Two MALCSista historians nominated for Berkshire history prize
Congratulations to Nicole Guidotti-Hernández and Maylei Blackwell - both finalists for the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Book Prize for 2011. The winner will be announced in June. Nicole writes “I am so happy to be nominated amongst such strong intellectual prowess.”
Maylei’s work, Chicana Power!: Contested Histories of Feminism in the Chicano Movement was reviewed here earlier this year.
Miroslava Chavez-Garcia wrote “Blackwell analyzes Chicanas’ quest to bring gender and sexuality as well as race and class to the forefront of the Chicano movement. In documenting these women’s significance, she is not simply retelling a story but also making a political statement: until now, they have been relegated to the margins of both the Chicano civil rights and women’s liberation struggles. In fact, however, Chicana feminists built what Blackwell calls a complex “vision of liberation,” which shaped US women of color consciousness and evolved into the larger US and third world women’s movements of the 1970s and 1980s—which in turn influenced activists, artists, writers, and intellectuals.”
Nicole’s work is titled Unspeakable Violence: Remapping U.S. and Mexican National Imaginaries, released with the Duke University Press series, “Latin America Otherwise.” 
The work addresses the epistemic and physical violence inflicted on racialized and gendered subjects in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands from the mid-nineteenth century through the early twentieth. Arguing that this violence was fundamental to U.S., Mexican, and Chicana/o nationalisms, Nicole M. Guidotti-Hernández examines the lynching of a Mexican woman in California in 1851, the Camp Grant Indian Massacre of 1871, the racism evident in the work of the anthropologist Jovita González, and the attempted genocide, between 1876 and 1907, of the Yaqui Indians in the Arizona–Sonora borderlands. Unspeakable Violence calls for a new, transnational feminist approach to violence, gender, sexuality, race, and citizenship in the borderlands.
Congrats to both our amazing scholars! Please feel free to leave your comments below! (no registration required)
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Ana Castillo Reading & Fundraiser in Tucson AZ
Renowned Chicana poet, essayist, novelist and author of So Far From God, Ana Castillo will be giving a reading from books banned by TUSD to Mexican American Studies students and the general public on Friday May 4th at 6:30pm at the John Valenzuela Youth Center in South Tucson.
The reading will be followed by a fundraising reception for the “Save Ethnic Studies” organization at 8:30 at 1030 N. 4th Avenue. Please rsvp to
Ms. Castillo offered to visit the actual classrooms in TUSD and meet the students of the dismantled MAS classes. Unfortunately, TUSD administration continued their discriminatory behavior toward MAS students by banning the media from recording Ms. Castillo’s visit, although media had been allowed access for similar author visits earlier in the year.
Ms. Castillo who was saddened by TUSD’s response said today that, “they can keep me out of the schools but as a U.S. law abiding citizen they cannot keep me out of Tucson.” In reaction, a community venue became the obvious choice for the Tucson community for all to attend. Before the actual reading Ms. Castillo will meet separately with students who were enrolled in MAS classes at 5:30pm, and discuss her writing which was a pivotal part of the program.
What: Ana Castillo Public Reading
When: Friday, May 4th, 6:30 pm
Where: John Valenzuela Youth Center, 1550 S 6th Avenue, South Tucson, AZ 85713
Fundraiser Reception
$50 donation suggested
1030 N. 4th Avenue
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New Organization: National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project
The National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project at the Washington College of Law at American University will continue and expand the work that I have been doing for nearly 30 years. Through our work at the Washington College of Law, NIWAP will engage a new generation of lawyers and advocates in work that benefits immigrant women, children, and immigrant survivors of domestic abuse, sexual assault, human trafficking, and other crimes.
NIWAP is a national provider of training, legal and social science research, policy development, and technical assistance to advocates, attorneys, pro bono law firms, law schools, universities, law enforcement, prosecutors, social service and health care providers, justice system personnel, and other professionals who work with immigrant women, children and crime victims. Our work will include support for those in the field and in government who work to improve laws, regulations, policies, and practices to enhance legal options and opportunities for immigrant women and children. Continue reading »
Filed under General News | Comment (1)MALCS Summer Institute CFP July 2012 – New Deadline of May 1st!
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
“Todos Somos Arizona”: Confronting the Attacks on Difference
University of California, Santa Barbara
July 18-21, 2012
Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS) invites submissions for its annual Summer Institute to be held this year at the University of California Santa Barbara. This year’s theme is “Todos Somos Arizona:” Confronting the Attacks on Difference. Continue reading »
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