CSRC Newsletter - May 2010

The art world no longer excludes Chicanos? If only we had spoken to New York Times reviewer Ken Johnson five years ago, we could have avoided the painstaking research that informs Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement. The exhibition, which I co-curated with Rita Gonzalez and Howard Fox, opened last month at New York City’s El Museo del Barrio. It is the first exhibition to focus on contemporary artists influenced by the Chicano civil rights movement. These artists do not engage in identity politics. In fact, several of them are not even Chicano. But Mr. Johnson’s review on April 10 ignores all that and instead lauds the 2010 Whitney Biennial as an example of how the art world has assimilated “artists of many different backgrounds.” But wait! The Biennial does not include any Latino artists. And, ironically, the Biennial is exactly the kind of “identity-based group show” that he rails against. In fact, it is the exemplary case. Johnson’s review is confused and mean-spirited, revealing a bias against exhibitions that engage race and ethnicity. In New York City, the Mexican-descent population is 300,000. Nationwide it is 30 million. According to Johnson, this population has been “assimilated” into museum exhibition and modern art history. Really? He concludes that any museum or foundation that supports another view is sustaining an unnecessary “evil” that should be given its “last rites” (that is, killed).  What Johnson calls an “evil” we call a phantom that remains exiled from mainstream institutions. That phantom represents 10 percent of our nation. This review, like recent events, suggests an underlying fear that, in the words of Eric Cartman, “There are too many minorities.”

 

 

The CSRC donated 125 books to a book drive organized by Books for People, a nonprofit organization that collects new and used books for homeless children and local libraries. To learn how to donate your books, visit the Books for People website.

 

Art, Activism, Access: Forty Years of Ethnic Studies at UCLA continues at the Fowler Museum through June 13. Last month Gronk painted two murals for the exhibition, creating them while the museum was open. This allowed visitors to view the work in progress and offered them the chance to talk with the artist. The murals will be on display until the exhibition closes. For more information visit the Fowler website or the CSRC homepage.

 

Celia Alvarez Muñoz’s annual exhibition, A Toda Madre! y Padre! Manchas y Marcas (Marks and Stains), opens on Thursday, May 6, at the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas. Ms. Muñoz is a conceptual multimedia artist known for her writing, photography, painting, installation, and public art. She is featured in the CSRC’s A Ver book series. The exhibition runs through August 28.

 

Alvaro Huerta, CSRC visiting scholar, will teach Urban Planning 141: Planning for Minority Communities during the summer 2010 term. The class addresses the socioeconomic problems that affect racial minorities in America’s inner cities. It will focus on equity issues and solutions (such as social justice campaigns and grass-roots organizing) that are spearheaded by students, scholars, community members, non-profits, and policy makers. (The course number is 325546110.) Mr. Huerta is the author of several recent publications, including “Enough with Draconian Anti-Immigrant Laws!” (Santa Monica Mirror), “Racism on Campus: What Post-racial America?” (CounterPunch), “President Obama Should Fight on Many Fronts” (The Progressive), and “Republicans’ Hypocritical Criticism Cannot Continue” (The Daily Californian).

 

Spend the afternoon with Gronk and Chon A. Noriega on Saturday, May 8. The studio tour will start at 11:00 a.m. at the Fowler Museum, where Gronk will discuss his just-completed murals. Participants will then travel by bus to the artist’s downtown studio. The tour will conclude with a private screening of Gronk’s all-digital animation, BrainFlame, at the Glendale Planetarium. The bus will return to UCLA at 5:00 p.m. A box lunch will be provided. Tickets are $25 for Fowler Museum members and $30 for non-members. Reservations are required: (310) 825-8655.

 

Artist Chaz Bojorquez has been immersed in the graffiti tradition of East Los Angeles since the 1950s. One of the best-known and most original graffiti artists from Los Angeles, he draws on graffiti, his formal education in studio art, and his extensive studies in Asian calligraphy to create his works. On Saturday, May 8, 1:00 p.m., at the Hammer Museum, Mr. Bojorquez will demonstrate how art and culture define his experience as well as his philosophy about the value and execution of letters. He will be introduced by Karen Mary Davalos, associate professor of Chicana/o studies at Loyola Marymount University, who has interviewed him for an extensive oral history. The program, “Philosophy of Lettering: Chaz Bojorquez,” is presented by the Hammer Student Association (HSA) in collaboration with the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. Visit the Hammer website for more information.

 

The Mexican Studies Center and the CSRC will present Patricio Hidalgo in a talk about son jarocho—a musical tradition from Veracruz that combines poetic lyricism, improvisation, and dance—on Monday, May 10, 12:00–1:30 p.m., in the CSRC Library (144 Haines Hall). A performance will follow. Mr. Hidalgo is a renowned composer, performer, teacher, and scholar from San Andres Tuxtla, Veracruz. He has been a member of Grupo Mono Blanco, a son jarocho band, and the distinguished director of groups such as Chuchumbé and Quemayama. The grandson of Arcadio Hidalgo, one of the legendary trovadores and composers of the region, he was introduced to music at the age of ten. He is currently working on a project about Afro-Jarocho dance.

 

Discover what makes Los Angeles one of the most diverse cities in the world on Monday, May 10, 7:00 p.m., at the Hammer Museum’s Billy Wilder Theater. “EthnoLA: Revisioning Community and Culture,” a retrospective of six short films by alumni of the UCLA Center for EthnoCommunications, will highlight L.A.’s multiethnicity. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with the filmmakers and a reception. EthnoLA, a program of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, is one of the events commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the ethnic studies centers at UCLA. The event and reception are free. For more details visit the Hammer website. For other events marking the anniversary, visit the fortieth anniversary website. 

 

Chon A. Noriega, CSRC director and professor of film, television, and digital media, and Carlos Haro, CSRC assistant director emeritus, will be panelists for “Framing the New Policy Agenda: Latino Baby Boomers in an Aging America,” a symposium presented by the UCLA School of Public Affairs. This event will be a precedent-setting examination of the 8 million Latinos who represent 10 percent of the baby boom generation. The UCLA Center for Policy Research on Aging will provide original research, data, and policy analysis. The symposium takes place on Tuesday, May 11, 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. in DeNeve Plaza (UCLA). To learn more and to register, visit the event’s website.

 

“Justice or ‘Just Us’” is a daylong symposium that will examine the societal costs of current criminal justice policies and their consequences, particularly in communities of color. The event, on Thursday, May 13, 9:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m., in the UCLA Neuroscience Research Building Auditorium, is part of the UCLA ethnic centers’ fortieth anniversary celebration. The program will feature noted scholars and community activists. For an agenda and more information, visit the fortieth anniversary website. The event is hosted by the American Indian Studies Center, the Asian American Studies Center, the Chicano Studies Research Center, the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, the Institute of American Cultures, and the Graduate Division.

 

Alvaro Huerta, visiting scholar at the CSRC, will present “Tricks of the Trade: Applying to Graduate/Professional Schools” on Wednesday, May 19, 3:00 – 5:00 p.m., in the CSRC Library (144 Haines Hall). The workshop will provide information about applying to graduate school and tips on how to obtain fellowships. Mr. Huerta is a PhD candidate at UC Berkeley and a UCLA alumnus who was granted admission to UCLA, UC Berkeley, Cornell, and USC. His graduate fellowships include the Graduate Opportunity Fellowship, Charles F. Scott Fellowship, Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship, Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, and many more. The workshop is co-sponsored by the CSRC, the School of Law Academic Outreach Resource Center, and the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.

 

This month the CSRC acquired an addition to its American GI Forum of California Collection from Eddie Morin. Mr. Morin is a GI Forum member and an Army veteran who served in Vietnam and the recipient of the Purple Heart and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He is also the author of Valor and Discord, a book documenting the heroic service of Mexican Americans in combat. His father, Raul Morin, was responsible for bringing the GI Forum to California. Mr. Morin’s donation includes materials documenting his and his father’s involvement with the GI Forum. We look forward to the growth of this collection as more GI Forum members contact us about contributing to the CSRC’s effort to document and preserve this period of Mexican American history.

 

The CSRC is participating in the Getty Multicultural Undergraduate Internship program. Internships are structured around current and ongoing CSRC archival projects in the arts. Aside from contributing to the CSRC’s mission to provide information resources on Chicano history and culture, interns gain career-relevant archival experience. This year interns will assist staff with metadata entry for digital art collections, including the Patssi Valdez Digital Image Collection, the Gronk Digital Image Collection, and the Nancy Tovar Murals of East L.A. Collection. Please submit your resume and cover letter via e-mail to CSRC librarian Lizette Guerra (lguerra@chicano.ucla.edu) by Friday, May 7. For details about the internship visit the Getty website.

 

Rigoberto Gonzalez Papers

Manazar Gamboa Papers 

Anthony Beltramo Collection of Cancioneros

Charles Rozaire Collection of Recordings

The Michael de la Rocha MEChA Collection contains approximately two linear feet of articles, manuscripts, and other papers related to Mr. de la Rocha’s political and journalistic experiences in Southern California.

 

The Plaza de la Raza Papers, a collection of approximately 100 linear feet that was previously boxed and cataloged for SRLF storage, is now being preserved, processed, and itemized.

 

Vista en LA Archive (approximately 80 linear feet) is reaching the end of processing and preservation and will be electronically itemized soon.

 

An extensive reorganization of The Yolanda Retter Papers, a collection of approximately 40 linear feet, has been concluded. Processing of the papers should be completed by fall 2010.

 

Just released… “Latino Baby Boomers: A Demographic and Economic Profile” (Latinos and Economic Security Policy Brief No. 5) takes a look at the characteristics of aging Latinos, who by 2050 will make up 18 percent of older Americans. This policy brief, by Zachary D. Gassoumis, Kathleen H. Wilber, Lindsey A. Baker, and Fernando Torres-Gil, reveals stark differences in education, living arrangements, and income not only between Latino and non-Latino baby boomers but also within the Latino baby boom generation. The authors conclude that as Latino baby boomers enter old age and retirement, their economic situation and health status may become real issues for policymakers. Download the PDF from the CSRC Press website.

 

Just a few copies of the first edition the Chicano Studies Reader: An Anthology of Aztlán remain. We need to make room for the forthcoming second edition, so you can snag a copy of this best-selling book for $10.00—a 50 percent discount! Call the CSRC Press for this special price (310 825 3428), or send an email to support@chicano.ucla.edu.