 p.m. *Note new time.
CSRC Library—144 Haines Hall
Join us for a presentation by Jesús Salvador Treviño of his Return to Arroyo Grande (Arte Público Press, 2015) and a discussion of his diverse media career. A collection of interrelated short stories, Return to Arroyo Grande focuses on leaving home to pursue one’s dreams and the importance of community. Treviño is the author of The Fabulous Sinkhole and Other Stories (Arte Público Press, 1995), The Skyscraper That Flew and Other Stories (Arte Público Press, 2005), and a memoir, Eyewitness: A Filmmaker’s Memoir of the Chicano Movement (Arte Público Press, 2001), and he is also an award-winning filmmaker of documentaries and feature films about the Chicano experience. CSRC director and cinema and media studies professor Chon A. Noriega will moderate the discussion.
 
Archive Talk: Guadalupe Esquivel Rosales presents “Southern California Chicano Party Crews and Rave Scene in the 1990s”
Wednesday, January 20, 4:00-6:00 p.m.
CSRC Library—144 Haines Hall
Guadalupe Esquivel Rosales’s collection at the CSRC consists of ephemera and memorabilia that highlight the Chicana/o underground party crews and rave scenes of Los Angeles during the 1980s and 1990s. Disempowered and criminalized by the public school system and mainstream media, party crews allowed youth to engage in resistant cultural practices and to create underground communities. Techno, house, new wave, and rock music from the 1980s provided the soundtrack for these parties, which took place in residential backyards and industrial warehouses throughout the Los Angeles metro area and in Sacramento, San Diego, Orange County, and other areas in the U.S. Southwest as well.
 
After Rosales’s presentation, a panel will discuss how the collection highlights the ways in which party crews created a culturally relevant and self-reflective space. Panelists will include Rosales, Street Beat photographer Steve “Boom Boom” Hernandez, former party crew members, and other special guests. Sandra Ruiz, a visiting lecturer in the departments of Chicana/o studies and Spanish and Portuguese at UCLA, will moderate the discussion. A reception will follow the event.
 
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

 
New metadata projects for digital collections
Since the late 1960s, Oscar Castillo has documented the Chicano community in Los Angeles, photographing major political events, cultural practices, and the work of muralists and painters. In the coming months, Castillo will be working with the CSRC to update the metadata of the Oscar R. Castillo Photograph Collection, currently available to the public online through the UCLA Digital Library, to enhance its searchability and subject specificity.
 
This quarter will also see the launch of the CSRC’s digital collection of artwork by local artist Roberto Gutierrez. Gutierrez, who began his career as a key figure in East Los Angeles’s booming Chicano art scene during the early 1970s, is supervising the addition of metadata to the collection. The CSRC’s holdings represent a small but significant selection of Gutierrez’s body of work spanning his career. The digital collection is hosted by the UCLA Digital Library.
 

CSRC Press

 
New book on Chicana/o art
Chicana/o Art since the Sixties: From Errata to Remix combines decolonial theory with extensive archival and field research to offer a new critical perspective on Chicana/o art. Using Los Angeles as a case study, author Karen Mary Davalos develops an interdisciplinary model for a comprehensive art history that considers not only artists and art groups, their cultural production, and the exhibitions that feature their work but also curators, collectors, critics, and advocates. The book features twenty-three black-and-white illustrations and twelve color plates and includes a foreword by Chon A. Noriega. Chicana/o Art since the Sixties will be available in March and may be ordered from the distributor, University of Washington Press.
 

Opportunities

 
Call for applicants: IUPLR/Mellon Fellowships
Deadline: January 8, 2016
 
The Inter-University Program for Latino Research is now accepting applications for the IUPLR/Mellon Fellowship Program (academic year 2016-17). The program supports ABD doctoral students in the humanities who are writing dissertations in Latina/o studies. Doctoral students in the social sciences whose research uses humanities methods may also be considered. The fellowship facilitates completion of the dissertation and provides professional development, job market support, and mentoring for students who will graduate in Spring 2017.
 
With support from the Andrew G. Mellon Foundation, IUPLR will select fellows through five designated research centers:
 
  • The Center for Mexican American Studies and the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at the University of Texas at Austin
  • The Chicano Studies Research Center at UCLA
  • The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, The City College of New York
  • Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños at Hunter College, CUNY
  • The Latin American and Latino Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago
The fellowship includes a $25,000 stipend and travel support to attend IUPLR conferences and a required two-week summer institute in Chicago. Matriculation fees and health insurance will be paid by the home institution, provided that the fellow is in residence.
 
Who is eligible?
Applications will be accepted only from PhD candidates enrolled at UT-Austin, UCLA, CUNY, and UIC. Applicants will be considered by the IUPLR center at their home institution (see list above).
 
Applicants must have advanced to candidacy (ABD status) and be completing a Latina/o studies dissertation in the humanities or in a humanities-adjacent discipline at the university to which they are applying. Application materials must arrive by January 8, 2016. Decisions will be made by January 29, 2016.
 
More information can be found on the CSRC website here.
 
UCLA Institute of American Cultures
2016-17 Visiting Researcher/Scholar Fellowship Program in Ethnic Studies
Deadline: February 1, 2016
 
The UCLA Institute of American Cultures (IAC) offers in-residence appointments to support research on African Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans, and Chicanas/os. We especially encourage applications that advance our understanding of new social and cultural realities occasioned by the dramatic population shifts of recent decades, including greater heterogeneity within ethnic groups and increased interethnic contact. In the event that an award is for less than three academic quarters the stipend will be prorated in accordance with the actual length of the award. For visiting researchers, these funds can be used to supplement sabbatical support for the total that does not exceed the candidate’s current institutional salary. Visiting researchers will be paid through their home institution and will be expected to continue their health benefits through that source as well; visiting scholars will receive a stipend for living expenses and may be eligible for health benefits. Awardees may receive up to $4,000 in research support. In the event that an award is for less than the nine-month appointment, the stipend will be prorated in accordance with the actual length of the award.
 
Eligibility requirements: Visiting researcher appointments are for persons who currently hold permanent academic appointments and visiting scholar appointments are for newly degreed scholars. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents and hold a PhD from an accredited college or university at the time of appointment. UCLA faculty, staff, and currently enrolled students are not eligible to apply.
 
Deadline: Completed applications are due February 1, 2016, at 11:59 p.m. Recipients will be notified in April. NOTE: Offer of fellowship is contingent upon funding availability. Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, the Bunche Center for African American Studies will not be awarding a 2016-17 visiting researcher/scholar fellowship.
 
 
UCLA Office of Interdisciplinary and Cross Campus Affairs
Funding Competition for Interdisciplinary Events
Deadline: January 29, 2016
 
The Office of Interdisciplinary and Cross Campus Affairs is holding a limited funding competition for interdisciplinary events open exclusively to UCLA’s organized research unit (ORU) designated centers and institutes. ORUs include each Institute of American Cultures ethnic studies center: the Chicano Studies Research Center, the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, the Asian American Studies Center, and the American Indian Studies Center. ORU-affiliated faculty members are invited to submit applications for one or more interdisciplinary seminars, workshops, or program development projects. Seminars and workshops must be advertised and open to the wider UCLA community and the public to be eligible.
 
Proposals should consist of a narrative describing the purpose and expected objectives of the proposed event(s), including the target audience. In addition, each proposal must list the involved faculty, their school affiliation, and their role/contribution to the event(s). Each proposal must be accompanied by a budget, including any additional sources of funding, as well as a brief budget justification. Preference will be given to events that the applying ORU(s) has not held previously, as well as to events that help the ORU reach new audiences or develop new initiatives. Applications from ORUs collaborating together on a new initiative are particularly encouraged.
 
Proposals may be funded in whole or in part at the discretion of the Review Committee. No single award will exceed $2,500 for proposals involving a series of workshops or seminars or $1,000 for proposals for a single workshop or seminar.
 
Applications should be submitted to Laurel Grzesik, lgrzesik@conet.ucla.edu, no later than Friday, January 29, 2016. Announcements will be made as soon as possible, but no later than February 26, 2016. Preference will be given for activities to be held during this calendar year (2016), though events planned for completion by the end of the 2016-17 academic year are eligible for consideration.
 
For questions and to obtain an application form, contact Laurel Grzesik at lgrzesik@conet.ucla.edu. Parties interested in collaborating with the CSRC should contact Rebecca Epstein, CSRC communications and academic programs officer, at repstein@chicano.ucla.edu.