MASRC News and Events

May 2009
Romero is Co-Investigator of $375,000 Grant to Improve Care for Elderly
Mexican American and Raza Studies Associate Professor Andrea Romero is the Co-Investigator of a newly funded National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to improve home care for the elderly. "A Telenovela Intervention to Increase Mexican American Elders' Home Care Use" is a $375,000, two-year grant that will fund the professional production and testing of a short film "Todo Ha Cambiado" (Everything has changed) that portrays an elder's and her family's decision to use home care services to help her manage her chronic conditions while keeping the culturally important family central to her experience. This project is done in collaboration with the ENCASA (Elder and Caregiver Assistance and Support At-home ) Community Advisory Council.  Associate Professor Janice D. Crist, of the UA College of Nursing, is the Principal Investigator of the project. They will start recruiting Mexican American elders and their families to participate in this project within the next year.

For more information, contact Andrea Romero at 626-8137 or romeroa@email.arizona.edu

Gonzales Awarded Faculty Grant to Study Indigenous Medicine Practices
Assistant Professor Patrisia Gonzales has been awarded a $9,800 Faculty Small Grant from the Office of the Vice President of Research and the UA Foundation for a collaborative research project on the preservation and adaptation of Indigenous medicine. The research will explore how Indigenous knowledge adapts as it is integrated into Western knowledge-producing structures based on the observations of Indigenous elders and healers who have participated in traditional medicine programs offered at Mexican universities. The research project, which will be done in collaboration with Indigenous healers, several Mexican universities and the University of Arizona, includes training a graduate student in Indigenous research methods. Gonzales is on the UA Department of Mexican American and Raza Studies faculty and an affiliated faculty member with American Indian Studies.

For more information, contact Patrisia Gonzales at 626-0408 / pgonza@email.arizona.edu

Chicano/Hispano Student Graduation Convocation, 2009
The twenty-fifth annual University of Arizona Chicano/Hispano Student Graduation Convocation took place on May 14 at Centennial Hall on the UA campus. The MASRC faculty, UA President Shelton and Provost Hay, as well as numerous other UA faculty members and staff were on hand to wish the graduates and their families best wishes. Entertainment was provided by Grupo Folklórico Miztontli, a UA student dance ensemble, and by mariachi Las Aguilitas from the nearby Davis Bilingual Elementary School.

MASRC and affiliated faculty members outside of Centennial Hall
with President Shelton (tall guy in middle) and Juan García,
Vice President for Instruction, on right.

According to the convocation program, in Spring 2009, the UA awarded nearly 700 bachelor degrees, 119 master degrees, 22 doctoral degrees, and 11 juris doctorate degrees to Latinos and Latinas.  The event was organized by the UA Office of Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs. 

The MASRC faculty and staff congratulate the graduates on a job well done!

April 2009
On April 29 the MASRC's Julio Cammarota was a panelist for an Education Task Force hearing convened by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the hearing was to gather information on the current state of Latino education in the U.S.

Professor Cammarota was part of the Higher Education Panel, whose members presented information to the Caucus and discussed trends for Latinos in higher education. The Caucus asked Cammarota to speak on the National Latino/a Education Research Agenda Project (NLERAP), an initiative focused on school reform and educational research in Latino communities. The text of remarks prepared by Cammarota and three other education experts can be read by clicking HERE.

The History of Red-Brown Journalism & Communications Exhibit
April 7 - May 7
In Tlilli – In Tlapalli – The Red & The Black
Knowledge & Wisdom

This exhibit coincides with the Voices for Justice Project, which is celebrating 200-years of Latino/Latina Journalism. The exhibit and class covers the same material, but actually goes back a bit further, also looking at Indigenous communication systems prior to the arrival of Europeans. The exhibit is the work of students in Prof. Roberto Rodríguez’s Advanced Topics in Chicano Studies class. The class and exhibit give students much needed exposure in terms of the oft-neglected history of journalism and communications on this continent among these communities. In this exhibit, special emphasis has been placed on the role of women writers, editors and publishers in the 1800s, early 1900s, as well as the 1960s and 1970s.

The exhibit is also part of a larger project, involving a commemorative newspaper, and a May 5 student symposium and program on the same topic. A more detailed account of the exhibit can be found at the UA News website here.

For more info, contact Rodríguez at: rodrigu7@email.arizona.edu  / 520-626-0824

Professor Yolanda Broyles-González wrote the foreword to a new volume entitled Teatro Chicana. A Collective Memoir and Selected Plays, which has been awarded the Susan Koppelman Award for the Best Edited Volume in Women's Studies in Popular and American Culture in 2008. The first print run paperback has sold out. The University of Texas Press is reprinting the volume, edited by a Chicana collective that includes Laura Garcia and Sandra Gutierrez.

Tucson’s KXCI Community Radio featured Assistant Professor Rosario Carrillo as part of its International Women's Day coverage in early March.  The interview, conducted by Craig McComb, was aired on the “Thirty Minutes” Program. Carrillo describes her current research projects, which focus on the education of adult Latinas, and the methodology behind them. The interview is about five minutes long and can be listened to by clicking here.

Carrillo also is the recipient of a LGBT Institute 2009-2010 grant to fund an Oral History project that will continue to support an on-going student-faculty reading group. With the grant, the project will bring History Prof. Michael Frisch of the University of Buffalo to speak at the UA. Frisch is the author of the book A Shared Authority: Essays on Craft and Meaning or Oral and Public History. He will discuss the changing directions of the field of oral history and the RandForce approach to indexing qualitative data.

November 2008
Tu Eres Mi Otro Yo
Mexican American Culture Through the Prism of Maiz
Exhibit: November 3 -December 12
Main Library / The University of Arizona

Unveiling
November 7/ 10:00-11 :00 am - Main Library

Presentations, Meal & Celebration
November 7 / Noon -2:00 pm - Cesar E. Chavez Bldg., Room 205

November 18/ Noon
Cesar E. Chavez Bldg., Room 205
Dr. Ann Lopez (The Farmworker's Journey)

Closing December 12 -Dia de Tonantzin/Guada1upe
Sponsored by the Mexican American Studies & Research Center, The University of Arizona Libraries & Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs. The exhibit is presented by the students of Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez's MAS 319 Class.

October 2008
Assistant Prof. Jaime M. Fatás Cabeza presented a lecture titled "The Pending Revolution at Home: Translation, Interpreting, and Equal Access, Equal Rights" on October 9 at the University of Massachusetts. The talk took place at the Translation Center and Interpreting Studies Certificate Program at the University of Massachusetts.  Fatás Cabeza is currently an Assistant Professor of the Practice of Translation and Interpretation in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the MASRC. He is also a member of the faculty at the UA’s National Center for Interpretation Testing, Research and Policy.

Adjunct Prof. Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith was quoted in the October 4 issue of The Economist in a story about migration along the US-Mexico border. Rubio-Goldsmith heads the MASRC’s Binational Migration Institute. The read the story, follow this link:
http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12332971

Adjunct Professor Anna Ochoa O’Leary has recently published several articles in scholarly journals. “Close Encounters of the Deadly Kind: Gender, Migration and Border (In)security” was just published by the journal Migration Letters. “Latinas’ Practices of Emergence: Between Cultural Narratives and Globalization on the US-Mexico Border”, by Ochoa O’Leary, Norma González and Gloria Ciria Valdez Gardea was published by the Journal of Latinos in Education earlier in the year.

Ochoa O’Leary also was recently awarded funding from Mexico’s Programa de Investigación de Migración y Salud for her project titled “A Multdisciplinary Binational Study of Migrant Women in the Context of a US-Mexico Border Reproductive Health Care Continuum.”UA conducts ongoing research on immigrant community.

MASRC's Bi-national Migration Institute in the News
FERNANDA ECHÃVARRI
The Tucson Citizen
Professors and students from the University of Arizona presented preliminary results from several ongoing research studies on the Arizona-Sonora immigrant community Saturday.
"What You Taught Us About Migration and Health," was hosted [on Oct. 6] by UA's Bi-national Migration Institute, at El Pueblo Neighborhood Center, 101 W. Irvington Road.

The research focuses on health, education, and stress factors of legal and illegal immigration in southern Arizona, and the increase in deaths in the desert and missing people.

Southern Arizona accounts for 85 percent of all known deaths in the Sonoran desert, with the majority happening in the Tucson sector, according to a study by Daniel Martinez a UA sociology student.

"We have seen a constant violation to the human rights of immigrants, both legal and illegal, and people in the Hispanic community in Arizona," said Antonio Estrada, director of the Mexican American Studies and Research Center. "And their voices need to be heard."

Read the whole article here:
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/frontpage/98674.php

September 2008

Community members, students, faculty, and staff members flank the humanitarian aid bin that has been installed on the 2nd floor of the Chávez Building to take in donations for migrants found in the desert.

From UA News
The UA's Mexican American Studies & Research Center is leading a drive on campus to benefit No More Deaths, which is working to end migrant deaths.

By La Monica Everett-Haynes, University Communications
September 3, 2008

Faculty and staff are coordinating a drive to collect critical items needed to help migrants found in the desert.

The University of Arizona’s Mexican American Studies & Research Center, the Binational Migration Institute and the student-run Global Health Alliance are working with other organizations to launch a collection campaign for No More Deaths, a Southern Arizona organization that is working to end migrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The event [took place on September 5] on the second floor of the Cesar Chavez Building. For those who cannot attend the event, a drop-off bin will be placed near Room 208 of the building.

Everyone is encouraged to donate socks, hats, single-strap sandals, adult T-shirts and tennis shoes as well as first-aid items, such as medical tape, moleskin, gauze rolls, large-sized Band-Aids and cotton balls. Baby wipes and diapers would also be greatly appreciated.

“As a new faculty member in Mexican American studies, I thought it would be one way to support the humanitarian work of No More Deaths and to bring more attention to the immigration issue, which is right here in our backyard,” said Rosario Carrillo, a UA assistant professor.

“We’re piggybacking on her (Carrillo’s) work and will have some literature out there,” said Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, coordinator for the Binational Migration Institute, which is part of the Mexican American Studies & Research Center and studies the effect of immigration enforcement policy. The event also will be a recruiting opportunity for the institute, which is looking for graduate and undergraduate students to participate in research, Rubio Goldsmith added.

May 2008
The University of Arizona Press recently published Prof. Julio Cammarota's book, Sueños Americanos, Barrio Youth Negotiating Social and Cultural Identities. As is noted on the UA Press website, the book is "One of the most extensive studies of barrio youth available, Sueños Americanos concludes with a discussion of social justice education for Latino youth and how this educational approach meets their academic needs while providing opportunities for self-determination and community activism." Read more here.

Dr. Rosario Carrillo from MASRC and Dr. Maribel Alvarez from the UA Southwest Center received an grant award from the Institute for LGBT Studies for the oral history research cluster "Fostering Oral History Projects that Study Gender, Race, Class, and Sexuality in Southern Arizona, II."  Throughout the 2008-2009 academic year, the research cluster will contribute to graduate and undergraduate education, foster university-community collaborations, and generate public events.

April 2008
Veronica Peralta, the MASRC’s Business Manager, was presented with the Dean’s Staff Award for Excellence during the College of SBS Staff Luncheon on April 23.  In the words of the award committee: "Veronica is an outstanding staff member to her unit as well as the college. She has always been available to the Dean’s Office as an advisor or as a committee member on special projects. During the past year Veronica has served on the college IT Research Funding Committee and the IT Advisory Committee. In her years with SBS, Veronica has been a person who does her job with a sense of calm and stability. She always has a positive attitude and is willing to ‘serve’ when called upon. In many ways, she represents the excellence of the staff in the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences."

Rosario Carrillo, who joined the MASRC faculty in the fall of 2007, was awarded a grant from the Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute.  The Faculty Summer Research Grant Development Award is for her research project, entitled Latina Communicative Practices, Technology, and Empowerment.  The summer project involves collecting survey and interview data on existing literacy efforts that serve Latinas 18-25 years of age.

March - May 2008
Lydia Otero, an assistant professor with the MASRC, was recently appointed to serve on the Committee on the Status of African American, Latino/a, Asian American, and Native American (ALANA) Historians by the Organization of American Historians (OAH).

Her appointment, which becomes effective on May1, will last for five years.  The purpose of the committee is to consider all professional issues bearing upon minorities in the historical profession as well as the study of minority histories.  ALANA is also the selection committee for the OAH Huggins-Quarles Dissertation Award. Named for Benjamin Quarles and Nathan Huggins, two outstanding historians of the African American past, the award is given annually to one or two graduate students of color at the dissertation research stage of their Ph.D. program.

March - May 2008
The MASRC will host an exhibit, symposium & documentary that examine the concept of when “our” story begins. They examine memory, sustenance, story and relationships. The events, collectively titled Centeotzintli: Sacred Maíz — A 7,000-year Ceremonial Discourse, will take place from March 31 - May 9, 2008, at several sites on the University of Arizona campus.

For a schedule of events, go to: http://masrc.arizona.edu/news/conferences.php

For background information, go to: http://masrc.arizona.edu/news/Centeotzintli_Info.php

Exhibit/Symposium/Documentary
The exhibit generally examines the importance and centrality of maiz to both Indigenous and de-Indigenized peoples of the continent, focusing upon the concept of when “our” story begins. The researchers examine the concepts of memory, medicine, sustenance, story and relationships.

The particular focus of the exhibit, symposium and documentary emphasize the relationship that de-Indigenized Mexicans, Central and South Americans have with maiz culture. In addition to often being detached from Indigenous cultures, many are often viewed as alien and illegitimate in the United States, and often, at best, as subservient populations. Rarely are they ever viewed in the media as full human beings. The researchers challenge these views. Scholars, educators, students and elders will present their views regarding the ancient connections and living relationships between these populations and the maiz cultures of the continent. For some, the connection is in planting, harvesting and ceremonies; for others, it is in the form of stories; for others, it is “hidden in plain sight” – deeply embedded within their cultures; and for still others, the connection is in sustenance or in a daily dialogue with maiz. For many, these relationships include preserving maiz from toxic pesticides, genetic modification and from inhumane trade policies that continue to uproot millions of peoples from their traditional homelands.

Within this context, the idea of when “our story begins” is different from that of a generation ago when many of these same peoples – Mexicans/Chicanos – asserted that they were from Aztlan or what is today the U.S. Southwest (others have asserted that the history of Mexican Americans begins in 1848 – as a result of the Mexican American War, whereas others have also asserted that their story begins in 1519 or 1492 – with the violent arrival of Europeans to this continent). This exhibit changes this axis mundi – from Aztlan to Tamuanchan – from the purported homeland of the Mexica to the birthplace of maiz – from a point on a map to their relationship to maiz and other maize-based cultures.

Viewed as peoples “in-between stories” – the exhibit, symposium and documentary is an effort by peoples to locate themselves within both the history of this continent, but also, within the larger story of humanity.

Sponsored by: UA College of Humanities, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs, Mexican American Studies & Research Center, Center for Latin American Studies, Native American Student Affairs & Indigenous Thinkers.

February 2008
Associate Professor Andrea Romero is the co-author of an article in the latest edition of the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences (Vol. 30, No.1 Feb. 2008: 24-39). The article, "Coping with Discrimination Among Mexican Descent Adolescents" was written by Romero and Lisa M. Edwards of Marquette University. It can be found online at: http://hjb.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/30/1/24

Lydia R. Otero, an assistant professor at the MASRC, is the author of a chapter in Memories and Migrations: Mapping Boricua & Chicana Histories, just published by the University of Illinois Press.  Otero’s chapter, “La Placita Committee: Claiming Place and History,” highlights the work of Chicanas who worked to preserve the sites and history of downtown Tucson, which was decimated by the wrecking ball of urban renewal programs beginning in the 1960s.The University of Illinois Press URL is: http://www.press.uillinois.edu

December 2007
In Spring 2008, the University of Arizona Press will publish a book on Latino youth by MASRC Assistant Professor Julio Cammarota. Sueños Americanos: Barrio Youth Negotiating Social and Cultural Identities is based on research Cammarota conducted in California between 1993 and 2000, in which he interviewed and observed youths between the ages of 17 and 24. More information can be found at the UA Press website: http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/BOOKS/bid1950.htm

The MASRC’s Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith is being honored by the Tucson YWCA with a Lifetime Achievement Award.  The award will be presented on December 9 during the YWCA’s 26th Annual Women on the Move Awards Banquet.

October 2007
On October 3 MASRC Assistant Professor Lydia Otero will speak on an aspect of Tucson’s Depression-era history as part of the Arizona Historical Society’s Images of Arizona lecture series.  Her lecture is titled “Refusing to be Undocumented: Chicano/as in Tucson During the Depression Years."

In the lecture Otero reveals how personal and family photographs of working-class Tucsonenses challenged stereotypes of Chicana/os as a rural and foreign people. Instead, these images depict Americans asserting their citizenship, ethnic pride, and humanity.

The lecture begins at 7 pm (doors open at 6:30 pm). The cost is $8, $6 for AHS members.

The Arizona Historical Society is located at 949 E 2nd Street in Tucson. For more information, call the AHS at 520.628-5774.

September 2007
The Mexican American Studies & Research Center (MASRC) is lending its support to a series of educational lectures, workshops, and artistic events that will take place at Presidio San Agustín del Tucson in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month.  Dr. Lydia Otero, an assistant professor with the MASRC, will give one of the lectures and helped to bring two other speakers to the series.  They are Celestino Fernández of the UA Sociology Dept., who will speak on Sept. 11 and Salvador Gabaldon of the Tucson Unified School District, who will speak on Sept. 18.

Presidio San Agustín del Tucson is located at 133 W. Washington Street, at the corner of Washington and Church.  The series is being sponsored by the City of Tucson Parks and Recreation Dept., El Rio Neighborhood Center, and the MASRC.

The three lectures noted above are:

“From Sones to Rock ‘N’ Roll: The Origins, Development and Diffusion of Mariachi Music and Culture” by Dr. Celestino Fernández
This presentation will shed light on the evolution of Mariachi music, from its inception to its present forms). Mariachis will perform at 6:00pm prior to the presentation. Refreshments will be provided. -- SEPTEMBER 11th (6:00 - 8:00pm)

“Birth of a School District: Tucson’s Public Schools” by Salvador Gabaldon
This presentation will provide insight into the founding and establishment of Tucson’s public school system. -- SEPTEMBER 18th (6:00 - 7:00 pm)

“Celebrando la Mexicanidad: Revisiting Las Fiestas Patrias in Tucson” by Dr. Lydia Otero
This presentation will examine the Mexican Independence Day celebrations that took place in Tucson in the early years of the 20th Century. -- SEPTEMBER 25th ((6:00 - 7:00 pm)

June 2007
MAS Student Teresa Bravo has won acceptance to the New Leaders Summer Program run by the Center for Progressive Leadership (CPL).  Through the CPL Bravo will work as a paid intern with an agency in Washington, D.C., later this summer.

As is noted on the CPL website, “Teresa is a first generation Mexican American immigrant and first-generation college student . . . Her deep commitment to serve and invest in the Latino population in Arizona, and across the U.S., is reflected in her impassioned advocacy for underrepresented Latinos at all levels.”

The MASRC faculty and staff congratulate Teresa on this wonderful accomplishment!

May 2007
Chicano Studies: The Discipline and the Journey is a new book of scholarly articles published by Kendall/Hunt. Adjunct Lecturer Anna Ochoa O'Leary is the editor. The volume spans more than thirty years of research in the field by a variety of writers from various disciplines.

April 2007
MASRC Assistant Professor Andrea Romero is the lead author of a new article published by the Journal of Community Psychology. “Adolescent bicultural stress and its impact on mental well-being among Latinos, Asian Americans, and European Americans” appears in Vol. 35, Issue 4 (May 2007).  Romero’s co-authors are Scott Carvajal and Michele Orduña of the MASRC, and Fabian Valle of the Arizona Dept. of Health Services. The link to the abstract and full text article can be found at: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/114210354/ABSTRACT

Romero also is the Principal Investigator of a $23,000 grant from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (part of the National Institutes of Health). The title of the project is "Culturally-Specific Substance Use Prevention."

A recent article by MASRC Lecturer Anna Ochoa O’Leary, titled “Petit Apartheid in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands: An Analysis of Community Organization Data Documenting Work force Abuses of the Undocumented,” has been accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed on-line journal, Forum on Public Policy, for winter 2007.

The MASRC has published new study on encounters between female migrants and immigration enforcement authorities in the U.S.-Mexico border region. The study, written by Ochoa O'Leary, is titled, "Mujeres en el Cruce: Mapping Family Separation/Reunification at a Time of Border (In)Security," and is a new addition to the Center's Working Paper Series. To read the abstract, follow this link: WP #34.

MAS graduate students Grace Gámez and Rachel Paz Rivera were members of the planning committee for a recent UA symposium titled “Social Justice in Health: How Social Justice and Human Rights Affect Communities of the Southwest.” The event, which took place on April 20, was well attended by students and faculty interested in health and public health issues, and the keynote address was given by former U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona.

Gámez, and fellow MAS graduate student Dominique Calza, made presentations during the symposium, as did MASRC Director Antonio Estrada, Assistant Professor Julio Cammarota, and Adjunct Professor Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith.

The symposium took place at the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

February 2007
The MASRC Binational Migration Institute's report on deaths of undocumented immigrants in the border region has been posted on the website of the American Immigration Law Foundation. The report, titled "A Humanitarian Crisis at the Border: New Estimates of Deaths Among Unauthorized Immigrants," was written by MASRC faculty member Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, senior research assistant M. Melissa McCormick, and students Daniel Martínez and Inez Magdalena Duarte.

The policy brief, and the full report can be accessed online at the AILF's website:

http://www.ailf.org/ipc/policybrief/policybrief_020607.shtml

2006
MASRC Advisory Board Member Isabel G. García has been named as a recipient of the Premio Nacional de Derechos Humanos 2006 (National Human Rights Award 2006) by Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights. The annual award recognizes individuals who have made a significant impact on the promotion and defense of human rights.  This year the award was dedicated to individuals who have worked for the rights of migrants, and will be shared by Isabel García for her work on the border between Mexico and the United States, and Padre Flor Maria Rigoni for his work on the border between Mexico and Guatemala.  Reverend Robin Hoover of Humane Borders in Tucson, Arizona, is also being honored by the commission.

García will be presented with the award by Mexico's President-elect Felipe Calderón in Mexico City on December 11. The award honors her years of strong and continuous advocacy for the rights of immigrants in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.  García directs the Pima County Legal Defender's Office and is the president of the Tucson-based Coalición de Derechos Humanos. (Nov. 2006)

Anna Ochoa O'Leary, adjunct lecturer at the MASRC, in April was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for the 2006-2007 academic year.

For her study, “Women at the Intersection: Immigration Enforcement and Transnational Migration on the U.S.-Mexico Border,” O’Leary will collaborate with researchers at the Colegio de Sonora in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. The aim of the study is to document and analyze encounters between U.S. immigration enforcement agents and undocumented female migrants from the time they are apprehended in the field to the time they are released. Perceived policy needs have been built into the interdisciplinary research design, which will include interviews with migrant women in the migrant shelter, Albergue San Juan Bosco, in the border town of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, community activists, and social service administrators.

The interviews will focus on their experiences with apprehension and detention and will systematically help draw a more accurate picture of women caught in the intersection of diametrical border processes: immigration enforcement and transnational movement.

Every year, Fulbright sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals from a wide variety of academic and professional fields to more than 140 countries. The program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and is the U.S. government’s flagship program in international educational exchange.