MALCS listjefa reviews “Girl in a Coma” at Ms. Mag
MALCS Listjefa Nicole Guidotti-Hernandez recently webpublished this review essay at Ms.Magazine:
The impact of homegrown, San Antonio-based, all-woman band Girl in a Coma stretches far beyond the borders of Texas. Its fourth album Exits and All the Rest, recently named to NPR’s 50 best of 2011, shows the band’s range of talents–from the Morrissey-inspired “Smart” to the rough-edged anthem:
Filed under Members in the news | Comment (0)Phanie Diaz, Nina Diaz and Jenn Alva bring renewed vitality and political charge to what have historically been labeled “girl bands.”
Don’t let their name fool you: GIAC is wide awake (their name is based on the song “Girlfriend in a Coma” from the Morrissey-led British band The Smiths), and its bluesy, rock sound gains tremendous force from Nina Diaz’s distinct vocals. These women are the real thing–and that’s probably why rock pioneer Joan Jett signed them to her Blackheart Records in 2006. “Joan really understands where we are coming from,” Phanie Diaz tells the Ms. Blog…..
State of the Organization: MALCS Executive Committee Working on Major Initiatives
by Mónica F. Torres, Chair, MALCS Executive Committee
For several years now, the MALCS Executive Committee has been working on critical initiatives, projects it believes will fortify the foundation of the organization for the next period of time.
Bylaws Revision. As members know, particularly those who attended the 2012 Summer Institute in Los Angeles, the Executive Committee has been working on a revision of the MALCS by-laws. While many of the changes proposed will be minor, changes in wording or changes meant to bring our bylaws in line with our practice, other proposed changes will be more substantive: about membership, voting procedures, the Summer Institute, etc. After many months of discussing, writing, and rewriting among the members of the EC and with the membership at large, the Executive Committee will post our bylaws proposal in late May or early June. More information about the processes we will use to discuss and vote will be posted with the proposal.
Communications. Historically, MALCS members have had two formal opportunities to communicate: the Summer Institute and the journal. More recently, with much thanks to Susana Gallardo, the MALCS website has become another important source of information for members. Over the past few years, it has become increasingly clear that the web will continue to be an important site for communications. Understanding that, the Executive Committee has established a working group addressing communications issues. Convened by Chair-elect Theresa Delgadillo, this group will investigate a question I heard Ex-oficio Keta Miranda ask many times last year: how can we use the web as a venue to support and increase the vibrancy and vitality of this organization? The Communications and Web Team includes Susana Gallardo, Keta Miranda, Marivel Danielson, Seline Szupinksi Quiroga and Elisa Huerta.
Resolution on Institutional Violence. At the 2011 Summer Institute, a group of mujeres proposed a resolution calling on Chicano/a Studies to address institutionalized violence—specifically sexism, misogyny, and homophobia—within Chicano/a Studies programs. The resolution enthusiastically passed. Since the Institute, an ad hoc group, convened by Keta Miranda, has been working: clarifying the issues and developing strategies to address the set of concerns that prompted the resolution. More information will follow as specific actions are identified and organized.
Membership Drive. Marivel Danielson, Membership Coordinator, is developing a new membership drive for MALCS. She has several goals in mind: to make it easier for members to renew their memberships, and to get information about MALCS into the hands of prospective members more often and more easily. More information about the membership drive will be forthcoming in the next few months.
Funds Development. There is no doubt that we are an established organization. Our annual meeting and our journal are manifestations of that success. The members of the Executive Committee have started to ask, what’s next? What can we do to build on that success? One response: raise funds that will support and extend the work we do. To that end, we already accept donations large and small, restricted and unrestricted. We are now working to establish a more formal giving structure, which will articulate more and more fully developed giving options and benefits. In addition to that, we have discovered a number of charitable foundations that have goals that match or complement ours. We are researching and discussing the feasibility of applying to the grant programs of these organizations.
Other Projects on the Horizon. There are a number of other projects in the works as well. For example, the Executive Committee is developing or revising core organizational documents including an Administrative Policies and Procedures manual, a Summer Institute handbook, and a procedures and operations manual for the journal. We believe these improvements in our institutional structure are essential for the long-term health of the organization.
Like you, the members of the Executive Committee value this organization. Each of us has a story or two or three about the ways in which MALCS has made a difference in our own professional and personal lives. Our work, as members of the Executive Committee, is meant to be a promise to current and future members that MALCS will continue to be a source of support, insight, and inspiration.
Filed under MALCS business | Comment (0)Cindy Cruz awarded 2012 AERA Article of the Year
Congrats to MALCSista Cindy Cruz who has been selected as the recipient of the 2012 Article of the Year award by the Queer Studies Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Her publication, entitled “LGBTQ street youth talk back: a meditation on resistance and witnessing,” has been lauded for its strong theoretical and counter-colonialist research frames. Cindy is currently a fellow at the UC Center for Collaborative Research for an Equitable California (CCREC).
To access the article, click here.
Abstract:
In this ethnography of LGBTQ street youth, I argue that despite the regulation and containment of their bodies, queer street youth consistently create spaces of resistance that move them away from the tropes of infection, contamination, and deservedness that are inscripted onto the bodies of queer youth. Using the work of feminist philosopher Maria Lugones, this essay articulates a framework for resistance researchers – scholars who enact a “faithful witnessing“ in solidarity with the communities they are describing, a movement away from the radical othering that often happens in social science research. It is in this positioning as a faithful witness that researchers can attend to the deconstruction of the discursive climates of deficit tropes that obscure the gestures and maneuvers of resistance. The tropes of contamination and irresponsibility intersect many of the experiences of LGBTQ street youth in ways that implicate not only LGBTQ street youth, but also other marginalized bodies.
Cruz, C. (2011). “LGBTQ street youth talk back: a meditation on resistance and witnessing.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 24(5): 547-558.
New book: Presumed Incompetent, eds. Gutierrez y Muhs, Flores Niemann, Gonzalez & Harris
“Presumed Incompetent is undeniably a path-breaking book full of stories of resilience and survival. The editors of this magnificent collection attest to the power of storytelling and add to the testimonios of women in academia such as Telling to Live and Paths to Discovery. Each and every one of the authors survived and in telling their stories they offer hope and solace for young women scholars entering the academy.”
—Norma E. Cantú
Presumed Incompetent is a pathbreaking account of the intersecting roles of race, gender, and class in the working lives of women faculty of color. Through personal narratives and qualitative empirical studies, more than 40 authors expose the daunting challenges faced by academic women of color as they navigate the often hostile terrain of higher education, including hiring, promotion, tenure, and relations with students, colleagues, and administrators. The narratives are filled with wit, wisdom, and concrete recommendations, and provide a window into the struggles of professional women in a racially stratified but increasingly multicultural America.
To be released in May 2012. Reviewers needed; please contact Gabriella at gutierg@seattleu.edu. Also coming in 2013 is Rebozos de Palabras: An Helena María Viramontes Critical Reader, edited by Gabriella Gutierrez y Muhs. Reviewers and “blurbs” also sought.
Co-Editors Yolanda Flores-Niemann, Carmen G. Gonzalez, Angela P. Harris, and Gabriella Gutierrez y Muhs
The Border Book Festival April 19-22 in Mesilla, New Mexico
PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT
Denise Chávez
The Border Book Festival
575-523-3988
bbf@borderbookfestival.com
THE SHAMANIC JOURNEY/LA JORNADA CHAMÁNICA
2012. Year of Healing and Transformation. The Completion of a 26,000 year
cycle according to the Mayan and Aztec calendars. The Border Book Festival (BBF) is making plans for its 18th annual book festival, The Shamanic Journey, which will take place April 19-22 in Mesilla, New Mexico.
Invited presenters include Curandera/healer/herbalist/
A special Oaxacan Mole Fest Festival Fundraiser will take place on Thursday, April 19 with Oaxacan chef, Pilar Cabrera. Ms. Cabrera runs the world famous La Olla Restaurant in Oaxaca, México.
The Festival artists/writers/healers are deeply involved with their communities and its healing. They will join us to share their vision of a world united.
The Border Book Festival is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit literary, literacy and arts organization that is housed in the historic Frietze Store in Mesilla that dates from the mid 1800s.
New Mexico’s longest running book fair began over 20 years ago with readings, book signings and a small literary festival at the Holy Cross Retreat House. The event evolved into the nationally renowned and much loved Border Book Festival, which moved to Mesilla in 2004. Since then the BBF has opened the Cultural Center de Mesilla and Galería Tepín, a multicultural gallery space.
Writing and artwork will be gathered for JORNADA, a bilingual English/Spanish book that will feature poetry, essays, stories and artwork from our featured presenters as well as various invited writers and artists whose work resonates with our theme. A special exhibition of Catalina Delgado Trunk’s papel picado will take place at Galería Tepín during the festival. Her art piece, Dancing at the Portal, will be featured on the festival poster.
Festival highlights include An Afternoon Gathering for Women/Sanación con Sabiduría/Una Tardeada Para Mujeres with Doña Enriqueta Contreras who will
offer a look at Zapotec Principles of Living. She will also offer a workshop called Home Remedies and the Importance of a Basic Herbal Home Kit/Remedios Caseros y La Importancia de Una Canasta Básica en Nuestros Hogares. In this 3-hour workshop with Doña Enriqueta Contreras, we will learn how to assemble a home remedy kit.
Dr. Marta Moreno Vega will offer a workshop on Yoruba teaching and the festival will screen her documentary,”Cuando los Espíritus Bailan Mambo”/”When the Spirits Dance Mambo.” A triumphant voyage of faith and power, the film traces the role of sacred African thought and practices in the formation of Cuban society, culture and music in a 90-minute documentary is a tribute to the spiritual energy that traveled from West Africa to Cuba and New York. In addition, she will be giving a reading on Saturday, April 21 with music and a dance following.
The “Picasso of Paper,“ Catalina Delgado Trunk, who is considered one of the top world paper artists will offer present a Talk/Plática on The History & Evolution of Día de Muertos in México & Its Healing & Cultural Traditions as well as a Papel Picado workshop during the festival weekend.
A panel of artists/healers and scholars will discuss the Future of Our Shared Journey and What Lies Ahead. Invited featured scholars are Dr. Arturo Madrid, Professor of Literature at Trinity University, author of In The Country of Empty Crosses: The Story of A Hispano Protestant Family in Catholic New Mexico, Margarita Návar, healer and author of Zapotec Woman of the Clouds, a biography of Doña Enriqueta Contreras and Dr. Antonia Castañeda, Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at St. Mary’s University and editor of Gender on the Borderlands: A Frontier Reader. Special guests include Diana Campoamor, Director and CEO of H.I.P., Hispanics In Philanthropy, based in San Francisco and Lourdes Portillo, documentary filmmaker, whose film, Señorita Extraviada, won the Ariel, the equivalent of an Academy Award, in México. It is the story of the disappeared young women in Juárez, México.
As ever, music interacts with powerful workshops, stellar readings, and good food at the festival. The BBF will feature the music of The Plateros, a unique hybrid of blues rock musicians, only comparable to artists like Los Lonely Boys from the Tohajiilee Indian Reservation near Albuquerque NM. In 2099 they were invited to The 11th American Indian Inaugural Ball for President Obama, in Washington DC. Other featured music includes Oussa Bossa, a Brazilian Jazz group, and traditional Yoruba music and chanting.
A Plant exchange will take place during the weekend in front of Galería Tepín. If you want to donate seeds or plants, please contact the BBF.
The festival will end Sunday, April 22 with a Blessing of the Spirits: A Gathering of the Healers and a Talk/Plática by Esther Yazzie Lewis on her work with the Diné Sacred Land Recovery Project and her book, The Navajo People and Uranium Mining. Ben Willie, a Navajo medicine man, from Tohijille, New Mexico, will offer the final festival ceremony.
The festival is looking for Volunteers—Spirit Teams—to work on aspects of the festival and with particular healers. A community Volunteer meeting will take place Thursday, February 16, at the Cultural Center de Mesilla, 2231 Calle de Parian, Mesilla, NM. 575-523-3988. bbf@borderbookfestival. If you can’t make it, we will be meeting on a regular basis. Please call for more information.
Please visit the Festival participants websites at:
http://donaenriquetacontreras.
http://www.martamorenovega.
http://www.calaca-arts.com/
http://www.laolla.com.mx/chef.
Please contact us for information on how YOU can get involved in the festival work. Join a Spirit Team and help us sponsor a particular featured participant.
575-523-3988. bbf@borderbookfesival.com
JOB: Director of Alliance for Community Transformation
DIRECTOR OF THE UMASS ALLIANCE FOR COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION
The Department of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst seeks a Director for the UMass Alliance for Community Transformation (UACT), the University’s curricular alternative spring break program. The position is a 9-month lectureship, three-year appointment, possibility for renewal.
UACT is a 15-year-old collaboration of faculty, students, and community partners that serves to promote social justice and cross cultural collaboration through alternative curricular breaks and other experiential learning opportunities that focus on grassroots community development and grassroots community organizing (www.umass.edu/uact). UACT employs peer teaching and critical and experiential pedagogies to promote civic leadership skills among its students.
The Director is responsible for the oversight of all components of UACT including teaching or supervising a minimum of 4 academic courses/year, oversight of student thesis research, planning UACT’S 5 annual leadership retreats, oversight and training of UACT’s student staff, facilitation of community partnerships including their associated alternative spring break trips and advising students within the Department and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences on experiential learning opportunities.
Requirements: PhD in anthropology or related field, demonstrated record of teaching excellence, demonstrated experience in critical or engaged pedagogy, and previous experience with community organizing are essential. Previous experience with community service learning, alternative spring breaks, and grantsmanship are desirable. We seek candidates who will complement departmental strengths in issues of power and structural inequality and help us expand our curricular commitment to experiential learning. The Department of Anthropology at UMass Amherst is committed to developing a more diverse faculty, student body, and curriculum.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is the flagship campus of the 5-campus publicly funded UMass system. It is located in the Connecticut River Valley, 90 miles west of Boston and 180 miles northeast of New York City. UMass Amherst hosts nearly 19,000 undergraduate students and 5,600 graduate students, and nearly 900 tenure system faculty. The Department of Anthropology has 21 faculty, 175 majors in the BA program and 82 graduate students working on MA and/or PhD programs.
UMass Amherst anthropology faculty work closely with their counterparts in the area private colleges (Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith) in curricular planning. The faculty is unionized, and the University of Massachusetts offers an excellent benefits package. UMass Amherst prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and other protected categories.
We strongly prefer that applications be submitted online at https://academicjobsonline.
The University of Massachusetts is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and members of minority groups are encouraged to apply.
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Prof. Mari Castañeda / Dept of Communication / UMass Amherst / 413-545-1307
Book Release Party for Earth Wisdom: A California Chumash Woman
DR. YOLANDA BROYLES-GONZÁLEZ BOOK RELEASE & SIGNING
The University of Arizona’s Native American Red Ink Magazine is proud to host the launch event of Professor Yolanda Broyles-González’s new book Earth Wisdom: A California Chumash Woman, written in collaboration with Chumash native elder Pilulaw Khus. The event will take place 7:00 p.m., Friday, February 3, 2012 at Antigone Book Store located at 311 N. 4th Avenue in Tucson, Arizona.
Broyles-González gathered the oral history of Pilulaw Khus for over ten years. This book provides a new vision of California history and an important vision for the survival of our planet. This is a groundbreaking Indigenous women’s history volume.
In Earth Wisdom: A California Chumash Woman, Khus narrates the history of California and of the state’s Indigenous peoples’ from a native woman’s perspective. She includes her personal story of over four decades of activism in tribal, environmental, and human rights issues. That powerful history is both deeply spiritual and political; it constitutes an important segment of the Civil Rights Movement.
Yolanda Broyles-González provides an extensive introduction, carefully providing context to Khus’s narrative, as well as to the periods before, during, and after European colonization of California. She challenges many of the widely held assumptions put forward by anthropologists and historians, as she unfolds an Indigenous understanding of gender, of history, of the universe. The book is the first to document 20th Century Chumash re-emergence struggles, such as the yearlong Point Conception Occupation (1978).
Reviewers of Earth Wisdom sing its praises:
“This is one of the most extraordinary collaborations between a scholar and Indigenous activist that I have read.” –Prof. Greg Cajete, Director of Native American Studies at the University of New Mexico
“Yolanda Broyles-González’s book on the Chumash of Santa Barbara is superb.” –Rudy Acuña, author of Occupied America and professor at California State University Northridge
“Exemplary meeting of activism and scholarship brings the reader a wealth of accessible information that penetrates well beyond surface gleam (. . .) Partake in the earth wisdom of a people who revolted and revolutionize still.” –Allison Hedge Coke, author of Blood Run
Dr. Yolanda Broyles-González is an elder of the Yaqui Barrio Libre ceremonial community in Tucson, Arizona and Professor of Mexican American Studies at the University of Arizona. Pilulaw Khus is a Chumash ceremonial elder and clan mother of the northern Chumash Bear Clan.Eart
Filed under General News, New Publications | Comment (0)