MN DREAM Students Break Hunger Strike in DC After Vote

Five Minnesota youth participated in a hunger strike to pressure the US Senate to vote on the DREAM ACT, which would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented students who attend college or join the military. The House passed their version of the bill with a vote of 216-198. The Senate's vote failed to materialize by five votes on Saturday December 18th.

The hunger strikers went to Washington DC to connect with other DREAM Act students and hunger strikers from around the country to pressure senators before the vote on the 18th.

The MN DREAMERS returned from Washington DC on Monday the 20th, where they were met by family and community members at El Colegio in south Minneapolis. They reported back on what happened in DC and community members offered support and acknowledgment for the students' actions, efforts and sacrifices. While the vote was indeed extremely disappointing, students describe their morale as high and determination stronger than ever.

The Department of Chicano Studies is proud to support these youth and others working towards comprehensive immigration reform, college access for all and in general a strong and vibrant community.

Chuy Negrete Performs at Community Partner Sites

The Department of Chicano Studies in collaboration with La Raza Student Cultural Center brought nationally recognized ethno-musicologist, Dr. Chuy Negrete to the Twin Cities to perform at the University of MN and at the Department's community partner sites last week. Dr. Negrete began his tour at Academia Cesar Chavez in St. Paul where he wowed the 4th, 5th and 6th graders and told of the Mexican Revolution through the corrido. His next stop occurred at El Colegio, a 9-12th grade charter high school school in south MPLS. He connected both with the students and high school staff on various issues and finally, Dr. Negrete finished his brief, but impactful tour at La Raza Student Cultural Center for a late afternoon performance. Dr. Negrete is truly an exceptional performer with his keen knowledge of history and ability to relate that through the corrido across such a wide age span.

This is the second time Chuy has been to the University of MN in recent years. He came in 2006 to perform at Paso Al Futuro, the annual Bilingual Bicultural Graduation Celebration here at the U of M and was also greatly received then. ¡Thank you Chuy--safe travels y..orale Raza!

Senior Paper Presentations - Congratulations!

On Friday, December 10th, Karen A. Davidshofer and Leah Mathews publicly presented their Chicano Studies Senior papers to faculty, family, and friends in Scott Hall 2. Karen presented her research (also her University Honors thesis) entitled: "Comfort, Rechazo, y Algo Mas: An Analysis of Chicana Experiences of Belonging." Leah presented research based on her senior paper, entitled "Resisting Cultural Homogenization: How Dual Media Citizenship Enables Selena Gomez to Break Disney's Hegemonic Spell." Both students impressed the audience with their insights into cultural and social dynamics and the originality of their research.

Spring 2011 Course!

CHIC 3672 - CHICANOS IN THE MIDWEST

Want to learn about the Chicano experience in the Midwest and contribute to more knowledge on the topic? Join us!

Learn about activism and help document the history of campus and community engagement on the part of local Chicano activists. Your class project can make a difference!

Special Topics Course

Spring 2011, the Department of Chicano Studies will be offering a special topics course taught by visiting scholar Yolanda Padilla. Check it out!

Chic 3900 - The Mexican Revolution in the Greater Mexican Imagination
2:30 - 3:45, TTh

The Mexican Revolution was one of a small number of monumental social, political, and cultural movements that shaped the twentieth century. While critics normally date the war between 1910-1920, it continues to be a key reference point for writers, artists, filmmakers, politicians, and cultural critics on both sides of the border into the present day.

This raises a number of questions: why and how does the Revolution continue to resonate roughly 100 years after its end? What accounts for its power as a symbol, and what does it symbolize? How have the Revolution's meanings evolved or been manipulated over time, and what do those changes tell us? How have Mexicans in the United States engaged the Revolution? How have the Revolution and its legacies influenced Mexican American understandings of their place north of the border? And how are concepts such as race, class, and gender constructed and deployed in representations of the war? To explore such questions, we will study a range of engagements with the war expressed in diverse cultural forms such as political manifestos, newspaper articles, historiographical treatments, novels, films, comic books, photography, and murals. The course is organized around key historical and cultural moments that sparked renewed interest in the Revolution as a means of understanding, promoting, and/or manipulating these newer contexts. Such moments include postrevolutionary Mexican nation-building, Mexican (im)migration to the United States, the Cuban Revolution and the Cold War, the Chicano Movement, La Noche de Tlaltelolco, the signing of NAFTA, and the Chiapas rebellion.
We will study the work of writers such as Mariano Azuela, Nellie Campobellos, Leonor Villegas de Magnon, Juan Rulfo, Carlos Fuentes, Americo Paredes, Jose Antonio Villareal, Rosario Castellanos, Elena Garro, Luis Valdez and El Teatro Campesino, Sandra Cisneros, and Montserrat Fontes. Visual artists may include Jose Guadalupe Posada, Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Lalo Alcaraz. Films may include Maria Candelaria, Viva Zapata, The Wild Bunch, and The Lost Reels of Pancho Villa.

Spring 2011 Chicano Studies Course Offerings

Spring registration begins November 9th!

This Spring, the Department of Chicano Studies is excited to offer the following courses:

Chic 1275/3275 - Service Learning in the Chicano/Latino Community (Civ)
Chic 3213 - Chicano Music and Art (Pending - AH, DSJ)
Chic 3223 - Chicana/o and Latina/o Representation in Film (AH, DSJ)
Chic 3374 - Migrant Farmworkers in the US: Families, Work, and Advocacy (Civ)
Chic 3446 - Chicana/o History II: WWII, El Movimiento, and the New Millennium (His, DSJ)
Chic 3452 - Xicana/Indigena Studies: History, Culture, and Politics (DSJ)
Chic 3507W - Intro to Chicana/o Literature (Lit, DSJ, WI)
Chic 3672 - Chicana/o Experience in the Midwest (DSJ)
Chic 3752 - Chicanas and Chicanos in Contemporary Society (DSJ)
Chic 3900 - CASA SOL Leadership
Chic 3900 - Mexican Revolution in the Greater Mexican Imagination

To learn more about our course offerings, including times and course descriptions, click here.

Also, learn more about the Chicano Studies major and minor here. Contact Department Adviser Nicole Clements at clem0078@umn.edu with any questions regarding course offerings or degree programs.

Chicano Studies Fall Gathering

Tuesday, October 19th
12:00 - 1:00 pm
Scott Hall Commons (Room 105)
FREE TORTAS Y REFRESCOS!

Please join our Department faculty, staff, and students for this lunchtime gathering. Learn more about the Chicano Studies major and minor, meet others in the Department, and enjoy free food. All current and prospective students are welcome!

¡Fall Welcome 2010!

It is fall semester 2010 and we welcome everyone to the Department of Chicano Studies in Scott Hall on the East Bank. Whether you are new to campus or very familiar to campus and the University of MN, we invite you to stop by the office to meet our great staff and faculty, peruse our list of classes being offered or become involved in our many outreach programs and options.

This fall already has already and will continue to prove to be a very full and exciting time in Chicano Studies. Classes began September 7th and as a department, we are running 12 courses-most of which are full or close to full. Casa Sol, the Living Learning Community began it's 6th year with the biggest class ever and we continue to work with youth and families in the K-12 through our four community partners, in addition to our work with other Latino- centric groups and non-profits.

2010 recognizes the 100th Anniversary of the Mexican Revolution and the 200th Anniversary of Mexican Independence. While the work of Chicano Studies focuses on the lived reality and experiences of Chican@s and Latin@ in the US, certainly there is an intimate connection with Mexico and we are proud to partner with the Mexican Consulate for various activities and programs, including a joint Grito Para Educaccion.

Stop by-estas en tu casa~

Department of Chicano Studies

Ethnic Studies Week October 1-7

Twin Cities Ethnic Studies Week Goals & Objectives

Ethnic Studies Week in the Twin Cities grew out of a national call to defend Ethnic Studies across the nation. The goal is to defend multicultural education and reject the recent legislative and philosophical assault against ethnic studies and ethnic communities by increasing social awareness through purposeful educational events, demonstrations and workshops.

Earlier this year Jan Brewer, the governor of Arizona, signed HB 2281, which banned the teaching of Ethnic Studies in Arizona public schools. This legislation authored by State Superintendent of Public Instruction specifically targets Mexican American Studies in the Tucson Unified School District. During this same time frame the Texas State Board of Education drastically revised its social studies textbook standards to dilute civil rights history and exclude many aspects of the historical and social contributions of people of color. These monumental legislative events, and the ideological thinking that fuels them, illustrates that Ethnic Studies programs and multicultural education are under national assault.
This is a recurring generational struggle which began during the Civil Rights Era when students from across the country stood up to university administrators and faculty to demand racial, ethnic and gender specific programming as central to a quality education. We are asking people in schools and in communities across the Twin Cities to do what might amount to civil disobedience in the Arizona public schools: participate in Ethnic Studies events and engage in the types of cultural learning censored by others. The goal of this initiative is simple: to show that instead of banning Ethnic Studies, we should defend and expand access to multi-cultural education. We invite you to join us!

Twin Cities Ethnic Studies Week Committee

Casa Sol group attends annual retreat

Begun as a way to make the university stronger, to combat isolation and provide support for first year students, this year marks the 6th cohort of Soler@s here at the University of MN, TC.

All students take a Chicano Studies class-History, Identity and Culture the first semester and a class on leadership during the spring semester. Additionally, there are various activities, programs and projects the students work on during the semester which helps to support, ground and build a strong sense of community on campus between and amongst the group.

One component includes the annual retreat to a local YMCA camp for a day long retreat. Stay tuned for photos and more updates!

Casa Sol Spring Calendar

10th and 11th Graders win 2010 Sembrando Una Semilla Award

High school students from Chicano Studies' partners Edison High School, El Colegio y La Escuelita won the 2010 Sembrando Una Semilla Award presented at this year's graduation ceremony, Paso Al Futuro. Congratulations!

This year was the first year the Department ran an after school ACT prep program in south Minneapolis. Students who enrolled in the course attended a 2 hour, weekly ACT preparatory class. The goal was to increase their scores on the ACT, a national college entrance exam.

The Sembrando Una Semilla Award is presented annually by the graduation committee to the individual, group, or organization whose effort embodies the collective aspirations of our community. We are proud of the ACT prep program youth and know they will continue to develop and grow their leadership now and into the future.

Thank You!

The Department of Chicano Studies would like to thank everyone who made the 2009-2010 events and campus visits possible. Thank you for all the support and hard work!

Department's Migrant Class Students Organize Farmworker Forum

From Field to Table: Workers in the Food System Making Change

Date: Monday, April 26, 2010
Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location: Saint Paul Public Library,
Riverview Branch
1 E. George St, West Saint Paul

Join the University of Minnesota's Department of Chicano Studies and Centro Campesino in discussing the current agricultural system from a global, national and local lens. Learn more about farmworker efforts and local structures that lead to a more just food system.

Guest Speakers:

- Ernesto Velez Bustos, Community Organizer at Centro Campesino
- Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, Director of the Rural Enterprise Center, Founder of the Fair Trade Federation, Creator of Peace Coffee
- Erik Esse, Membership and Marketing Director of IFP (Independent Feature Project) Minnesota
- Lisa Sass Zaragoza, Outreach Coordinator, University of Minnesota Department of Chicano Studies

Arrive at 6:30 to purchase products in support of farmworker organizing, learn more about the cause and participate in an interactive trivia session. Fair trade coffee and cookies will be served.

This event is part of an annual series of events entitled: "Untold Stories" presented by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. This year the theme is food production and the struggle for justice; the people who put food on our tables.

Here is the link to the full webpage:
http://www.thefriends.org/untold.htm.

This event is free to the public, all are welcome!

Casa Sol trip-The Windy City

From Friday March 26th-Sunday March 28th, 2010 Soler@s and staff drove to Chi-town for a fabulous learning and group bonding experience! Sights visited included: National Mexican Art Museum, Casa Aztlan, Bombazo-Afro-Caribbean drumming, Millennium Park and Chinatown. What a whirlwind! More pics soon!

Casa Sol 2010 at Millennium Park and Chinatown

CARAVAN TO FARMWORKER FREEDOM MARCH in FL

Hey everyone,

Fair Food Twin Cities is organizing a caravan from the Twin Cities to join
the Farmworker Freedom March in Florida (see below for more info)...anyone
interested in joining? Or know anyone who might be? We're exploring funding options now...

CARAVAN TO FARMWORKER FREEDOM MARCH

Fair Food Twin Cities is organizing a caravan to drive to the Farmworker
Freedom March with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) in Florida. The
march is April 16-18�the caravan will leave the Twin Cities on Thursday,
April 15 in the morning, and get back on Monday, April 19 in the evening. It
will cost $225-300 per person (including food, lodging, transportation and
everything), depending on how many people join us. If you would like to
join the march, please contact Brian Payne ASAP to reserve a spot for
yourself.

For more information on the march, see the CIW website at:
http://www.ciw-online.org/freedom_march/index.html

For more information on the Twin Cities caravan, contact Brian Payne at
612-859-5750, or brianpayneyvp@gmail.com

National Farmworker Awareness Week is March 29-April 2!

Commemorating the March 31st birthday of the great labor leader Cesar Chavez, organizations across the country are hosting a week of action to bring attention to the plight of farmworkers in the United States. Through National Farmworker Awareness Week 2010, we celebrate 11 years of bringing together thousands of people to take action and raise awareness about the conditions of the men, women, and children who harvest our food. We take action to call for dignity now.

Farmworker advocates, religious leaders, students, labor activists, consumers and environmental health professionals will host rallies, marches, petition drives, panel discussions, film screenings and other events to recognize the vital contributions of agricultural workers to our economy.

Here at the University of MN, students in Chicano Studies class 3374, Migrant Farmworkers: Family, Work and Advocacy in collaboration with La Raza student cultural center will host a film series, an educational event in St. Paul and support the Dine with Dignity campaign as part of this year's actions. Contact Israel Pinner (pinne003@umn.edu) or Megan Hines (hine0080@umn.edu) for more informaton.

Border life on the Texas-Mexico Divide

This new course, CHIC3900, looks to understand issues impacting people who live, work and travel in the border area between the United States and Mexico.

More Info
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