The University Libraries and the Chicanx Latinx Staff and Faculty Association (CLSFA) are proud to showcase the following resources highlighting scholarly and creative work by various Chicanx/Latinx authors, directors, scholars and other creators that celebrate Hispanic and Latino/a/x Americans that we are inspired by.
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For more information about the resources highlighted on this page, please reach out to Daisy Muralles.
Archiving an Epidemic by
Winner, 2020 Latino Book Awards in the LGBTQ+ Themed Section Finalist, 2019 Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ Studies Critically reimagines Chicanx art, unmasking its queer afterlife Emboldened by the boom in art, fashion, music, and retail culture in 1980s Los Angeles, the iconoclasts of queer Aztlán--as Robb Hernández terms the group of artists who emerged from East LA, Orange County, and other parts of Southern California during this period--developed a new vernacular with which to read the city in bloom. Tracing this important but understudied body of work, Archiving an Epidemic catalogs a queer retelling of the Chicana and Chicano art movement, from its origins in the 1960s, to the AIDS crisis and the destruction it wrought in the 1980s, and onto the remnants and legacies of these artists in the current moment. Hernández offers a vocabulary for this multi-modal avant-garde--one that contests the heteromasculinity and ocular surveillance visited upon it by the larger Chicanx community, as well as the formally straight conditions of traditional archive-building, museum institutions, and the art world writ large. With a focus on works by Mundo Meza (1955-85), Teddy Sandoval (1949-1995), and Joey Terrill (1955- ), and with appearances by Laura Aguilar, David Hockney, Robert Mapplethorpe, and even Eddie Murphy, Archiving an Epidemic composes a complex picture of queer Chicanx avant-gardisms. With over sixty images--many of which are published here for the first time--Hernández's work excavates this archive to question not what Chicanx art is, but what it could have been.
The Aztlan Mexican Studies Reader, 1974-2016 by
This set of essays explores the ongoing cultural and political connections between Chicana/o and Mexican history. Edited and introduced by Héctor Calderón, The Aztlán Mexican Studies Reader, 1974-2016 presents thirteen previously published essays together with three essays written specifically for this collection, making a rigorous case for the contributions of Chicana/o studies to the transnational study of Mexico. The first essay, by Tomás Almaguer, which was also the first to be published, sets the stage with a historical overview that relates how the Chicano movement was rooted in the soil of conquest and colonialism in Mexico. Subsequent essays discuss a range of topics that stress interconnections between Chicana/os and Mexicans: transborder issues such as immigration and labor; Chicana/o and Mexican fiction; femicide and racism in Mexico and their reverberations on both sides of the border; and the development of Mexican art forms--including muralism, cinema, and music--in Mexico and the United States.
Latinx Superheroes in Mainstream Comics by
Winner of the 2018 Eisner Award Winner for Best Scholarly/Academic Work Whether good or evil, beautiful or ugly, smart or downright silly, able-bodied or differently abled, gay or straight, male or female, young or old, Latinx superheroes in mainstream comic book stories are few and far between. It is as if finding the Latinx presence in the DC and Marvel worlds requires activation of superheroic powers. Latinx Superheroes in Mainstream Comics blasts open barriers with a swift kick. It explores deeply and systematically the storyworld spaces inhabited by brown superheroes in mainstream comic book storyworlds: print comic books, animation, TV, and film. It makes visible and lets loose the otherwise occluded and shackled. Leaving nothing to chance, it sheds light on how creators (authors, artists, animators, and directors) make storyworlds that feature Latinos/as, distinguishing between those that we can and should evaluate as well done and those we can and should evaluate as not well done. The foremost expert on Latinx comics, Frederick Luis Aldama guides us through the full archive of all the Latinx superheros in comics since the 1940s. Aldama takes us where the superheroes live--the barrios, the hospitals, the school rooms, the farm fields--and he not only shows us a view to the Latinx content, sometimes deeply embedded, but also provokes critical inquiry into the way storytelling formats distill and reconstruct real Latinos/as. Thoroughly entertaining but seriously undertaken, Latinx Superheroes in Mainstream Comics allows us to truly see how superhero comic book storyworlds are willfully created in ways that make new our perception, thoughts, and feelings.
Queer Brown Voices by
In the last three decades of the twentieth century, LGBT Latinas/os faced several forms of discrimination. The greater Latino community did not often accept sexual minorities, and the mainstream LGBT movement expected everyone, regardless of their ethnic and racial background, to adhere to a specific set of priorities so as to accommodate a "unified" agenda. To disrupt the cycle of sexism, racism, and homophobia that they experienced, LGBT Latinas/os organized themselves on local, state, and national levels, forming communities in which they could fight for equal rights while simultaneously staying true to both their ethnic and sexual identities. Yet histories of LGBT activism in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s often reduce the role that Latinas/os played, resulting in misinformation, or ignore their work entirely, erasing them from history. Queer Brown Voices is the first book published to counter this trend, documenting the efforts of some of these LGBT Latina/o activists. Comprising essays and oral history interviews that present the experiences of fourteen activists across the United States and in Puerto Rico, the book offers a new perspective on the history of LGBT mobilization and activism. The activists discuss subjects that shed light not only on the organizations they helped to create and operate, but also on their broad-ranging experiences of being racialized and discriminated against, fighting for access to health care during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and struggling for awareness.
Voices of Resistance by
The banning of Mexican-American Studies and censorship of Chican@-authored books in Arizona were part of a succession of anti-Mexican and anti-Chican@ policies that were enacted across the state and in the education system. The counterstories offered through these classes and literature not only created a sense of cultural inclusion, but ignited a political and activist consciousness among the mostly Chican@ youth, and reinvigorated conversations among educators about the teaching of race, ethnicity, and culture in the classroom, particularly through youth literature. While most work on youth literature has emphasized "multicultural" literature as a means of being inclusive, Voices of Resistance: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Chican@ Children's Literature recognizes that our present moment--one that is rife with continued anti-Mexican sentiment but that has given rise to our first Chicano National Poet Laureate--demands a more focused study of children's and young adult literature by and about Chican@s. This collection re-examines how we view multicultural and diversity literature and recognize literature that invites social transformation. Using multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives to critically examine a wide range of Chican@ children's pictures book and young adult novels, this collection reaffirms Chicano@ children's literature as a means to achieve equity and social change.
Description from book jacket, "When Reyna Grande's father leaves his wife and three children behind in a village in Mexico to make the dangerous trek across the border to the United States, he promises he will soon return from "El Otro Lado" (The Other Side) with enough money to build them a dream house where they can all live together. His promises become harder to believe as months turn into years..."
Description from website, "Café con Chisme is a Latinx podcast created and hosted by siblings Yaz + Seb. We see chisme as a tool and practice for social justice—inspired by the mujeres and femmes who raised us and taught us how to be fierce, tell a good story, and speak truth to power—all with a little laughter. Join us as we take on cultural critiques of race, politics, and pop culture—to imagine new possibilities and more just worlds."
Description from publisher's site, "For generations, Brown girls have had to push against powerful forces of sexism, racism, and classism, often feeling alone in the struggle. By founding Latina Rebels, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez has created a community to help women fight together. In For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts, she offers wisdom and a liberating path forward for all women of color..."
Description from Films on Demand, "In April 2013, Spanish film maker Luis Mancha went to the University of California, Irvine to interview Alejandro Morales, an under-read Chicano author whose works present a vision of Southern California and America so different from the image that the United States projects abroad that Mancha felt compelled to make this documentary film. In it we follow Morales’ journey around Southern California as he tries to understand issues concerning the Latino population in California and the U.S. He and other Chicano/Latino academic experts discuss the first immigrants to California..."
Description from Kanopy, "Precious Knowledge reports from the frontlines of one of the most contentious battles in public education in recent memory, the fight over Mexican American studies programs in Arizona public schools. The film interweaves the stories of several students enrolled in the Mexican American Studies Program at Tucson High School with interviews with teachers, parents, school officials, and the lawmakers who wish to outlaw the classes...."
From BaySync post, "Saludos! To celebrate Latinx/Hisapnic Heritage Month, GANAS and Student Equity and Success Programs invites the campus community to visit our walk through exhibit located on the second floor of the Student and Faculty Support Building. Come learn about some of the most influential Latinx figures and immerse into this month's celebration. Exhibit will be on display September 15 to October 15. We look forward to your visit!
https://www.instagram.com/csuebganas"
