Seniors in Chicano & Latino Studies will be presenting their senior research projects on Friday, December 7th, 11:30am - 12:30pm, in Scott Hall Room 2. For more information on the presenters and their research, please click SeniorSeminarsFall2012.pdf
Monday, December 10, 2012
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Recent Keynote on Latino Scholars
"Their America, Our América and Our Responsibility as Latina/o Scholars," Prof. Arturo Madrid at Trinity University gave this keynote address at the 20th Anniversary of the Biennial Conference of the Puerto Rican Studies Association. His speech draws upon Noam Chomsky's 1967, "Responsibility of Intellectuals," and Dwight McDonald's 1944, "Responsibility of People." He critically discusses the changing demographics of the U.S. and the historical implications for Latinos living in the U.S. He concludes with the responsibility of Latina/o intellectuals today. You can access the speech by clicking Their America, Our América.
Friday, November 23, 2012
2013 Spring Courses
For a list and brief description of our courses, please click one of the following links, Chicano-Latino Spring 2013 Courses.pdf or Chicano-Latino Spring 2013 Courses.xlsx.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Why Latinos Will Determine Who Wins The Presidency
With the Presidential election less than 3 weeks away, Chicanos and Latinos across the country are poised as the voting demographic that will determine who becomes the next President of the U.S.A. This milestone was nearly reached in the last presidential race when President Obama won 67%-69% of the Latino vote to Senator McCain's 28%-31%.
Today, with most states clearly leaning towards a particular presidential candidate, several states are labeled "battleground states" because voter support is so evenly divided between the two candidates. The next president must win the majority of these states to win the election. In the key battleground states of Florida, Colorado, and Nevada, Chicanos and Latinos are roughly 15% of all eligible, registered voters. While Chicanos and Latinos comprise nearly 5% of all registered voters in the battleground states of Virginia and North Carolina. In New Mexico, nearly 40% of the electorate is Chicano or Hispano. While Arizona is not seen as a battleground state by mainstream media and pollsters, the Chicano population is highly mobilized against anti-immigrant legislation and polling nearly 80% in favor of President Obama. Arizona's Chicano population is almost large enough to swing this state in Obama's favor by themselves.
Latino population growth and increased voter registration, has made the Latino vote pivotal in presidential elections. At the national and state levels, Latinos are polling 67%-73% in favor of President Obama. At these levels, if Latinos vote, we will be the deciding factor in who wins the presidency and future presidential candidates will not be able to ignore our voting power.
Michael Dueñes
Editor and Instructor
Department of Chicano and Latino Studies
[Note: Latino Decisions a non-partisan, Latino political opinion research firm provided much of the data for this editorial. For information about voting in Minnesota, please visit the non-partisan MN Latino Caucus.]
Today, with most states clearly leaning towards a particular presidential candidate, several states are labeled "battleground states" because voter support is so evenly divided between the two candidates. The next president must win the majority of these states to win the election. In the key battleground states of Florida, Colorado, and Nevada, Chicanos and Latinos are roughly 15% of all eligible, registered voters. While Chicanos and Latinos comprise nearly 5% of all registered voters in the battleground states of Virginia and North Carolina. In New Mexico, nearly 40% of the electorate is Chicano or Hispano. While Arizona is not seen as a battleground state by mainstream media and pollsters, the Chicano population is highly mobilized against anti-immigrant legislation and polling nearly 80% in favor of President Obama. Arizona's Chicano population is almost large enough to swing this state in Obama's favor by themselves.
Latino population growth and increased voter registration, has made the Latino vote pivotal in presidential elections. At the national and state levels, Latinos are polling 67%-73% in favor of President Obama. At these levels, if Latinos vote, we will be the deciding factor in who wins the presidency and future presidential candidates will not be able to ignore our voting power.
Michael Dueñes
Editor and Instructor
Department of Chicano and Latino Studies
[Note: Latino Decisions a non-partisan, Latino political opinion research firm provided much of the data for this editorial. For information about voting in Minnesota, please visit the non-partisan MN Latino Caucus.]
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
İBienvenidos!
The Department of Chicano and Latino Studies at the University of Minnesota welcomes everyone to the 2012-13 academic year! Please watch The Making of Chicano Studies, a video on the department's founding featuring former students who helped to establish the department, current faculty, alumni, and students.
We hope you had a fantastic summer, be it enjoying some well-deserved rest and relaxation, working, or traveling to visit family or friends, or conducting research. After an ambitious and highly successful year-long calendar or activities to commemorate the establishment of the Department of Chicano Studies, we are excited to begin this year with a new name and a new website. After extensive discussion about the department's mission, the ongoing demographic changes occurring in Minnesota and throughout the nation, and the importance of being enhancing awareness of our presence on campus, Department faculty agreed that it was time to evolve into the Department of Chicano and Latino Studies. With this change we remain deeply committed to our focus on the lived experience of people of Mexican descent in the United States, but we acknowledge that a comparative and transnational approach that showcases the intra-cultural diversity of the Latina/o population is important in fulfilling our educational mission at the university to ensure that students are well-informed about the complexity of the Latina/o community. Our deep thanks to CLA's web team helping us design this beautifully designed site. Please take some time to explore the site. We welcome feedback and suggestion for making it more user-friendly. We hope you take the time to watch the video we created last year on the "Making of Chicano Studies." Our thanks to all involved in the project. I look forward to seeing you in Scott Hall soon!
We hope you had a fantastic summer, be it enjoying some well-deserved rest and relaxation, working, or traveling to visit family or friends, or conducting research. After an ambitious and highly successful year-long calendar or activities to commemorate the establishment of the Department of Chicano Studies, we are excited to begin this year with a new name and a new website. After extensive discussion about the department's mission, the ongoing demographic changes occurring in Minnesota and throughout the nation, and the importance of being enhancing awareness of our presence on campus, Department faculty agreed that it was time to evolve into the Department of Chicano and Latino Studies. With this change we remain deeply committed to our focus on the lived experience of people of Mexican descent in the United States, but we acknowledge that a comparative and transnational approach that showcases the intra-cultural diversity of the Latina/o population is important in fulfilling our educational mission at the university to ensure that students are well-informed about the complexity of the Latina/o community. Our deep thanks to CLA's web team helping us design this beautifully designed site. Please take some time to explore the site. We welcome feedback and suggestion for making it more user-friendly. We hope you take the time to watch the video we created last year on the "Making of Chicano Studies." Our thanks to all involved in the project. I look forward to seeing you in Scott Hall soon!
We're sorry, you need Javascript enabled to view this video.
Chicano Studies has a new academic advisor!
We're happy to welcome Alexandra (Ali) Miesen to the department. Ali will also serve as an advisor to American Indian Studies and the College of Liberal Arts Languages and Mathematics Student Community.
Ali is excited for the opportunity to work with students interested in the diverse communities of Minnesota. In addition to academic advising, Ali's background includes student programming, career advising, and residence life experience. When she is not at the University, Ali enjoys yoga, coaching youth swimming, and spending time with her family. Ali holds an M.A.: Leadership in Student Affairs from the University of St. Thomas and a B.S. in Communications with an International Studies Minor from the University of Wisconsin - River Falls. While she joins us near the end of the academic year, we look forward to her being part of the Chicano-Latino Studies community. Her office hours and contact information can be found on our website.
Ali is excited for the opportunity to work with students interested in the diverse communities of Minnesota. In addition to academic advising, Ali's background includes student programming, career advising, and residence life experience. When she is not at the University, Ali enjoys yoga, coaching youth swimming, and spending time with her family. Ali holds an M.A.: Leadership in Student Affairs from the University of St. Thomas and a B.S. in Communications with an International Studies Minor from the University of Wisconsin - River Falls. While she joins us near the end of the academic year, we look forward to her being part of the Chicano-Latino Studies community. Her office hours and contact information can be found on our website.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Reflexiones 2011-2012
Reflexiones: Looking back and planning forward
As the 2011-12 academic year comes to a close it's a good time to think about our accomplishments and challenges. And what a year it's been! In honor of our 40th anniversary as the Midwest's first and (still!) only full-fledged free-standing Department of Chicano Studies, faculty and staff in the department, with the assistance of students and alumni, scheduled an ambitious year of programming and events. Last summer we selected the theme of Celebrating Our Past, Haciendo Nuestro Futuro, 1971-2011 to frame our year-long celebration of activities. We kicked off the year at El Grito collaborating with La Raza Student Cultural Center, who was also celebrating its 40th year. In addition to a panel discussion with some of the department's key founders, we took time to honor their roles as brave visionaries in advocating for the department's establishment, and we also held a memorial tribute to longtime faculty and chair Guillermo Rojas who passed away in 2011.
While the lineup of activities throughout the year number too many to do justice to in a short summary, suffice it to say that each month we offered students and our community partners opportunities to reflect, learn, and expand their understanding of the impact that Chicana/os and Latina/os have made in Minnesota and the U.S. at large. Among the many topics we addressed in panels with local and national experts were, the history of Latinos in journalism, Xicanindio identity, cinematic representations of cultural genocide both at home and abroad, educational justice within the school systems, Latin@ demographic change, and the future of Chican@ Studies regionally and nationally. In addition to hosting numerous scholars from around the country, we also used poetry, visual art and teatro to build and expand our community, affirm our cultural and linguistic heritage, and assert important and insightful social critique about race, gender, and class relations in the U.S. As always, the recent 8th annual Un Paso al Futuro bilingual-bicultural graduation celebration was a beautiful way to end the year as it reminds us of why our presence at the University of Minnesota makes such a difference.
Looking forward, as a strategy for enhancing our visibility on campus, department faculty and faculty affiliates agreed to modify the name of the department and the title of our degree program from Chicano Studies, to Chicano and Latino Studies. We do so in hopes of making our department and curricular offerings more visible to those who may have more familiarity with the larger umbrella term of Latino than they do with Chicano. This change will also provide us some curricular flexibility to expand our course offering as well to be more inclusive of the broader Latino community even as we stay firmly grounded in the legacy of Chicano Studies. Though we opted for simplicity's sake not to revise our title to signal gender inclusiveness by using a/o or the @ to signify our commitment to keeping issues of gender and sexuality central to our curriculum, we all agreed that we must consistently ensure that our mission, curricular offerings, and syllabi must reflect the centrality of these concerns to the discipline as a whole.
As the department continues to evolve and expand our in-reach to the university and outreach to greater Minnesota, we have many challenges to address and many things to celebrate. Being 40 has been a time to think about where we've been, what we've achieved, as well as what we've yet to do. I believe I share a belief with many, many others that our best is yet to come! Let's work together to make that dream a reality.
Louis Mendoza, Department Chair
As the 2011-12 academic year comes to a close it's a good time to think about our accomplishments and challenges. And what a year it's been! In honor of our 40th anniversary as the Midwest's first and (still!) only full-fledged free-standing Department of Chicano Studies, faculty and staff in the department, with the assistance of students and alumni, scheduled an ambitious year of programming and events. Last summer we selected the theme of Celebrating Our Past, Haciendo Nuestro Futuro, 1971-2011 to frame our year-long celebration of activities. We kicked off the year at El Grito collaborating with La Raza Student Cultural Center, who was also celebrating its 40th year. In addition to a panel discussion with some of the department's key founders, we took time to honor their roles as brave visionaries in advocating for the department's establishment, and we also held a memorial tribute to longtime faculty and chair Guillermo Rojas who passed away in 2011.
While the lineup of activities throughout the year number too many to do justice to in a short summary, suffice it to say that each month we offered students and our community partners opportunities to reflect, learn, and expand their understanding of the impact that Chicana/os and Latina/os have made in Minnesota and the U.S. at large. Among the many topics we addressed in panels with local and national experts were, the history of Latinos in journalism, Xicanindio identity, cinematic representations of cultural genocide both at home and abroad, educational justice within the school systems, Latin@ demographic change, and the future of Chican@ Studies regionally and nationally. In addition to hosting numerous scholars from around the country, we also used poetry, visual art and teatro to build and expand our community, affirm our cultural and linguistic heritage, and assert important and insightful social critique about race, gender, and class relations in the U.S. As always, the recent 8th annual Un Paso al Futuro bilingual-bicultural graduation celebration was a beautiful way to end the year as it reminds us of why our presence at the University of Minnesota makes such a difference.
Looking forward, as a strategy for enhancing our visibility on campus, department faculty and faculty affiliates agreed to modify the name of the department and the title of our degree program from Chicano Studies, to Chicano and Latino Studies. We do so in hopes of making our department and curricular offerings more visible to those who may have more familiarity with the larger umbrella term of Latino than they do with Chicano. This change will also provide us some curricular flexibility to expand our course offering as well to be more inclusive of the broader Latino community even as we stay firmly grounded in the legacy of Chicano Studies. Though we opted for simplicity's sake not to revise our title to signal gender inclusiveness by using a/o or the @ to signify our commitment to keeping issues of gender and sexuality central to our curriculum, we all agreed that we must consistently ensure that our mission, curricular offerings, and syllabi must reflect the centrality of these concerns to the discipline as a whole.
As the department continues to evolve and expand our in-reach to the university and outreach to greater Minnesota, we have many challenges to address and many things to celebrate. Being 40 has been a time to think about where we've been, what we've achieved, as well as what we've yet to do. I believe I share a belief with many, many others that our best is yet to come! Let's work together to make that dream a reality.
Louis Mendoza, Department Chair
Monday, May 7, 2012
Narratives of Undocumented Immigrants
La Raza Student Cultural Center and the Department of Chicano Studies present:
Narratives of Undocumented Immigrants-an interactive exhibit.
Is immigration a security issue or a human rights issue? How have immigration policies impacted people who live in our community? Come listen, learn, interact on a topic so important to all communities and in particular focus at this presentation, to the Chican@/Latin@ community/communities.
Friday, May 11th, 2012
Great Hall, University of MN
300 Washington Avenue SE
Presentations at 12 and 3 , panel at 12:30
Narratives of Undocumented Immigrants-an interactive exhibit.
Is immigration a security issue or a human rights issue? How have immigration policies impacted people who live in our community? Come listen, learn, interact on a topic so important to all communities and in particular focus at this presentation, to the Chican@/Latin@ community/communities.
Friday, May 11th, 2012
Great Hall, University of MN
300 Washington Avenue SE
Presentations at 12 and 3 , panel at 12:30
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Chicano Studies Seniors Paper Presentations
Graduating seniors complete a Senior Paper, which is a project that students spend significant time and energy completing.
These papers represent a students' culminating work in their area of study and we hope you will join us for their presentations.
FRIDAY MAY 4, 2012 12:30-2:00PM SCOTT HALL 2
These papers represent a students' culminating work in their area of study and we hope you will join us for their presentations.
FRIDAY MAY 4, 2012 12:30-2:00PM SCOTT HALL 2
Monday, April 23, 2012
Department Alum's Play to Show at Neighborhood House May 4th
Join us Friday May 4th at the Wellstone Neighborhood House in St. Paul for the showing of Chicano Studies alumna Donna Peña's play, Sigan la Bandera-Guadalupe's Journey with Mexico. The play is a bilingual musical historical narrative. We are pleased to offer this as the May signature event for the Department's 40th Anniversary Commemoration.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Precious Knowledge Screening 4/20/12 at Bell Museum Auditorium
Free Public Screening on 4/20/12 at 7:20 pm at the Bell Museum Auditorium.
Facebook Even Page
UMN Precious Knowledge Poster.pdf
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
A Very Busy Month of March!
In additional to two campus visit by 6-12th graders from El Colegio and Juventud Conectada, a CASA SOL and La Raza combined trip to Chicago for the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies, we will also be hosting a fabulous day-long symposium and THURSDAY MARCH 22ND focusing on the Future of Chicano Studies and highlighting top notch academicians and thinkers locally and nationally.
Panelists include specialists in women's work and domestic labor, poverty and transnational migration of Mexicana workers; Chicano/a historical movements; queer Latinidades and the symposium will end with a dance performance and discussion. All events are free and open to the public--we hope you can join us and folks from around the country in our work of Envisioning the Future of Chicano Studies!
Panelists include specialists in women's work and domestic labor, poverty and transnational migration of Mexicana workers; Chicano/a historical movements; queer Latinidades and the symposium will end with a dance performance and discussion. All events are free and open to the public--we hope you can join us and folks from around the country in our work of Envisioning the Future of Chicano Studies!
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Rogelio Saenz ppt on Latino Demographics
Look at this informative ppt delivered by R. Saenz at his recent visit to Chicano Studies:
Rogelio Saenz_U Minnesota_Jan 2012.ppsx
Rogelio Saenz_U Minnesota_Jan 2012.ppsx
Monday, February 13, 2012
Trader Joe's Signs With CIW. Pressure pivots to Publix
Congratulations to the Coalition of Immokolee Workers. Read more about the farmworkers tireless campaign: http://ciw-online.org/
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
February's Messages from the Heart
Life has its ups and downs, its good days and bad days as well as its love affairs and its break ups. News and issues of importance to the Latino community certainly are no different.
This month's second Chicano Studies sponsored event, Mira Mi Corazon, will showcase Heart Art--40 wooden hearts that have been decorated by local artists, faculty, staff, students, youth, and community members. Grounded in Chicano Studies values of justice, cultural pride and political resistance, the hearts will be sold at a silent auction and the proceeds to go towards scholarships. Please join us Friday, February 24th from 5-7 pm at El Colgio Charter School, 4137 Bloomington Ave in s. MPLS.
We hope you can attend!
Other important news-
Breaking Up With Trader Joe's:
After nearly two years of a nation-wide campaign, Trader Joe's still refuses to sign an agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a group of farm workers in Florida who have successfully pressured corporate giants like Whole Foods and McDonald's to agree to ensure that farm workers in their supply chains get treated humanely and get paid at least one penny more per pound of tomatoes they pick. And now, Trader Joe's is opening it's first Florida store, only 30 miles away from Immokalee on Immokalee Road. The CIW is planning a huge action during the "Grand Opening" weekend of the new store and there will be a solidarity action here in the Twin Cities. The local CIW Support Committee including members of the Chicano Studies Migrant Farmworker class---one of many groups and collectives nationally that organizes in solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers- joins with Trader Joe's customers on Friday, February 10th at 5:00pm for the delegation to Trader Joe's in St. Paul. The meeting place will be P.J. Murphy's Bakery (1279 Randolph Ave.) at 5pm. Email Brian at brianpayneyvp@gmail.com if you can attend. The delegation will make some noise as takes break up letters to Trader Joe's.
***UPDATE: Friday February 10th, CIW Announcement: Trader Joes signs agreement for better wages and working conditions and now the focus is on Publix grocery store chain. (http://ciw-online.org/) More information to follow in support of farmworkers and their demand for better wages and working conditions.
This month's second Chicano Studies sponsored event, Mira Mi Corazon, will showcase Heart Art--40 wooden hearts that have been decorated by local artists, faculty, staff, students, youth, and community members. Grounded in Chicano Studies values of justice, cultural pride and political resistance, the hearts will be sold at a silent auction and the proceeds to go towards scholarships. Please join us Friday, February 24th from 5-7 pm at El Colgio Charter School, 4137 Bloomington Ave in s. MPLS.
We hope you can attend!
Other important news-
Breaking Up With Trader Joe's:
After nearly two years of a nation-wide campaign, Trader Joe's still refuses to sign an agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a group of farm workers in Florida who have successfully pressured corporate giants like Whole Foods and McDonald's to agree to ensure that farm workers in their supply chains get treated humanely and get paid at least one penny more per pound of tomatoes they pick. And now, Trader Joe's is opening it's first Florida store, only 30 miles away from Immokalee on Immokalee Road. The CIW is planning a huge action during the "Grand Opening" weekend of the new store and there will be a solidarity action here in the Twin Cities. The local CIW Support Committee including members of the Chicano Studies Migrant Farmworker class---one of many groups and collectives nationally that organizes in solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers- joins with Trader Joe's customers on Friday, February 10th at 5:00pm for the delegation to Trader Joe's in St. Paul. The meeting place will be P.J. Murphy's Bakery (1279 Randolph Ave.) at 5pm. Email Brian at brianpayneyvp@gmail.com if you can attend. The delegation will make some noise as takes break up letters to Trader Joe's.
***UPDATE: Friday February 10th, CIW Announcement: Trader Joes signs agreement for better wages and working conditions and now the focus is on Publix grocery store chain. (http://ciw-online.org/) More information to follow in support of farmworkers and their demand for better wages and working conditions.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Spring Semester 40th Commemoration to Begin Thurs. Jan 19th
Welcome back to all students, staff, faculty, families and community! We hope you are ready for 2012. While there have been indeed many gains and important work done to achieve community voice and agency, there still remains significant work and fundamental changes necessary to achieve a more just society and lives of dignity and respect for individuals, families and community.
As many of you know, Chicano Studies, along with La Raza Student Cultural Center here at the University of Minnesota, commemorate 40 years of struggle, community and academics during the 2011-2012 academic year. During the fall term, we heard from local and national experts on educational justice, xicanindio identity after beginning the year honoring those founders of Chicano Studies and La Raza Student Cultural Center (then called the Latin Liberation Front).
We hope you will join us for events and movement building during the spring term and beyond. Our first event for spring semester will occur THURSDAY JANUARY 19TH at the Mexican Consulate in St. Paul. (797 7th Street East, St. Paul, MN 55106) We will host the screening of Los Invisibles/The Invisibles--a film by Gael Garcia Bernal and Amnesty International on the men, women and children who travel from Central America through Mexico on their way north. Mexican Consul Ana Luisa Fajer will lead the post film discussion. It promises to be a great event.
Please see our full listing of events for the entire year at the Chicano Studies website:
As many of you know, Chicano Studies, along with La Raza Student Cultural Center here at the University of Minnesota, commemorate 40 years of struggle, community and academics during the 2011-2012 academic year. During the fall term, we heard from local and national experts on educational justice, xicanindio identity after beginning the year honoring those founders of Chicano Studies and La Raza Student Cultural Center (then called the Latin Liberation Front).
We hope you will join us for events and movement building during the spring term and beyond. Our first event for spring semester will occur THURSDAY JANUARY 19TH at the Mexican Consulate in St. Paul. (797 7th Street East, St. Paul, MN 55106) We will host the screening of Los Invisibles/The Invisibles--a film by Gael Garcia Bernal and Amnesty International on the men, women and children who travel from Central America through Mexico on their way north. Mexican Consul Ana Luisa Fajer will lead the post film discussion. It promises to be a great event.
Please see our full listing of events for the entire year at the Chicano Studies website:
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