César Estrada Chávez: Lost But Not Forgotten Photographs

When I get really bored, I scan old negatives and slides. Recently I found a series on César Estrada Chávez. I remember printing, publishing and exhibiting many of them. This one in particular, I never reproduced. I felt it was about time.

This series of photographs were taken in San José, California in the early 70s. It was at a benefit concert for the United Farmworkers Union. Chavez was in attentendance. I have seen the UFW leader many times before. He was not a stranger in San José.

I have two examples of the photo. One is full frame and the other is cropped. Since I shot the black and white photograph with my Hasselblad medium format camera. The pictures are quite sharp. Feel free to contact me should you have any questions about this and any of my photographs. My website is www.JMMGarza.com. 

Copyright 2022 Jesús Manuel Mena Garza. All rights reserved. JMMGarza@Gmail.com

UT Austin Creates Mex-Am Studies Department

By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz- Austin American-Statesman Staff

The University of Texas is stepping up its offerings in Mexican-American studies by establishing a full-fledged academic department devoted to the field.

The Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies — the somewhat tongue-twisting title acknowledges both genders — is offering bachelor’s and master’s degree programs this fall, and doctoral programs are scheduled to be part of the mix in 2016-17, pending approval by state higher education officials. In addition, a Borderlands Research Institute will be established to support community-based data collection projects.

“This new department will bring together some of the nation’s finest scholars from a variety of academic disciplines and further advance our college and university as a national leader in the study of Mexican American and Latino populations,” said Randy Diehl, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, of which the new department and the planned institute are part.

Mexican-American and Latin American studies are nothing new at UT. The Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, founded in 1940, offers programs leading to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. The Center for Mexican American Studies, established in 1970, is also well-regarded in the field, as is the Benson Latin American Collection, whose holdings include nearly 1 million books and publications, 19,000 maps, 100,000 photographs and a variety of audio and visual materials.

The new department is intended to expand UT’s teaching and research, and one of its signature elements will be a focus on the United States’ changing demographic landscape, said Domino Perez, director of the Center for Mexican American Studies, who noted that Latinos make up a third of the state’s population. Degree tracks will include cultural studies, policy, and language and cognition.

About 25 students at UT are currently majoring in Mexican-American studies. The new department expects to have 50 after a year and 100 after two years. The Long institute has a total of 116 undergraduate and graduate students, and its offerings will continue.

Bachelor’s Degree Near For UNM Chicano Program

By Astrid Galvan / Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer

More than 40 years since the University of New Mexico began its Chicana and Chicano Studies program, students may finally be able to get a bachelor’s degree in it.

A regents committee on academic and student affairs approved the new major Wednesday, the second-to-last hurdle for the program. The full board of regents still must approve the degree.

The committee also approved two new Chicana and Chicano Studies certificate programs. One is a 15-hour online certificate in trans-national Latino studies that focuses on the U.S./Mexico border. The other is a program in New Mexican Cultural Landscapes that looks at the landscape and culture of the state.

Chicana and Chicano Studies focuses on cultural, political and social justice within Chicana/Chicano communities. The curriculum includes courses on gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, arts and culture, political mobilization, immigration, history and heritage.

Currently, students in the program can obtain only a minor, or 24 hours worth of curriculum. A bachelor’s degree would require 36.

Instituting the new major would not require additional resources such as new faculty, associate professor LM García y Griego said. Still, he said the program likely will grow in the next few years, and the department is already working on a hiring plan.

“We’ve had significant increase in enrollment just in a couple of years,” García y Griego said. About 500 students are enrolled.

The new degree so far has wide support.

“The Faculty Senate passed this resolution, and I am wholeheartedly behind it,” President Amy Neel said. The New Mexico Land Grant Council, a state agency, passed a resolution in support of the degree last spring, and the Provost’s Office also is on board.

“The proposal is well thought out and timely, and we are excited about the possibility of creating this degree program at UNM,” Associate Provost for Curriculum Greg Heileman wrote in a letter.

— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal

NACCS Pasadena

National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies XXXVIII, Pasadena, California, March 30-April 2, 2011

[Click header to got to NACCS website]

Going to NACCS? March 5th is the final day for Pre-registration.

http://www.naccs.org/Registration

Presenters: remember that membership and registration are both required. Complete Membership first before Registeration. www.naccs.org/Membership

Haven't booked a hotel room? March 10th will be the last day to get the conference discount rate.

http://www.naccs.org/naccs/Hotel_EN.asp Book online.

Still undecided if you want to attend? Let's help convience you. We have one of our most packed conferences ever! Here is just a very, very small sampling of panels scheduled/events happening at the conference.

Wednesday Night

Welcome Reception

Thursday

NACCS Plenary: Sites of Education for Social Justice

Daniel Solorzano, UCLA. "Critical Race Theory and the Role of Education in the Struggle for Social Justice."
Jorge Huerta, NACCS Scholar 1997. "Teatro Chicana/o: Performing Social Justice Beyond the Classroom."
Rhonda Rios Kravitz, Sacramento City College. "Removing the Veil: Maintaining 'Open Access' for the Privileged."

Panel: The State of Exception and the Right of Resistance

Tezozomoc. South Central Farmers Feeding Families. “States of Exception and the Limits of Identity Politics.”

Peña, Devon. University of Washington. “The Strategy of Refusal and the State of Exception.”

Gonzalez, Rosalee. Arizona State University. “Militant Women and Resistance to the State of Exception.”

Discussant: Diaz, David R. California State University, Los Angeles

Panel: Chicana Art as Site of Critical Education

López, Tiffany Ana. University of California, Riverside. “Chicana Art as Public Pedagogy: Motherhood and the Curriculum of Defiance in the Work of Barbara Carrasco.”

Leimer, Ann Marie. University of Redlands. “Quilting Knowledge, Weaving Justice: Sites of Struggle and Survival in the Work of Consuelo Jiménez Underwood.”

Davalos, Karen Mary. Loyola Marymount University. “Art as Education for Social Justice: The Indigenous Spirituality of Linda Vallejo.”

Chair: Davalos, Karen Mary. Loyola Marymount University.

Friday

NACCS Luncheon

NACCS Scholar: Norma Alarcon, University of California, Berkeley.

Cervantes Recipients:

Israel Pastrana. University of California, San Diego. Graduate.

Arnold Farias. California State University, Northridge. Undergraduate.

Book Award: Richard T. Rodriguez. Next of Kin: the family in Chicano/a cultural politics. Duke University Press, 2009.

Panel: Performing the Latin@ Borderlands: Towards a Decolonial Performatics.

Pérez, Daniel Enrique. University of Nevada, Reno-Spanish/Latina Studies. “(Re)Examining the Latin Lover: Screening Chicano/Latino Sexualities.”

Sandoval, Chela. University of California, Santa Barbara. “Towards a Decolonial Performatics.”

Garcia, Peter J. California State University, Northridge. “Te Amo, Te Amo, Te Amo”: Lorenzo Antonio and Sparx Performing Nuevo Mexico music.”

Aldama, Arturo J. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder. “No Somos Criminales: Border Musics talk back to Nativist Racism and Sexism.”

Panel: The Classroom and Community as Sites for Social Justice

Calderon, Jose. Pitzer College. "Building the Future as It Emerges in the Classroom and in the Community.”

Sanbrano, Angela. Pomona Habla and Latina/o Roundtable of the San Ga. "Pushing Back Immigration Enforcement on a Local Level.”

Cadena, Gilbert. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. "University Service Learning for Social Justice.”

Roundtable: Tejan@ Rocks!: Examining Cultural Sites of Social and Political Praxis

Miranda, Marie “Keta”. University of Texas, San Antonio.

Habell-Pallan, Michelle. University of Washington, Seattle.

Cervantes, Marco. University of Texas, San Antonio.

Urquijo-Ruiz, Rita. Trinity University.

Cardenas, Jaime. Seattle Central Community College.

Panel: The Arts as Sites of Education for Social Justice

Carlos Manuel, Bellarmine University. "Theatre for Social Change and Awareness: Funny About Serious Matters."

Alma Lopez, Independent Artist. "Controversial Art."

Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano, Poet. "Tragedies, Codices & Joterías: Poetic Artifacts at the Junctures of Desire, Survival and Envisagement."

Film: Danza Folklorica Escénica: El Sello Artístico de Rafael Zamarripa(Mexican Folkloric Dance: Rafael Zamarripa's Artistic Trademark). 50 min.

Presenter: Olga Najera-Ramirez, University of California, Santa Cruz.

Saturday

Panel: Marching Students: Chicana/o Activism in Education, 1968 to the Present

Revilla, Anita. University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “Las Vegas Activist Crew and the Im/migrant Rights Movement: How We Collaboratively Transformed 'Sin City'."

Berta Avila, Margarita. Sacramento State University. “Educational Justice and Access: Conversations from Chicana/o Teachers Teaching in La Academia del Barrio Telpochcalli.”

Solorzano, Daniel. UCLA. “Racism, White Supremacy, and Racial Hierarchies: A Case Study of African American and Latina/o High School Student Activism.”

Covarrubias, Alejandro. UCLA. “Latino Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) and Agencies of Transformational Resistance.”

Lopez Figueroa, Julie. Sacramento State University. “Marching Students: Chicana/o Activism in Education, 1968 to the Present.”

Panel/Discussion: U.S. Birthright Citizenship & Arizona's SB1070 and other Anit-Immigrant 'Copy Cat' State Laws

Thomas A. Saenz, President and General Counsel of MALDEF

Eva Longoria, activist and MALDEF Board Member

Panel: Adaljiza Sosa-Riddell: scholar, intellectual, mentor, activist and friend

Gradilla, Alexandro Jose. California State University, Fullerton. “Towards a critical cultural competency and bioethics:

Adaljiza Sosa-Riddell' social justice perspective on health politics.”

Facio, Elisa. CU Boulder. “Honoring Dr. Adaljiza Sosa Riddell: “Naci para ser Rebelde

Davalos, Karen Mary. Loyola Marymount University. “Publishing as Transformative Education: the legacy of Adaljiza Sosa-Riddell.”

Casillas, Dolores Ines. UC Santa Barbara.

Roundtable: Battle of the Virgins: A Presentation of the Book, OUR LADY OF CONTROVERSY: ALMA LOPEZ'S “IRREVERENT APPARITION” (featuring Knockout Performers Monica Palacios as la Virgen de Guadalupe and Adelina Anthony as Our Lady of Controversy)

Gaspar de Alba, Alicia. UCLA. “Announcing Our Knockout Performance...”

Lopez, Alma. Independent Artist. “Alma Lopez's ‘Nican Mopuha’.”

Gonzalez, Deena. ACE Fellow/University of California at Irvine. “Making Privates Public: It's not about the Virgen of the Conquest, it's about the Conquest of the Virgen.”

Perez, Emma. University of Colorado, Boulder. “The De-Colonial Virgin in a Colonial Site.”

Roman-Odio, Clara. Kenyon College. “Queering the Sacred: Love as Oppositional Consciousness in Alma Lopez's Visual Art.”

Save Ethnic Studies Fundraiser

Exhibits:

University of Texas Press

Arizona University Press

Bilingual Review Press

University of Nevada Press

Ethnic Studies Library, UCB

Chicano Studies Research Center, UCLA

Crafts by Amistad

art2graf creations

Chicana & Chicano Studies, UCSB

Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social

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CSUN professor publishes women’s empowerment guide

By Angela Melero - The Daily Sundial

Chicana/o studies professor Diana Shakti Contreras is teaching college women a lesson in identity in her book titled “Meditations of a Warrior Goddess Diva.”

Contreras writes that all women possess within themselves the three traits mentioned in the title, yet they remain dormant.

She elaborates on the roles that all three concepts play in the female experience once they are realized and unleashed, using some of her own experiences as a reference. The result is a brave manuscript that takes readers on an insightful and sometimes uncomfortable ride into the female spirit.

Contreras writes, “A woman’s full potential comes when the three powers (warrior, goddess, diva) are put to use, in harmony with each other, and in sync with the laws and rhythms of the universe.”

The book has an appropriate target audience, as the content focuses on elements like identity and self reflection, which are often confronted in college years.

Contreras’ first published manuscript acts as a guide with designated journal sections that include questions and exercises for the reader.

Readers will find themselves in unfamiliar and somewhat awkward territory, writing letters to their parents and doing an internal body cleanse that requires consuming a tablespoon of olive oil every morning for a week.

The book, which is divided into three sections dedicated to the title’s concepts, challenges women to put aside their stiletto heels and designer bags and explore a more raw aspect of themselves.

Contreras’ warrior concept encourages the female reader to be more independent in words and actions.

Contreras defines a female warrior as a woman who “uses the power of her voice to defend herself and the people for whom she cares.”

The writer instructs the reader to live on their own for a year, and to take some time off from dating. She writes that often a woman’s “lovey-dovey” energy invested in a relationship can hinder self development.

Contreras also challenges readers to connect with their inner goddess by focusing on building and restoring positive relationships and loving their bodies.

She writes, “A goddess nurtures her body, understands and cares for it like a sacred temple; she is aware of her emotions, heals them when needed and enjoys life to the fullest.”

This includes tackling issues that are normally considered awkward and taboo, such as the act of forgiving your parents.

“It is crucial you learn to heal any wounds of negativity in your relationships with your parents, otherwise you will drag these feelings into your future relationship,” Contreras writes.

This portion of the book also confronts the topic of female body image, a common issue among women. The author discourages the unhealthy eating habits plaguing the country, repeatedly insisting that “we are using our bodies as a trashcan.”

Contreras urges readers to “embrace your body as a sacred temple, by simply respecting and treating it with love, and realizing that organs inside your body are working tirelessly to keep you alive.”

Contreras redefines the diva concept in the final section, encouraging readers to dismantle the common themes associated with the term.

These days, the concept of being a diva is often associated with self-absorbed celebrities taking part in excessive lifestyles and behavior.

“(Diva) is a force centered around women’s sexuality,” Contreras writes. “If only women knew the power of their sexuality, we would have a completely different world.”

This section is perhaps the most frank and compelling. The chapters instruct readers on how to pick the perfect mate, career path and lifestyle, and master the art of managing their finances.

It concludes with an exercise in which the reader devotes an entire day to channeling her true diva essence. In a fun twist, readers are encouraged to dress to impress and to maintain their diva walk.

Each chapter ends with journal questions and exercises that are meant to put the book’s concepts into practice. It also offers the reader reflection time to allow the information and concepts to sink in.

“Warrior Goddess Diva” is not one of those books breezed through on a long car ride or during a day at the beach. It’s not a book to retire to an empty space on the bookshelf.

The book’s concepts are meant to change the way a woman looks at her life and herself.

Contreras writes, “In the process, you are creating a healthier, stronger, and more beautiful you.”

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Hannity Smears “Chicano” Author As Anti-White By Taking Quote Out Of Context

I saw this crazy stuff on TV this week. If you have time check out the insanity... FOX insanity that is. Click this link to view the video and text: FOX NOOZ?

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Chicano studies among new UC Merced minors

Some students have been vocal about adding the discipline.

By JAMIE OPPENHEIM
joppenheim@mercedsun-star.com

The fruits of Sean Lambert-Diaz's labor have finally paid off. The UC Merced junior began pushing for a Chicano studies minor during his freshman year in 2007-2008, after sending a letter to the school's history department requesting it hire a Chicano historian. Now a junior, Lambert-Diaz finally has what he wanted -- a Chicano studies minor.

The school will also offer three other new minors this fall. UC Merced students can minor in chemical sciences and environmental sciences and sustainability, both offered though the School of Natural Sciences. Minors in Chicano studies and public health will be offered through the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts.

"It's a relief for me because of the hard work I put in," Lambert-Diaz said. "I hope it not only encourages students to minor in Chicano studies, I hope it pushes students to push for their own minor, like African American studies."

The push for Chicano studies was the most organized student-led effort to lobby for a minor, according to UC Merced officials.

Earlier this year, students pushing for the Chicano studies minor held teach-ins on the school's quad to raise awareness about the issue.

"There has been great interest from students in adding these programs to our university," said Mark Aldenderfer, dean of the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts. "With an underlying emphasis on interdisciplinary studies, we think these minors will help produce well-rounded graduates with knowledge that will benefit them in the next chapter of their lives."
Here are the details of all four new minors:

The chemical sciences minor will require students to gain an understanding of concepts and theoretical principles in chemistry and its various subfields, such as analytical, inorganic, organic and physical chemistry.

Students choosing to minor in environmental science and sustainability will learn to gather and report environmental data. They will also analyze information on environmental quality and recommend appropriate technical, environmental policy decisions.

The Chicano studies minor will have students develop an understanding of the role that race and ethnicity plays in shaping the experiences of different ethnic groups in the United States, but specifically Chicanos. Students will also focus on the various changes in immigration policy, identity, language and social and cultural practices.

The public health minor will require students to take courses in natural and social sciences and humanities. The program emphasizes a focus on health disparities in different economic and ethnic groups.

Reporter Jamie Oppenheim can be reached at (209)385-2407 or joppenheim@merecdsun-star.com.

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UC Merced designated Hispanic-serving institution

The University of California, Merced is in line for additional federal money to serve its large population of Latino students.

UC Merced officials said Friday the campus has been designated as a "Hispanic-Serving Institution" by the U.S. Department of Education.

Merced joins Riverside as the second UC campus to get the designation, which goes to schools where Hispanics make up at least 25 percent of undergraduates.

The designation makes UC Merced eligible for funding for student support services, faculty development, campus renovation and other purposes.

Campus officials say its undergraduates are 32 percent Hispanic, 33 percent Asian, 22 percent Caucasian and seven percent black.

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