CSRC Newsletter - March 2016

 

Last month, artist Linda Vallejo teamed up with the CSRC for an art-based commentary on the lack of diversity in the 2016 Oscar nominations. Vallejo’s intervention into the heated debate drew upon her ongoing series Make ’Em All Mexican, but this time she painted photographs of Oscar-winning actors, making their skin dark brown. “I am asking, ‘What if all the nominees were Mexican?’ I mean, why not? If you look at California public schools, Latino kids are already the majority,” she explains. Vallejo’s commentary—which was featured in the Los Angeles Times and ARTNews, among other media outlets (see In the News, below), and can be viewed on the CSRC website—was satirical, mixing humor and insight within a humanistic framework. But the surrounding events, which were so outlandish that they seemed downright surreal, were all too real: news broke that two white British actors had been cast to play a Mexican drug lord and . . . wait for it . . . Michael Jackson. And the Oscar ceremony itself came across as a melodrama in which the black half of the world struggled for recognition from the white half of the world, even though whites and blacks make up just 31 percent of the world population. A year ago, Chris Rock, who hosted the 2016 Oscars, wrote, “But forget whether Hollywood is black enough. A better question is: Is Hollywood Mexican enough? You’re in L.A., you’ve got to try not to hire Mexicans.” A year later, the Oscars revealed just how hard Hollywood is trying.   

 

Chon A. Noriega

Director and Professor

 

 

CSRC welcomes performance studies students from Wales

On February 26 the CSRC welcomed ten students from the University of South Wales, UK, who visited the center to learn about its programs, exhibitions, and publications. CSRC director Chon A. Noriega spoke with the students about their interest in using theater and the arts for social and political activism in urban spaces. He discussed the work of Chicana/o artists who have been featured in CSRC exhibitions and publications.

 

New IUPLR Mellon fellow announced

Doctoral student Nichole Margarita Garcia, who is specializes in race and ethnic studies in the Division of Social Sciences and Comparative Education in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, has been named the UCLA recipient of a dissertation-completion fellowship offered by the Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR) and the Mellon Foundation. Garcia joins a national cohort of six outstanding doctoral students at four universities taking part in the program. Fellowships include a stipend, mentorship, and participation in the IUPLR conference and summer institute. The CSRC is a founding member of the IUPLR and led the effort to establish this fellowship program for students whose dissertations are focused on Chicana/o or Latina/o studies and are based on disciplines in the humanities. This is the second year of the program. Congratulations, Nichole!

 

Poetry magazine features Latino art and poetry

A special insert of the March issue of Poetry features poems based on modern and contemporary Latino artworks in the Smithsonian collection. The poetry was created for “PINTURA : PALABRA, a project in ekphrasis,” a multi-year initiative overseen by Letras Latinas, the literary program of the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies. The artworks used for inspiration include one by María Brito, who is featured in the CSRC Press’s A Ver: Revisioning Art History series, as well as works by Asco and Alberto Valdés that were acquired by the Smithsonian following their appearance in the CSRC’s L.A. Xicano exhibitions in 2011-12. The portfolio can be viewed online here.

 

Velasco publishes in Entropy

In February, former CSRC staff member Christopher Anthony Velasco published My Aunt Marge, 2016, a work involving photography and creative fiction, in the online literary magazine Entropy. The piece can be viewed here.

 

Montana exhibits at VPAM

Tear Drops & Three Dots, a solo exhibition featuring photographs by Star Montana, is on view now through May 21 at the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College. The show features candid photographs that document the artist’s family and present a narrative of loss and hope. Montana was a CSRC Getty intern in Summer 2012.

 

Horacio Nelson Roque Ramírez, presente!

The CSRC mourns the passing of Horacio N. Roque Ramírez, former tenured professor of Chicana and Chicano studies at UC Santa Barbara and, more recently, an independent scholar in the fields of LGBT and Latina/o studies, with a focus on Central American cultures and immigrations. Among his specializations was the history of HIV and AIDS and its impact on immigrant communities, as well as conditions that force LGBT women and men to seek political asylum in the United States. A Salvadoran immigrant, Roque Ramírez received his BA and MA at UCLA and obtained a PhD in comparative ethnic studies from UC Berkeley. In 2006-7, he was an IAC visiting scholar as part of a group focused on oral history research, and he contributed to the subsequent CSRC publication, Oral History and Communities of Color (2013). A memorial event at UCLA in February honored his contributions as a student, activist, and alumnus. A tribute published on the website for the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS) can be read here.

 

New videos on CSRC YouTube

 

 

 

 

“In This Town, It’s As If Hollywood Tries Not to Cast Latinos”

CSRC director Chon A. Noriega was quoted in a story on the continued lack of Latina/os in Hollywood films.

Los Angeles Times, February 27, 2016 (PDF)

Reprinted in NewsOK.com, February 27, 2016

Highlighted in UCLA Today, March 1, 2016

 

“You Want To Be a Mexican, Here You Go: Linda Vallejo on Her ‘Brown Oscars’”

An interview with artist Linda Vallejo and CSRC director Chon A. Noriega on Vallejo’s For Your Consideration: Make ’Em All Mexican series.

ARTNews, February 27, 2016 (PDF)

 

“How to Address #OscarsSoWhite? LA Artist Says ‘Make ’Em All Mexican’”

Linda Vallejo and Chon A. Noriega appeared on Take Two to discuss Vallejo’s For Your Consideration: Make ’Em All Mexican series with host A. Martínez. Listen to the story here.

Take Two, KPCC 89.3 FM, February 26, 2016

“In her series ‘Make 'Em All Mexican,’ artist Linda Vallejo imagines #OscarsSoBrown”

The Los Angeles Times published a story on the collaboration between CSRC and Los Angeles artist Linda Vallejo.

Los Angeles Times, February 19, 2016 (PDF)

 

“Meet the Artist Who’s Turning All the White Oscar Winners Brown”

Fusion covered the collaboration between CSRC and Los Angeles artist Linda Vallejo.

Fusion.net, February 20, 2016 (PDF)

Reprinted by Flash of Gold, February 20, 2016 (PDF)

 

“Linda Vallejo Brownwashed Past Oscar Winners In ‘Make ’Em All Mexican’ Collection”

Remezcla featured the collaboration between the CSRC and Los Angeles artist Linda Vallejo.

Remezcla.com, February 19, 2016 (PDF)

 

“Chicano Studies Research Center Receives $100,000 Grant from Andy Warhol Foundation”

A story in UCLA Newsroom announced the CSRC’s receipt of a grant from the Warhol Foundation to go toward the implementation of the exhibition Home—So Different, So Appealing, opening June 2017 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

UCLA Newsroom, February 2, 2016 (PDF)

 

“Apocalypse Now: Our Incessant Desire to Picture the End of the World”

CNN Style reprinted Yolanda López’s Our Lady of Guadalupe (1978) in a photo series on “picturing the end of the world.” López is the subject of the second volume of the CSRC’s A Ver: Revisioning Art History series, which highlights the cultural, aesthetic, and historical contributions of Latina/o artists.

CNN Style, January 14, 2016 (PDF)

 

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

 

 

Screening: Latino Americans, Episode 5: “Prejudice and Pride”

Thursday, March 3, 7:30 p.m.

Fowler Museum—Lenart Auditorium

In collaboration with the Fowler Museum, the CSRC will present a screening of “Prejudice and Pride,” the fifth episode of the PBS series Latino Americans. The episode examines the emergence of the Chicano movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Following the screening, Chon A. Noriega, CSRC director, will lead a discussion with Ernesto Chávez, associate professor of history at the University of Texas at El Paso and former CSRC visiting researcher, about the Chicano movement’s activation of a cultural as well as a political nationalism. This event is presented in conjunction with the exhibition José Montoya’s Abundant Harvest: Works on Paper/Works on Life, on view at the Fowler Museum through July 17, 2016.

 

Book Talk: “Tejanas on the Loose! Entre Guadalupe y Malinche: Tejanas in Literature and Art”

Thursday, March 31, 3:00-5:00 p.m.

CSRC Library—144 Haines Hall

Join us for a reading and signing of Entre Guadalupe y Malinche: Tejanas in Literature and Art, edited by Inés Hernández-Ávila and Norma Elia Cantú (University of Texas Press, 2016). The book explores the experiences of Tejana women in the literary and visual arts through the work of eight artists and more than fifty authors. Books will be available for purchase at the event. A reception will follow the discussion. Co-sponsored by the LGBT Studies Program, the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o Studies, and the CSRC.

 

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.

 

 

New exhibition on Mexican surf and soccer leagues in West L.A.

Now on display in the CSRC Library and vitrine is the exhibition Mexican Surf and Turf: Mexicano Cultural Continuity in West Los Angeles through Surfing and Soccer, featuring photographs, trophies, ephemera, a video, and a surf board designed by surfing legend Jaime Perez. Curated by Leonard Melchor, CSRC visiting scholar and adjunct professor of history and Chicana/o studies at East Los Angeles College, the exhibition considers the role of surfing and soccer activities in the Mexican community of West Los Angeles and how they have fostered a vibrant transnational culture in this community from the early 1950s to the present. The exhibition is on view during regular library hours and closes March 24, 2016.

 

 

Spring issue of Aztlán

The new issue of Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies features essays on Chicano poetics in an era of environmental and immigration crises; the effect of neoliberal policies on Latina/o studies; the representation of Latina/o media in Cherríe Moraga’s Heroes and Saints; and mestizaje in the writing of John Rechy. The dossier section presents the second of two sets of essays on the developing field of Chican@ and Latin@ speculative arts; the first set appeared in the Fall 2015 issue.

 

A special section, “A Critical Dialogue,” presents a conversation between Ilan Stavans and Derek Garcia about the importance of Américo Paredes. The art of Los Angeles–based artist Carmen Argote is featured on the cover and in the artist’s communiqué. With the next issue, the editorship of Aztlán passes from Chon A. Noriega to Charlene Villaseñor Black. In his last editor’s commentary, Noriega looks at the role of art education in the work of Rafael Montañez Ortiz. Subscribe today by clicking here.

 

IAC Research Grant Program in Ethnic Studies*

The Institute of American Cultures invites applications from UCLA faculty, staff, graduate students, and IAC Visiting Scholars/Researchers for support of research on African Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans, and Chicana/os for 2016-17. The Institute also invites proposals on interethnic relations that will increase collaboration between the Centers and/or between the Centers and other UCLA campus units.

 

The Research Grant Program is on a reimbursement basis only. Ordinarily, faculty projects will be funded for no more than $10,000 and graduate student projects for no more than $7,000. Funds for the purchase of permanent equipment will be provided only under exceptional circumstances. Conference travel, whether the applicant is presenting or attending, is ineligible.

 

Eligibility

UCLA faculty, staff, graduate students, and IAC Visiting Scholars/Researchers only.

 

*The CSRC regularly funds a wide array of projects concerning the Chicano-Latino experience. It is also the custodian of Tamar Diana Wilson Fund, which was founded to support community-empowering research projects by undocumented Mexican and Central American graduate students at UCLA. Funding is distributed through this IAC grants program. All qualified students are encouraged to apply.

 

Grant Period
July 1, 2016, through May 31, 2017

Deadline
Applications must be received by April 20, 2016, 11:59 p.m.

 

Grant recipients using human subjects will be required to submit her or his research proposal or exemption materials to the UCLA Institutional Review Board for approval. For those doing research on human subjects, funds will be available to grant recipients after completion of training and certification in the Protection of Human Research Subjects.

 

For more information, visit: http://www.iac.ucla.edu/fellowships_research.html

The application is available online at: https://sa.ucla.edu/IAC/ResearchGrant