photo by Sally PerezTuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
A Manifestation of El Sexto Sol
"This encuentro is a manifestation of el sexto sol ... which is coming in dancing," said Inés Hernández-Avila in her comments at Sex y Corazón. And even over a week after the event, I'm still dancing. Everything went without a hitch, and everyone was so happy to be there, presenters and participants alike. I guess an encuentro like this has been long overdue, and I am grateful that I was able to organize it, that I had the indispensable help of Georgina and Allison, and that everyone was so happy for the space and opportunity for all of us to come together. In a way, it felt like a family reunion in which relations who have not seen each other for along time get to spend a whole day in the same room to share their stories and struggles and chismes with each other in front of 200 witnesses. Each table reverberated concentric circles of love and together, all the tables and all the circles not only created a great synergy of love but also embodied what Emma Pérez calls "Third Space Feminism." That's exactly the space we were in that day: Third Space Feminism.
I especially appreciated that the audience got to meet and listen to the very people they've been reading in our classes, and that they heard the inside story about what we've done and more importantly what we still have to do in our "revolutionary maneuvers toward decolonized being" (Chela Sandoval). For some of us, that meant, simply, speaking from the heart, stepping out from behind the scripted presentation of our academic personas to share our thoughts and memories to that room full of young people without the crutch of a written text. For some it meant talking about our struggles for recognition. For others it signified an opportunity to represent our sexual being and desire without fear of judgement or ostracism. For everyone, I hope, it was a liberating and transformative event. I am so grateful to everyone present for helping to flesh out this vision and to celebrate our department's quinceañera. Third Space Feminism in the flesh.
So many memorable things were said that are still resonating for me and that I hope we will continue to discuss through this blog. Below are some of the more resonant quotes for me and I invite you to respond to one or all. Or post your own resonant quotes.
"Nobody knows how to speak feminist anymore; nobody has changed their grammar."
--Norma Alarcón
"How indebted is queer theory to feminism?"
--Deena González
"No matter what injustice dogs us, we will not be victims."
--Yolanda M. López
"Hermenuetics is the study of hermits who are also nudists."
--Yolanda Broyles-González
"You all have gender; you just have to touch it."
--Horacio Roque Ramírez
"We are the lost generation of the post Civil Rights movements. We arrived late to the party."
--Ellie Hernández
"Constitutive ambivalence is at the heart/corazón of Chicana/o identity formation."
--Luz Calvo
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Healing and Dialogue
I want to thank Alicia, Georgina, Allison and all the co participants in the symposium for creating this incredible space of healing. It's been a long time since I felt that "love" in academic space. I felt very nostalgic for my years as a graduate student, when I would see the Generation ChicanA and Xicana at conferencias speaking their truths. This was before my "fall" into the reality of everyday life as a Chicana feminist in the academy.
One of the things I had hoped for, was more dialogue about some of the questions that Alicia posed about influential theorists, questions of methodology, archival work and projects. Maybe we can have some of this conversación via bloga?
In my notes, I stated a concern about continuity. Specifically at times it feels like "women of color" and "Chicana feminisms" or "Third World feminisms" are viewed as 1980s phenomenon to the more 2000s terms such as transnational: On that point, I loved Antonia Castañeda's statement that "our bodies are transnational." This calls to mind Norma Alarcón's essay, "In the Tracks of the Native Woman." I wonder if there is a need to revisit or find ways to anthologize some of the key articles in a reader, something like the Chicana Feminist Thought collection, but one that features key writings by Chicana feminist theorists? I would love to have that for my Chicana Feminisms course (for which I am endlessly creating course readers, etc.)
I would also love to hear dialogue on the concept of "third space feminism" (found in Sandoval and Perez's work). I had a student (que en paz descanse) who was writing a genealogy of third space feminisms drawing from the 1960s & 1970s, then Bridge, to Sandoval/Perez to the present. More and more of my students use this term. Is there a way to elaborate this concept and think it through some of our research? Is there current work that uses this term that I have missed (since I'm teaching 24-7 and unfortunately not always able to read...)
Mucho mucho corazón,
Dionne
One of the things I had hoped for, was more dialogue about some of the questions that Alicia posed about influential theorists, questions of methodology, archival work and projects. Maybe we can have some of this conversación via bloga?
In my notes, I stated a concern about continuity. Specifically at times it feels like "women of color" and "Chicana feminisms" or "Third World feminisms" are viewed as 1980s phenomenon to the more 2000s terms such as transnational: On that point, I loved Antonia Castañeda's statement that "our bodies are transnational." This calls to mind Norma Alarcón's essay, "In the Tracks of the Native Woman." I wonder if there is a need to revisit or find ways to anthologize some of the key articles in a reader, something like the Chicana Feminist Thought collection, but one that features key writings by Chicana feminist theorists? I would love to have that for my Chicana Feminisms course (for which I am endlessly creating course readers, etc.)
I would also love to hear dialogue on the concept of "third space feminism" (found in Sandoval and Perez's work). I had a student (que en paz descanse) who was writing a genealogy of third space feminisms drawing from the 1960s & 1970s, then Bridge, to Sandoval/Perez to the present. More and more of my students use this term. Is there a way to elaborate this concept and think it through some of our research? Is there current work that uses this term that I have missed (since I'm teaching 24-7 and unfortunately not always able to read...)
Mucho mucho corazón,
Dionne
a life-changing day
“To live with kindness and love is completely counter-hegemonic” –Aida Hurtado
In an era of selfishness and lack of selflessness, in an institution that promotes and rewards egotism and competition, this Sex y Corazón Symposium was unique and historic, and refreshing to step into—like a sacred cenote filled with purifying waters of love and activism. Water sweetly infused with rose petals of compassion and a call for social justice.
I’m not even exaggerating.
I was made to feel proud, and honored, and privileged to be a Chicana academic in an academy that sometimes, I feel, strives to make me feel all the opposite. I was reminded of the struggles before me that enabled me to be where I am, that have given me the critical tools to interpret the world around me. The women before me on stage have created a legacy—a legacy of path-breaking knowledge, loving wisdom, and radical tools for social justice. For what is more radical than empathy? What is more radical than the call to work to cease others’ suffering? And they have suffered for it. Let’s not forget that other loving visionaries have also been crucified for preaching love. These women have been through hell for being who they are—racial, sexual, gender, and class “others” that refused to live under subjection or allow others to live under it either. But they pried off the nails from their still-bleeding flesh and moved on, crafting amazing art, literature, history, and theory that has moved us, inspired us, and enabled us to question and combat the world’s injustices.
And despite their amazingness, these women are so humble and sweet, and so compassionate and human! That is what is most breathtaking and admirable—la ternura de su corazón. But their loving spirit is not to be confused with any weakness of mind or heart. They are loving fighters. Like Antonia Castañeda, who was critiquing the writing of histories that threaten to erase us while I was driving from the airport to the hotel. When we arrived at the hotel, she asked me if I had eaten, since I’d been driving around all day. When I replied that I hadn’t eaten, she gave me her Safeway grocery bag with two apples an orange to hold me up. She gave me the food she had brought for herself because I was hungry. I ate one apple, but I’m still saving the other apple and orange in the fridge for a day I really require the loving sustenance that Antonia gave me.
For all these reasons, I was so proud to be there to witness this event and to get to talk and cross paths with such amazing women. My thoughts are still percolating and I will undoubtedly write more about this historic day in the days and months and years to come because the event was truly life-changing for me. But I just wanted to get this off my chest right now and capture the feelings in their raw state. This, plus the fact that I want to thank all of the amazing women who participated in the symposium as soon as possible. I want to let you know that your work has impacted us forever and you are an inspiration to us all.
Gracias from the bottom of my heart, for giving me the strength, the heart, and the critical tools to keep on going!
With much love and admiration,
Georgina Guzmán
PhD Candidate in English, UCLA
Research Assistant to Prof. Alicia Gaspar de Alba
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
An honored "honorary Chicana"
So, a couple months ago Profe Gaspar sends me an email saying she's putting on a one-day symposium right before Valentines Day, and I'm going to help organize it.
Okay, I think. Sounds like a nice diversion from coordinating artwork permissions and indexing Our Lady of Controversy, which we've been working on for the past 6 months or so.
She tells me the theme of this symposium is going to be love. Just in time for Valentines Day.
Okay, I think. Not usually my favorite holiday, but...
So January rolls around and we dive into the project head-first. Registration is set-up, I build a website. Meanwhile I'm also swamped with my own work, choreographing my 2nd year MFA performance in the Dept. of World Arts and Cultures, coordinating student teach-ins about the UC budget cuts, etc. Georgina is busy coordinating travel from across the country. The list of presenters is astounding, but I admit, I begin to lose sight of the love amid all the chaos.
A week before the conference we're in a panic. We're over-booked for the conference hall and we haven't even registered the presenters yet. We have a wait-list a mile long... and I get this evil knot right beneath my right shoulder blade. My body is telling me something...
Friday finally arrives. I wake up way too early and head to the James West Alumni Center to face what I imagine will be an angry, chaotic mob of wait-listed attendees who've driven hours across the state or flown across several states to get here at the ungodly (for an Angelino) hour of 8am.
And instead, I find el corazón.
Everyone I meet at the registration table, and later at the pláticas and at the reception is warm, generous, and thrilled to be here. The speakers inspire us, and move us frequently to tears. (From my seat onstage I see glistening eyes all around.)
I'm Anglo by birth, but I'm also Californian, feminist, bisexual, and a radical artist-activist. Through a series of wonderous and wonderful events in my life, I've somehow been drawn into the heart of a Chicana/o community that inspires me every day. I want to thank you all for sharing your hearts, your minds, your art, and your love at Sex y Corazón!
--Allison Wyper
Research Assistant
César E. Chavez Dept. of Chicana and Chicano Studies, UCLA
Okay, I think. Sounds like a nice diversion from coordinating artwork permissions and indexing Our Lady of Controversy, which we've been working on for the past 6 months or so.
She tells me the theme of this symposium is going to be love. Just in time for Valentines Day.
Okay, I think. Not usually my favorite holiday, but...
So January rolls around and we dive into the project head-first. Registration is set-up, I build a website. Meanwhile I'm also swamped with my own work, choreographing my 2nd year MFA performance in the Dept. of World Arts and Cultures, coordinating student teach-ins about the UC budget cuts, etc. Georgina is busy coordinating travel from across the country. The list of presenters is astounding, but I admit, I begin to lose sight of the love amid all the chaos.
A week before the conference we're in a panic. We're over-booked for the conference hall and we haven't even registered the presenters yet. We have a wait-list a mile long... and I get this evil knot right beneath my right shoulder blade. My body is telling me something...
Friday finally arrives. I wake up way too early and head to the James West Alumni Center to face what I imagine will be an angry, chaotic mob of wait-listed attendees who've driven hours across the state or flown across several states to get here at the ungodly (for an Angelino) hour of 8am.
And instead, I find el corazón.
Everyone I meet at the registration table, and later at the pláticas and at the reception is warm, generous, and thrilled to be here. The speakers inspire us, and move us frequently to tears. (From my seat onstage I see glistening eyes all around.)
I'm Anglo by birth, but I'm also Californian, feminist, bisexual, and a radical artist-activist. Through a series of wonderous and wonderful events in my life, I've somehow been drawn into the heart of a Chicana/o community that inspires me every day. I want to thank you all for sharing your hearts, your minds, your art, and your love at Sex y Corazón!
--Allison Wyper
Research Assistant
César E. Chavez Dept. of Chicana and Chicano Studies, UCLA
Welcome to the Sex y Corazón Blog!
On February 12, 2010 UCLA's César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies hosted a one-day symposium that gathered over twenty-five Chicana and Chicano scholars and practitioners representing three distinct generations of feminist and queer scholarship whose work intersects race, class, gender and sexuality paradigms within both traditional and interdisciplinary fields like Anthropology, Art History, Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies, History, Literary Criticism, Performance Studies, Queer Studies, Religious Studies, Sociology, and Women's Studies.
Structured as 4 “kitchen table” pláticas, or conversations, the speakers dialogued about how feminist and queer theory changed the field of Chicana and Chicano Studies, and conversely, how the intersection of Chicana/o theory altered feminist and queer studies. Speakers also spoke to how they practice what Chicana theorist Chela Sandoval calls the “hermeneutics of love” in their work, that is, how their scholarship and activism utilizes love as a political strategy for social change.
This blog is a place to share the thoughts, impressions, comments, and lingering questions of the attendees and participants of Sex y Corazón, and continue the pláticas. We invite you to read and share your thoughts.
Love,
The Sex y Corazón Team
Structured as 4 “kitchen table” pláticas, or conversations, the speakers dialogued about how feminist and queer theory changed the field of Chicana and Chicano Studies, and conversely, how the intersection of Chicana/o theory altered feminist and queer studies. Speakers also spoke to how they practice what Chicana theorist Chela Sandoval calls the “hermeneutics of love” in their work, that is, how their scholarship and activism utilizes love as a political strategy for social change.
This blog is a place to share the thoughts, impressions, comments, and lingering questions of the attendees and participants of Sex y Corazón, and continue the pláticas. We invite you to read and share your thoughts.
Love,
The Sex y Corazón Team
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)