Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons^™

Transnational Knowledge Projects And Failing Racial Etiquette, Sandra Soto

NACCS Annual Conference Proceedings

Abstract:

This essay calls upon Chicana/o Studies scholars to interrogate some of the assumptions underwriting the transnational turn. Chief among these is the implicit supposition that in order to produce transnational scholarship, one simply (but necessarily) must cross a national border. On the one hand, in taking the concept “transnational” far too literally, this simplistic assumption ignores far more substantive and compelling questions about transnational capitalism’s affects on subjectivity, desire, and resistance. On the other hand, the (sole) crossing-borders criterion suggests that those scholars who work on racial formations within the U.S. (Chicana/o Studies scholars, for instance) have no responsibility …

Blaxican Identity: An Exploratory Study Of Blacks/Chicanas/Os In California, Rebecca Romo

NACCS Annual Conference Proceedings

Abstract:

This paper explores the racial/ethnic identities of multiracial Black-Mexicans or ‘Blaxicans.’ In- depth interviews with 12 Blaxican individuals in California reveal how they negotiate distinct cultural systems to accomplish multiracial identities. I argue that choosing, accomplishing, and asserting a Blaxican identity challenges the dominant monoracial discourse in the United States, in particular among African American and Chicana/o communities. That is, Blaxican respondents are held accountable by African Americans and Chicanas/os/Mexicans to monoracial notions of ‘authenticity.’ The process whereby Blaxicans move between these monoracial spaces to create multiracial identities illustrates crucial aspects of the social construction of race/ethnicity in the …

Latinas In The Kitchen: The Rhetoric Of Food And Desire, Elizabeth Kessler

NACCS Annual Conference Proceedings

Abstract:

Even though the commodification of women by linking them erotically to food has been accepted for decades and used by women themselves to manipulate men and their desires, this has, in turn, led to behavioral and psychological problems. Using feminist as well as psychoanalytical criticism and theory by authors such as Nancy Chodorow, Nydia Garcia-Preto, Elspeth Probyn, Sigmund Freud, and others, “Latinas in the Kitchen: The Rhetoric of Food and Desire” explores how addiction to food and sex leads to unsuitable ways to satisfy one’s needs. Beginning with untreated emotional abuse that leads to inappropriate behavior between a father …

Power To The Panza: The Politics Of Panza Positive Cultural Production, A Performance, Virgina Grise, Irma Mayorga

NACCS Annual Conference Proceedings

Abstract:

The Panza Monologues is a solo performance piece both written by Virginia Grise and Irma Mayorga and also composed from contributions by Chicanas in San Antonio, TX gathered by Grise and Mayorga. In live production of the piece, Grise is the solo actor and Mayorga serves as director, dramaturge, and designer. As a whole, the play focuses on stories that hinge on the metaphor of “la panza” to articulate and describe the multiple conditions of Chicanas’ lives in terms of their physical, social, racial, and class dimensions. The piece has been performed in various locations from its inception in …

Too Mex For The Masses: Bringing Mexican Regional Music To Market, Amanda Maria Morrison

NACCS Annual Conference Proceedings

Abstract:

This article explores the exclusion of Mexican regional music from major marketing and promotional efforts within the domestic music industry, and what that elision reveals about dominant and competing claims on “Latino” ethnic identity. Despite being the bestselling Latin music genre in the U.S., regional Mexican music receives the least development backing and attracts the fewest corporate sponsors. Unlike the suave salseros and Latin-pop divas of previous “Latin booms,” no Mexican regional artist, save for Selena, has ever been primed for mainstream “crossover” success. I argue that what is at stake in promotion of various Latin genres is the …

Chicana Photography: The Power Of Place, Ann Marie Leimer

NACCS Annual Conference Proceedings

Abstract:

The concern with space, location, place, and geographic site has received heightened attention from artists and theorists from the 1960s onward. For critics and creators engaged with these concepts, the analysis of the interaction between of the processes of spatialization, identity formation, and memory has emerged as an important aspect of critical discourse. Lucy Lippard defines space as a physical site, understood as landscape or nature, while place implies intimacy, a familiarity with a certain geographic location. For Lippard, human interaction and, most importantly, the infusion of memory into space or a geographic site produces place. Michel de Certeau …

The Oak Park Redevelopment Plan: Housing Policy Implications For A Community Undergoing Early Stage Gentrification, Joaquin Castañeda

NACCS Annual Conference Proceedings

Abstract:

With the reemerging discussion of gentrification in the urban landscape, an exploratory case study of the Oak Park Redevelopment Plan in Sacramento, CA, was conducted in order to better understand the community’s gentrifying characteristics and the implications once the redevelopment goals are met. In addition, a Conceptual Framework [CF] was formulated in order to unpack the components and processes of gentrification. The findings suggest that the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency’s redevelopment polices act as a catalyst for gentrification that exclusively favors the in-migration of middle- and upper-income residents into the area at the expense of lower-income residents. These …

Looking Beyond “Mow, Blow And Go”: A Case Study Of Mexican Immigrant Gardeners In Los Angeles, Alvaro Huerta

NACCS Annual Conference Proceedings

Abstract:

Recent research on Mexican immigrants focuses on the working conditions of farm workers, garment workers, janitors and day laborers. This coincides with successful efforts by organized labor and immigrant advocacy groups to organize these marginalized workforces. Little attention, however, has been given to Mexican paid gardeners. As part of the household service economy, paid gardeners represent a difficult labor sector to organize and research because they typically operate as independent contractors in the informal economy. This paper seeks to provide a more holistic picture of this dynamic, informal workforce. Drawing primarily upon ethnographic techniques, the paper documents how this …

“La Primavera Del Inmigrante”: Media And Voice In The Making Of Chicago’S Immigrant Rights’ Movement, 2005-2006, Juan Mora-Torres

NACCS Annual Conference Proceedings

Abstract:

As the most draconian legislative bill in modern immigration history, the Sensenbrenner Bill (H.R. 4437) aimed to criminalize the eleven million people living in this country without legal documents. What was intended to be the last nail on the “illegal alien” coffin instead generated a political blowback—it set in motion mass protests on a scale which had no parallel in American history. What began in Chicago on March 10, 2006 became contagious, spreading to the rest of the country at a speed that caught all by surprise. Millions participated in dozens of events in what came to be known …

Introduction To The 2008 Conference Proceedings – “Poesía, Baile Y Canción: The Politics, Implications, And Future Of Chicana/Os’ Cultural Production”, Mari Castañeda , Editor, Michael Calderón-Zaks , Co-Editor, Gilberto Garcia , Co-Editor

NACCS Annual Conference Proceedings

Introduction

The online publication of the proceedings for the 2008 conference held Austin, Tejas marks the beginning of a new era for the NACCS! Rather than using precious tree resources to print the proceedings, the National Board decided at the mid-year meeting before the Austin conference to publish the proceedings electronically. Not only would this ensure that all future conference proceedings would be available to members from any computer terminal at any time, but new members would be able to review the intellectual and activist trajectory of the association through e-proceedings. In addition, as digital media and information communication technology …

Enlaces Latinos: Newsletter Of The New York Latino Research And Resources Network, New York Latino Research And Resources Network

Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Dj Has Rockin' April Fool's Joke, Ironton Tribune

Indian Head Rock Project

Article published in the Ironton Tribune on April 1, 2008 related to the Indian Head Rock dispute.