NEWS FROM THE UCLA CHICANO STUDIES RESEARCH CENTER

I just received an e-mail newsletter from Chon A. Noriega, Professor and Director of UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center (“CSRC”), and it’s so full of wonderful news and opportunities that I want to dedicate my entire post for Monday to what’s happening at the CSRC. Support your local Chicano Studies Department! -DAO

◙ Guillermo E. Hernández Memorial Scholarship Fund: UCLA Professor of Spanish, Director Emeritus of the CSRC, and leading expert on corridos and Chicano literature Guillermo E. Hernández passed away on July 16, 2006, in Mexico City. Hernández was one of the longest serving directors (1992–2002) in the center's almost forty-year history. An exhibition on his life and academic works will be in the CSRC Library through the fall quarter; a selection of his writings is available online. Donations can be made to a scholarship fund in his name at the CSRC. Checks should be made out to the UCLA Foundation/The Guillermo E. Hernández Memorial Scholarship and mailed to UCLA, 1309 Murphy Hall, Los Angeles, California 90095.

◙ Professor Edward Telles Takes Top Sociology Book Awards: UCLA scholar Edward Telles has won a number of awards for his book Race in Another America: The Significance of Skin Color in Brazil, including the American Sociological Association Distinguished Scholarly Publication award (2006) for the single best English-language book in sociology over the past three years, the ASA Population Section Otis Dudley Duncan Prize (2005), and the ASA Racial and Ethnic Minorities Oliver Cromwell Cox Prize (2006). Professor Telles and Vilma Ortiz, both in the sociology department, head the Mexican American Study Project (MASP) at the CSRC. The MASP is a study of generational change and persistence in ethnic identity and behavior as well as socioeconomic mobility among Mexican Americans in Los Angeles and San Antonio. It is the first major survey to systematically examine changes in long-term intragenerational and intergenerational socioeconomic status and ethnic identity within any ethnic group. The resulting publication will be released in 2007.

◙ Ford Foundation Supports Film Recovery Project: CSRC has been awarded a $20,000 grant by the Ford Foundation in support of the completion of the Chicano Cinema Recovery Project. Building upon earlier collaborative efforts to successfully preserve and archive the films of Efraín Gutiérrez, the additional funding will allow the CSRC to expand the project to serve as a national model for other independent and public interest media preservation efforts. The grant will also enable the release of the restored Gutiérrez films on DVD in spring 2007, expanding access to these films and creating a revenue stream for future preservation work in this area.

◙ CSRC Co-sponsors Community Service Award: A double major in Spanish and Chicana/o Studies, Emily Villagraña is this year’s recipient of the UCLA Department of Spanish and Portuguese Community Service Award. Co-sponsored by the CSRC, the $300 prize is awarded in June to the graduating senior with the best record of sustained service to the Latino community. Villagraña organized and oversaw numerous programs at Conciencia Libre, coordinated Dia de los Muertos events and Border Reality tours, facilitated events with Raza Womyn de UCLA, designed and implemented ESL classes for day laborers with Proyecto Jornaleros, and made many other contributions to the Latino community.

◙ Summer Interns at UCLA: This summer’s Getty intern, Natalie Sanchez, worked on two CSRC projects: A Ver: Revisioning Art History, a book series on Latina/o artists; and Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement, an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) scheduled for spring 2008. For both projects, she assisted in compiling artist biographies and selected bibliographies, corresponding with artists about checklists, collecting images for each artist, and researching the credit information for images. Also, three high school students—Haziel Bustillo, Erica Smith, and Jeanette Rodriguez—from the UCLA Summer Youth Program interned at the center for six weeks this summer. They were a tremendous help with filing, data entry, archiving, and other odd jobs around the center. The program’s sponsors are the UCLA Community Based Learning Program, UCLA Government and Community Relations, UCLA Campus Human Resources, and UCLA Healthcare Human Resources.

◙ Latino Public Policy Conference: The CSRC hosted the 2006 Senator Richard G. Polanco Fellows Orientation Program on September 6 and 7. The program is designed to help participants, selected annually from across California, develop as leaders, learn how the legislative process works, and create an understanding of the role of public policy in society. This year’s fellows are Amber Rose Gonzalez, who graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, with a major in gender, ethnicity, and multicultural studies and an emphasis in Chicano/Latino studies; Armando Chavez, who graduated from UC Berkeley with a double major in ethnic studies and Chicano studies; Erica Alfaro, who graduated from UC Davis School of Law with a J.D. in 2005 and UC Davis with a major in political science and a minor in Chicana/o studies in 2001; Jamie Zamora, who graduated from San Diego State University with a major in political science and a minor in Chicana/o studies; Marvin Pineda, who graduated from UC Riverside with a double major in history and Spanish literature; and Liza Bolanos, who graduated from California State University Fresno with a double major in sociology and Chicano/Latino studies.

◙ Professor Morales to Attend Migration and Health Forum: CSRC Faculty Associate Leo Morales will represent the CSRC at the Binational Policy Forum on Migration and Health in Oaxaca, Mexico, on October 9–10, 2006. This event is co-sponsored by the Mexican Secretary of Health and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, through the Institute for Mexicans Abroad (IME), the government of Oaxaca, and the California-Mexico Health Initiative (CMHI), among other institutions. The goal of this year’s forum is to convene key stakeholders from the United States and Mexico to discuss the health challenges of migrants and immigrants and to explore opportunities to work collaboratively to improve the health and well-being of this population. High-level representatives from federal, state, and community organizations from both countries are slated to participate in this year’s forum. Key international leaders are expected to attend, including Central American representatives.

◙ Twentieth-Century Latin American and Latino Art Conference: The third annual conference on Documents of Twentieth-Century Art of Latin American and Latino Art will be held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, on October 16–18, 2006. CSRC researchers will highlight their most relevant findings of the past year during a new public session to be held on Monday, October 16. The CSRC is coordinating four university-based research teams for the U.S.-based Latino component of a project, sponsored by the museum, to identify and digitize key documents related to U.S. Latino art history, including that of Chicano, Cuban American, Dominican, and Puerto Rican communities.

◙ The Soundtrack of Modern Los Angeles: Thursday, October 12, 5:00 pm, 1230 Schoenberg Music Building (“Green Room”), with a tapas themed reception to follow. Visiting UCLA Professor Elijah Wald will be talking about “Strange Bedfellows: Louis Armstrong Loves Guy Lombardo and the Mexican Corrido Meets Gangsta Rap. Critics and historians who celebrate African-American music tend to dismiss Lombardo's music as boring. How have such prejudices affected our views of the past? Now marketers have coined terms like “banda rap” and “urban regional” in an attempt to capture one of American music's most daring fusions: Central European polka, classic border balladry, and the toughest urban beats. Could this be the soundtrack of modern Los Angeles and a signpost to the future of American music?

◙ New Directions for Bilingual Education in California: Saturday, October 14, 8:00 am–3:00 pm, Corinne A. Seeds University Elementary School, UCLA. Seeds UES’s Learning in Two Languages Program and the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, in association with the CSRC, will present a conference for educators, parents, community members, and advocates for English learners. CSRC Associate Director Daniel Solórzano will be the keynote speaker. Seating is limited, so register today. Registration is available online at the UES School, or email for more information.

◙ Fiesta de Inspiracion 2006 Scholarship Dinner: Thursday, October 19, 6:00 pm, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The UCLA Latino Alumni Association invites you to attend the 2006 celebration of Latino leadership. This year’s honorees are Councilmember Ed Reyes, Senior Vice President Danielle Campos, and UCLA Professor Raymond Rocco. Email the association for tickets.

◙ Institute of American Cultures Welcome Reception: Wednesday, November 8, 4:00–6:00 pm, UCLA Faculty Center, Downstairs. Vice Chancellor Claudia Mitchell-Kernan and Associate Dean Shirley Hune announce a reception in honor of the 2006–07 visiting scholars, postdoctoral, predoctoral, and graduate fellows, and research grant awardees in the IAC program. The CSRC welcomes visiting scholar Horacio N. Roque Ramirez from UC Santa Barbara.

◙ Workshop on the Chicana/o Educational Pipeline: Wednesday, November 8, 6:00 pm, CSRC Library, 144 Haines Hall. This workshop on the Chicana/o educational pipeline is designed to promote a better understanding of the policy issues related to the education of Chicana/os throughout the pipeline, from K-12 and community college, to undergraduate and graduate school. The authors of the 2006 CSRC Research Report Falling Through the Cracks: Critical Transitions in the Educational Pipeline will discuss the pipeline and the policies that work for Chicana/o students. CSRC Associate Director Daniel Solórzano will be the moderator, and the panel will include doctoral students Lindsay Perez Huber, Ofelia Huidor, Maria C. Malagon, and Gloria Sanchez. The readings for the workshop include the CSRC Research Report no. 7 and the CSRC Latino Policy & Issues Brief no. 13, both of which are available online at CSRC’s website.

◙ The Queer Latina/o Archive Panel Discussion: Wednesday, November 15, 1:00–5:00 pm, CSRC Library, 144 Haines Hall.

◙ CSRC Annual Reception: Thursday, November 16, 4:00–7:00 pm, CSRC Offices, 144 and 179 Haines Hall.

◙ CSRC Library & Archive - New Archival Collections Donated: Over the summer, several collections were donated to the CSRC Library. They will be available to the public after they are archived. Finding aids will be developed and posted on the CSRC website. The collections are:

Ricardo Muñoz Papers. A collection of almost fifty linear feet representing almost twenty-five years of the work of the respected Los Angeles jurist, including his legal writings and bench decisions.

Elena Popp Papers. A collection of almost seventy-five linear feet representing the life and work of the indefatigable housing activist, Legal Aid attorney, and political candidate.

El Otro México Videotape Collection. A collection of fifty-one mini-DV master tapes donated by the television show’s director, Juan González. El Otro México is a continuing program that addresses major events in the Chicano/Latino community and presents emerging artists and musicians. This collection will be copied to DVD and VHS for researchers.

ADOBE LA Papers. A collection of papers on deposit while the co-founder and design principal of ADOBE LA (Artists, Architects, and Designers Opening the Border Edge of Los Angeles), Ulises de Jesús Díaz, is a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University. As a community and urban activist, artist, and architect, Díaz has worked to strengthen the voice of an expanding and diverse Latino community in Los Angeles, focusing on the presence of Mexicans and Chicana/os in the cultural and environmental landscapes of Southern California.

Guillermo E. Hernández Papers. A collection of Professor Hernández’s papers and books, selected in conjunction with his family. The collection highlights his groundbreaking research on corridos and the Frontera Digitization Project.

◙ CSRC Press - Aztlán Going Online: The press is pleased to announce that after several years of planning, the journal of record in the field of Chicano studies is now online! To read all issues of Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, please go to the journal hosting site. If your library subscribes, and you are accessing the site through your university network, you should be able to read articles right away. If not, this may mean that your library has yet to turn on its access. Why not email your librarian and ask him or her to do so? If your library doesn’t subscribe, but you do, please email us so that we can give you your password. You will then be able to register at MetaPress to search and read the content of every issue of Aztlán, from 1970 through 2006. All subscribers will continue to get a print copy of the journal.

◙ CSRC Store Online: The press is also pleased to announce that all CSRC products are now available online at our own CSRC Store! The CSRC receives all the earnings from items ordered from this financially secure site (unlike products purchased from Amazon.com, for instance). Please visit the site! In honor of the launch, the CSRC is offering all friends of the center a one-time 40 percent discount on all books, DVDs, and t-shirts. Just browse the products, add them to your shopping cart, enter the discount code “launchdeal,” and pay with your credit card. You don’t need to leave home! The discount can only be used in the next two weeks, so don’t wait! If you have any problems at all, please email the CSRC Store. Since this is the beta version, the CSRC is expecting a few glitches and your assistance in notifying the CSRC of any problems will be greatly appreciated!

◙ Café Press Store: A variety of products with our con safos logo can be purchased at Cafepress, an online marketplace that allows organizations to create unique print-on-demand products. The CSRC earns a portion of the proceeds, so check it out!

◙ Fall 2006 Issue of Aztlán: All subscribers should have received the fall issue of Aztlán in their mailboxes. If you are not a subscriber, you won’t have a chance to read Edward Telles’s response to Harvard University professor Samuel P. Huntington’s contention that Mexicans are “overwhelming American borders”; Rosaura Sánchez and Beatrice Pita’s political proposal to construct the growing Latina/o population in the United States as a “bloc” of fluid identities in order to “more effectively address the hostile political environment”; Miroslava Chávez-García’s case study of Mexican and Mexican American youth who attempted to escape from California’s leading reform school between 1890 and 1920; and Diana Palaversich’s examination of the Mexican and Mexico-related “narconovela.” The dossier section offers excerpts from the CSRC Press’s forthcoming book on Latino aesthetics, Chicano Manual of Style. To subscribe to Aztlán, you can do so easily by visiting the online store and using your credit card. You can also email your postal address and the CSRC will send you a subscription package.