EL CENTRO SPRING 2022
Cover photo by Miriam Alarcón Avila
INSIDE: Diálogo Spotlight: LATINX NOIR...........................................................10 Celebrating 25 Years of Diálogo...........................................................14 CLR Fellow Profile: Carolina Sternberg.............................................17 2022-23 CLR Faculty Fellows...................................................................19 Faculty Spotlight: Erika Sanchez...........................................................21 STRC Summer Institute............................................................................29
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CLR ADVISORY COMMITTEE
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MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
10 DIÁLOGO SPOTLIGHT: LATINX NOIR 14
DIÁLOGO 25TH ANNIVERSARY
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CLR FELLOW PROFILE
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CLR FACULTY FELLOWSHIP
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FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
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SPRING EVENT HIGHLIGHT
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UPCOMING SPRING EVENTS
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PAST EVENTS
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STRC SUMMER INSTITUTE
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CONTACT US
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Letter from the Director Mission Statement
The Center for Latino Research (CLR) strives to open and sustain dialogues which foster the empowerment and advancement of Latinx communities. To that end, the CLR creates learning opportunities for students and supports scholars in their research, while forging collaborative relationships with local, national, and international research partners. We also publish an award-winning scholarly journal, Diálogo, and sponsor many activities on campus, including film series and speaker series.
Published by
Edited and Designed by
The Center for Latino Research at DePaul University
Amanda Matthews 3
As May arrives , trees start to sprout new leaves and buds, green grasses shoot up next
to sidewalks, and flowers start to blossom in a riot of colors. Everywhere you look, there are promising signs of growth and renewal. The CLR experienced its own growth spurt this year! In the Fall, we participated in the creation of the Social Transformation Research Collaborative (STRC), which is being co-directed by Dr. Julie Moody-Freeman (Center for Black Diaspora) and myself, with assistance from Alex Delgadillo, the Coordinator for the STRC. So far this year, the STRC has named 4 faculty fellows and 4 graduate student fellows. This summer, we will be hosting 26 newly admitted students at our first-ever Summer Institute, led by 2 faculty co-leads. Moreover, next year, we will be joined at DePaul by 2 postdoctoral fellows. Also in the course of next year, the STRC will continue to grow with the creation of a new undergraduate research fellowship program. The staff at the CLR has also been changing and growing. This quarter, we welcome a recent DePaul graduate, Sara Luz Torres, as our new CLR/LALS program assistant. We have also received permission from the Dean’s office to hire a new Assistant Director for the CLR, who will be assisting with all of our initiatives, and especially providing much-needed support for our journal Diálogo. I am also happy to announce that the CLR Faculty Fellowship still springs eternal and continues to provide our faculty with time off from teaching to pursue their fascinating research. Our 3 new CLR Faculty Fellows for 2022-23 are: Dr. Heather Montes-Ireland (WGS), Dr. Monica Reyes (WRD), and Dr. Ana Schaposchnik (HST). Congratulations to these outstanding scholars, whose work will be investigating, respectively: work and dignity in Latina visual culture, storytelling within the U.S. asylum process, and trials of faith in 17th century Lima. Finally, after some delays caused by the pandemic, we are looking forward to the perennial joy of a new issue of Diálogo, which is due in print by the end of the quarter. You can find much more information about this special issue, titled “Latinx Noir,” in this newsletter. We look forward to honoring the 25th anniversary of the journal next year. As always, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and let us know how the CLR can help you! Sincerely,
Bill Johnson González
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CLR ADVISORY COMMITTEE
CLR ADVISORY COMMITTEE Marisa Alicea, Professor School of Continuing and Professional Studies Carolina Barrera Tobón, Assistant Professor Modern Languages Jacqueline Lazú, Associate Professor Modern Languages Maria de Moya, Associate Professor Public Relations & Advertising Julie Moody-Freeman, Associate Professor African and Black Diaspora Studies Elizabeth Ortiz, Vice President Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity José Perales, Director of Operations Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity Rose Spalding, Professor Political Science Joe R. Tafoya, Assistant Professor Political Science Ionit Behar,Associate Curator DePaul Art Museum
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El Centro, Spring 2022
FACULTY AND STAFF
ANNOUNCEMENTS RAFAEL VIZCAINO Rafael Vizcaino's article “Liberation Philosophy, Anti-Fetishism, and Decolonization” was published in Journal of World Philosophies in the spring of 2021. Likewise, he published an article titled “Sylvia Wynter’s New Science of the Word and the Autopoetics of the Flesh,” in Comparative and Continental Philosophy. Additionally, two editorial projects that he has curated over the last two years have appeared this spring: An issue of LÁPIZ, the Journal of the Latin American Philosophy of Education Society, on the topic of “Learning Across Liberation Theologies,” and a dossier titled “Decolonizing Spiritualities,” which came out in The CLR James Journal, the flagship publication of the Caribbean Philosophical Association.
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IONIT BEHAR Ionit Behar published an essay in Fwd: Museums Journal titled: “The Mess of the Canon: Book review of Zdenka Badovinac’s Comradeship: Curating, Art, and Politics in PostSocialist Europe.”
HEATHER MONTES-IRELAND Heather Montes Ireland's forthcoming article titled "'She's Been Doing Everything Right:' Mothers of Color and Economic Violence" will be featured in the spring 2022 issue of Women, Gender, and Families of Color (IU Press), a multidisciplinary journal that centers on the study of Black, Latina, Indigenous, and Asian American women and gender.
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DELIA COSENTINO Delia Cosentino published a chapter. “Transplanting Christianity: Franciscan Martyrdom and the Spiritual Tree in Early Colonial Mexico” in Spiritual Vegetation: Vegetal Nature in Religious Contexts Across Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ed. Guita Lamsechi & B. Trinca, Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2022 Additionally, over spring break she went to Mexico City to see an exhibition entitled "La Grandeza de México" at the Museo Nacional de Antropología. It is part of the commemoration of 2021, the anniversary of many important historical events in Mexico. Currently, she is writing a review of the exhibition for Venue, a journal of the Midwest Art History Society.
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SARA LUZ TORRES The Center for Latino Research and the department of Latin American and Latino Studies would like to welcome its newest addition to the family, Sara Luz Torres. She is the new CLR/LALS Program Assistant. Sara Luz is a recent graduate from DePaul University; she received her BA in Communication and Media and double-minored in Creative Writing and Latin American and Latino Studies. Previously, she was Creative Editor at 14 East Magazine's Spanish-language publication, Pueblo, and a Writing Tutor at The University Center for Writingbased Learning. Bienvenida, Sara Luz!
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT
DIÁLOGO:
LATINX NOIR VOLUME 24 ISSUE 1
An interview with editors: Michael Cucher and William Arce
Now available online via Project Muse. You can access previews at this link: https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/47748)
The next issue of Diálogo takes us into the world of Latinx detective fiction, a popular genre in which writers are often able to provide sharp critiques of the corruption of law enforcement and the ways in which the justice system itself can sometimes reproduce systemic injustice and oppression. Michael Cucher (Univ of Puerto Rico) and William Arce (Cal State Fresno), two of the special guest editors for the issue, sat down to explain why Latinx detective fiction has become such a relevant and dynamic art form for contemporary Latinx writers.
What inspired you to edit a special issue on Latinx Detective Fiction?
and they felt working class. Those mystery novels helped me get through some long days doing construction work at different worksites.
MC: I have been interested in detective fiction, especially hardboiled and noir fiction, for a long time – since before I started graduate school. The aesthetics of my favorite novels and films always felt familiar to me, partly, because there’s a “tough guy” ethos that I recognized in many of the men from my own family. When I began getting serious about Latinx literature as a researcher, writer, and teacher, I really liked the way that Latinx detective, mystery, and noir texts played with and interrogated their own generic conventions. These texts really helped me to see the power dynamics lurking just beneath the surface of these genres, especially in their foundational texts, and that was how I began my transition from being a fan of these books to writing critical essays about them.
When the opportunity emerged to collaboratively edit a special issue on Latinx detective fiction for Diálogo, I jumped on it. It was a pleasure to work on this issue with my colleagues Michael Cutcher and Jose Navarro, and of course with Bill Johnson González the Editor in Chief of the journal. Truly, a positive experience.
"I have always enjoyed reading Latinx detective fiction.... these books dealt with issues that were real in my life: crime in the barrio, policing, community resistance, and border crime. "
Photo of Michael Cucher
Do you teach courses on Latinx detective fiction or mystery novels? Does your work on this issue relate to your teaching?
WA: I have always enjoyed reading Latinx detective fiction. However, I started reading deeply into the genre during graduate school. During those years I helped pay for my education by doing construction work, and it was then that I discovered the detective crime books of Rolando Hinojosa and Lucha Corpi. I fell in love with the genre. I grew up in the South side of Los Angeles and there was a large community of Latinx immigrants in the area; these books dealt with issues that were real in my life: crime in the barrio, policing, community resistance, and border crime. I remember reading some of the crime fiction books during my lunch breaks, during the bus rides home, and later in my bedroom before going to sleep. There was something special about the genre, the novels consisted of characters such as coyotes, street vendors, mechanics, vatos locos, veterans, shady cops, and the like; the stories were very accessible,
MC: In the past, I taught a class called “MultiEthnic Detective Fiction in Many Shades of Noir,” and Latinx authors featured prominently on that syllabus. In fact, this was when I first became interested in the work of Michael Nava, whose work I write about for our special issue. In my current position at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, I use mystery and detective fiction in the opening weeks of a class I teach on short stories. In addition to suggesting that students read short stories (throughout the semester) as if they were detectives, this allows me to juxtapose foundational authors like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Ross MacDonald with authors who write stories about people and places that reflect students’ personal experiences more directly, such as Puerto Rican author Mayra SantosFebres. 11
Black Latinx writer Aya de León, and we also include essays about Mexican writers Paco Ignacio Taibo II and Élmer Mendoza.
WA: In my teaching I incorporate Latinx and Chicanx mystery novels. In my undergraduate classes, for instance, I have taught mystery novels authored by Rolando Hinojosa and Lucha Cope. In my graduate classes I have introduced students to Marcos Villatoro’s crime fiction series featuring Romilia Chacón. It is superb and it features a Salvadoran kick-ass female detective. I have no doubt that I will continue integrating detective novels into my syllabus; they really open the door for fruitful discussions and have the potential of inspiring students to explore related topics. For example, one of the interviews in this issue was submitted by Shanell Contreras, a graduate student at Fresno State working on Chicanx detective novels. She was introduced to Carmen Amato’s novels in one of my classes and her interest in Amato’s detective fiction led to her master’s thesis on female masculinity. These books are full of interesting leads for academic investigation.
In terms of what I’m reading now, I will always recommend the work of California writer Michael Nava, whose gay Chicano protagonist, Henry Rios, stars in the longest-running mystery series in Chicanx literature. In fact, Nava has published yet another novel in the series, Lies With Man, since we submitted our special issue for publication! Another west coast author I love is Aya de León, whose work is particularly interesting right now because it straddles the borders of Latinx heist, crime, mystery, Young Adult, and ecojustice literature. I have also been getting into the work of Brooklyn-born author Richie Narvaez, whose recent titles include Noiryorican, Holly Hernandez and the Death of Disco, and Hipster Death Rattle.
"In the last twenty years (or so) of Latinx mystery and detective fiction, Chicanx authors have received the most critical attention" What writers are featured in this issue? Who are the Latinx Noir writers we should be reading? MC: In the last twenty years (or so) of Latinx mystery and detective fiction, Chicanx authors have received the most critical attention, and our special issue responds to existing scholarship on authors that include Michael Nava, Lucha Corpi, Rudolfo Anaya, and María Nieto. I am particularly proud of our issue because the contributors help to bring critical attention to a wide range of authors and texts. Some essays analyze the works of authors that are not always associated with mystery or detective fiction, such as Luis Valdez and Benjamin Alire Sáenz. The essays and interviews in our issue also engage the work of Latinx authors who are not Chicanx, including Héctor Tobar and Marcos McPeek Villatoro. We speak with
Photo of William Arce
WA: This issue has a number of very important writers in Latinx mystery genre: Michael Nava, Benjamin Alire Saenz and Lucha Corpi. I am really proud that we were able to include three interviews with three authors who have been very active in the field and who are finally receiving recognition for their fine work: Salvadoran author Marcos Villatoro, ex CIA operative turned author Carmen Amato, and Caribbean author Aya de León. If I had to recommend authors for someone new to the Latinx 12
genre I would recommend Lucha Corpi’s Gloria Demasco’s series and Marco’s Villatoro’s Romilia Chacon crime fiction series. I point to these two authors because they have multiple novels featuring their same protagonists; they give readers an opportunity to grapple with many of the issues found in other Latinx detective novels.
(and often identify with) the humanity of characters in Latinx texts, which is just one reason this literature is so vital. WA: If you think crime fiction is about cops and robbers, you are missing the point. Crime fiction has always been incredibly adept at addressing contemporary issues. In many ways the genre functions more as a stage upon which different cultural issues get played out; it transcends the limits of criminality and law enforcement. For example, mystery novels often interrogate familial ties, historical narratives, the sincerity of love, the privileges of economic classes, and so forth. The authors featured in this issue engage social ills such as institutional racism, police brutality, and immigrant persecution with crime fiction precisely because the genre is so pliable, so useful at highlighting social injustices that are built into the legal system. Inherent to the genre of crime fiction is a critique of that which is already institutionalized at the state or federal level. For those interested in issues of social justice, equity, diversity, and civil rights, this genre has much to offer.
"Crime fiction has always been incredibly adept at addressing contemporary issues. In many ways the genre functions more as a stage upon which different cultural issues get played out" What is the relevance of Latinx detective fiction now? How do these authors address questions of social justice, crime, institutional racism, and police brutality in their works? MC: As long as they continue to observe and critique the machinations of power in politics, the legal system, and other institutions, detective and noir texts will always be relevant. Furthermore, as the demographics of the United States continue to change, Latinx texts will reflect an array of experiences to which an increasing number of readers can relate. Contemporary Latinx authors write from a variety of perspectives, and their protagonists include private eyes, outlaws, political activists, lawyers, sex workers, and members of law enforcement. They are also people from families with complicated histories of love and conflict. Each text offers a unique take on the ways in which Latinx people experience institutional racism, homophobia, crime, and police brutality, and many describe social justice strategies rooted in historical examples of movements and mobilizations that have contributed to real changes in the US. This diversity of perspectives and experiences helps readers to see
Interview conducted and written by Amanda Matthews
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25 Years of Diálogo
Diálogo: An Interdisciplinary Studies Journal began its publication history in 1996. From the start, Diálogo was an eye-catching journal, publishing full color artwork alongside academic articles within artistic, magazine-style layouts. In 2012, Diálogo was redesigned. We began publishing two issues per year and continued to stand out among comparable journals by printing beautiful art in full color throughout each issue. Diálogo's inclusive and hemispheric vision also continues to make us special: We welcome scholarship in both Latino/a/x and Latin American Studies. We publish scholarly articles and creative writing. We also publish work in both English and Spanish. Next year, Diálogo will finally reach an important milestone as we begin work on Volume 25 of the journal. Twenty-five years in (plus a few months, because of delays due to the pandemic), and Diálogo is still just getting started! As we begin to celebrate this important anniversary, we wanted to take a look back at the fascinating range of artists and special topics that the journal has published over the past 25 years....
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1996
Volume 5 focuses on the African heritage of Latin America and the struggle to recognize and preserve a culturally diverse Latin America. Cover Art by Carlos Flores
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2009
Volume 1, Inaugural issue, highlights the mission of Diálogo: to provide a forum with a wider, more inclusive perspective and readership. Cover Art by Amor R. Moutes de Oca
Volume 12 highlights Latina/o sexualities by race, class and other social factors. Cover Art by Héctor Silva
Volume 15, Number 2, focsues on dislocation and exile in Latino and other immigrant experience. Cover Art by Hector Duarte
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2014
2013
Volume 17, Number 2, presents Latin American and Latina/o Poetry in the 21st Century. Cover Art by Daniel T. Lopez
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2015
Volume 16, Number 2, continues the conversation on “Latina/o Catholicism Today,” Cover Art byFather Arthur Poulin
Volume 18, Number 1, examines mestizaje, gastronomy and the origins of agricultural products native to the Americas, diet, and medicinal practices. Cover Art by Adalberto Ríos Szalay
Volume 23 Number 2 focuses on cartographies of violence in contemporary discursivities Cover Art by Martivon Galindo
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2021-22 CLR FACULTY FELLOW Dr.Carolina Sternberg
Dr. Sternberg’s main areas of research and teaching combine urban studies, Latin American studies, and urban policies in both U.S. and Latin American settings. Her work has examined the relationship between neoliberal urban governance and gentrification in Buenos Aires and Chicago, separately and in comparative analysis. Recently, she has focused her work on the relationship between gentrification and race in African American and Latinx communities in Chicago. INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY GRADUATE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT, AMANDA MATTHEWS
What can you tell us about the project your Fellowship focuses on, "Neoliberal Urban Governance. Spaces, Culture and Discourses in Buenos Aires and Chicago"?
constitutes a critical tool to help build coherence and normalcy for neoliberal policies and redevelopment projects gain traction successfully.
In addition, my work supports the notion that neoliberal urban policies operate distinctively First of all, I’d like to thank you and the director across urban spaces, and each one uses of CLR for creating this wonderful and distinctive rhetoric to advance its projects. informative newsletter, and for inviting me to share a bit of my research with you and the DePaul community. My book project is an outgrowth of my doctoral dissertation, and it explores the way neoliberal urban policies & gentrification-led redevelopment projects in the Global North (e.g., Chicago) and South (e.g., Buenos Aires) are increasingly advanced and are successful by mobilizing powerful rhetoric. I argue that this rhetoric (including metaphors, common understandings, imagined spaces) 17
El Centro, Spring 2022 How do you think your research will influence your work in the classroom? Something that I really enjoy doing at DePaul is informing my classes with my research and discussing it with my students. In the Winter quarter, I teach a course in the Master’s in Critical Ethnic Studies, titled: “Cities and Racial Formation” (CES 403/LST 310). Here I spend some units discussing how neoliberalism and gentrification are profoundly shaping Chicago’s racial and social inequalities, and how rhetoric contributes to shape neoliberal urban agendas. What or who has influenced your research? Throughout my graduate studies, and even today, I’ve been highly influenced by my graduate advisor’s commitment to social justice, critical thinking, and sharp mind. Outside the academic world, I’m a person that enjoys watching movies, especially with thick social content. They allow me to explore many other possible worlds that we, as scholars, are not trained or encouraged to do, mostly due to the demands of our professional academic lives. Films (so as books) are great opportunities for me to explore the realm of the unknown, the utopic and dystopic worlds, and the realm of the subconsciousness. These aspects, separately or together, usually help me stay more open and creative in my way of thinking and approaches to research.
As simple as it sounds, I understand that it’s not that simple to do that. However, I still encourage my students to be true to themselves and be sensitive to their motivations when it comes to choosing a profession and/or career. I always tell them that, if they follow their passion, they won’t ever regret their choice. What's something you're currently reading and enjoying? (It could be a book that you've finished recently if you're not currently reading anything)
What is some advice you have for any/all Latinx interested in higher education and research?
I haven’t gotten much time to read fiction lately, however, one of the books I’ve recently finished is “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” by Ocean Vuong. I’d highly recommend it. It’s incredibly well written, very sad but very hopeful at the same time.
I’ve been very fortunate to have had two incredible mentors when I was in graduate school, and I remember both telling me to follow my passion to guide me throughout my career. 18
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CLR Faculty Fellowship Program The CLR Faculty Fellowship is an annual competition open to all full-time, tenure track faculty in any discipline, and is supported by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. The fellowship competition opens every year in winter quarter. The fellowship grants recipients a one-quarter teaching release (2 classes) for research and writing. In addition, the CLR provides up to 100 hours of student research assistant support. Within one academic year following the fellowship period, recipients are asked to submit a final outcome or publication, and to do a short public presentation of their work.
For more information, please visit go.depaul.edu/clr We would like to congratulate our new CLR Faculty Fellows. ¡Felicitaciones!
2022-2023 Faculty Fellows
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HEATHER MONTES-IRELAND Assistant Professor | Dept. of Women’s and Gender Studies “Decoupling Work and Dignity in Latina Visual Culture”
My research examines an archive of films centering the lives and struggles of Latina mothers, who are often denied human dignity as a coercible, exploitable and cheap labor pool, to interrogate the instrumentalization of the gendered and racialized Latina body as a laboring body above all else. This work seeks to illuminate the radically different conceptualizations of dignity explored within Latina cultural production which reaches far beyond U.S. work society’s conscriptions. In a comparative analysis of this archive of films and broader U.S. immigration and anti-poverty policy, my works reveals how Latina mothers navigate a complex set of structural barriers as they seek their own imagined forms of dignity—specifically more just, inhabitable worlds for themselves, their children, and their communities.
ANA SCHAPOSCHNIK Associate Professor | Dept. of History “Did the Holy Office Leave Room for Agency?: The Trial of Faith of Francisco Vázquez (Lima, 1600s)” I plan to focus on the example of Francisco Vázquez. He was as a merchant of Portuguese descent imprisoned in Lima in 1637. The Holy Office of the Inquisition accused him of being a Crypto-Jewish heretic, a bigamist, and of hiding his true linage and his real profession. At the end of his trial of faith Vázquez was given a second chance to reinsert himself into the community. Interestingly, after the 1639 sentence, Francisco Vázquez appealed the trial as a whole, basing his appeal on issues of lineage instead of on religious practices. His argument for the appeal was that he was an Old Christian, and as such he was not connected to a network of Crypto-Jewish heretics; for that reason, his appeal says, Francisco Vázquez did not deserve to go through a trial of faith.
MONICA REYES Assistant Professor | Dept. of Writing, Rhetoric and Discourse "Shelter Rhetorics: Storytelling within the U.S. Asylum Process” I propose to expand a study I conducted within an emergency homeless shelter, where I investigated how people who are seeking asylum and those who work with them navigate the rhetorical pressures of having to write compelling asylum narratives required for legal permission to remain in the country. Through the shelter community’s own interviews, drawings, and photos, my book will demonstrate how liminal sites, like this shelter, provide opportunities for displaced communities to employ what I term shelter rhetorics, distinct shared rhetorical practices of daily life—like silence and routine—that both safeguard vulnerabilities and enact agency for individuals within precarious spaces. By practicing shelter rhetorics, the shelter encourages clients to tell their unique stories in ways that help them move while simultaneously critiquing reductive dominant discourses about what it means to be an “asylum seeker”.
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FACULTY SPOTLIGHT Erika Sánchez
Erika L. Sánchez is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. Erika is the creative writing editor for Diálogo, a poet, essayist, and fiction writer, and the author of the young adult novelI Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, a 2017 finalist for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and instant New York Times Best-Seller; and the poetry collection, Lessons on Expulsion, a finalist for the PEN America Open Book Award. Her novel IANYPMD will be made into a Netflix feature film directed by America Ferrera. INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY AMANDA MATTHEWS
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Your new book has such a great title: "Crying in the Bathroom". Why did you choose this title for your book? I chose this title because I thought it was funny and relatable. The book is both heavy and humorous, so I wanted to convey that through the cover and title. Plus, I literally cry in many bathrooms in this book. Your earlier book was known as a young adult novel, although it was read by folks of many different ages. Your new book is a memoir. Is it primarily directed at young people, or did you have a different readership in mind? I wrote this book with adult women in mind. In a sense, it's a kind of sequel. Julia and I are not the same person, but the memoir continues many of the themes explored in IANYPMD. It's a bit more scandalous than the novel in some
ways, so I don't expect this to be in many high schools. I also assume that the teens who read the novel when it came out will be ready for this book now.
"I literally cry in many bathrooms in this book" What courses do you teach at DePaul, and has teaching at DePaul had an impact on your writing? I teach a variety of courses, including Latinx Poets, Latina Memoir, and a graduate writing workshop focused on YA literature. I really love teaching because I have the privilege to teach young people my favorite literature, and I get to use my creativity in the
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process. I'm always learning from my students and I really appreciate it when they become excited about a text we're discussing. My students, for the most part, have not read many texts by people of color, and though that concerns me, I'm happy to introduce them to books I love and put them in a historical context. All of that sharpens my reading and writing skills. I also love it when students introduce me to new texts and art.
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SPRING UPCOMING EVENT SPOTLIGHT
"A Song for Cesar" Film Screening Organized by Dr. Chris Tirres
ONLINE MOVIE VIEWING: Wednesday, May 4th 7:00-9:00 p.m. CST ONLINE PANEL DISCUSSION: Thursday, May 5th 4:20-6:00 p.m. CST
How did you learn about the film, A Song for Cesar, and what inspired you to bring it to DePaul? In the fall of 2020, I was invited by a former teacher of mine, Dr. Davíd Carrasco of Harvard University, to be part of a planning committee to commemorate the two year anniversary of the mass shooting that took place in El Paso, Texas on August 3, 2019. (I grew up in El Paso and Prof. Carrasco has strong family ties there.) So to make a long story short, I came to know about the film because Prof. Carrasco suggested that El Paso could screen the documentary as part of their 2021 "Month of Healing." He had previously served as a consultant for the film and knew the film directors. I wanted to bring it to DePaul not only because it's such a terrific documentary that tells the story of the art and music that fueled the Farmworker's Movement, but also because the documentary takes on added meaning when set against the backdrop of El Paso's own use of the arts to heal.
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El Centro, Spring 2022 What about this film makes it a unique or new way to learn about the life of Cesar Chavez? For me, as a scholar of religion, the film shines light on the aesthetic dimensions of the Farmworker's Movement, which gets to an underlying spirituality in the movement. Although the film makes few, if any, explicit references to "religion" or "spirituality", the people in the film implicitly embody an activist spirituality that uses the arts to inspire and empower people to assert their dignity and fight for justice. One can certainly talk about Chavez's religiosity in terms of his Catholicism, but we also get a sense of his spirituality when we learn about other passions of his, such as his deep interest in Pachuco culture and jazz. These kinds of things give us a wider picture of what fuels Chavez's sense of freedom. And there are many other examples of spiritual activism in the film, especially when we turn to the musicians and artists of the movimiento. Who are some of the panelists who will be speaking about the film on May 5th? We are going to have an all-star panel. I'm very pleased to announce that Dolores Huerta, the civil rights icon and activist, has graciously agreed to participate, along with the two movie directors, Abel Sánchez and Andrés Alegría
In addition, we have some top notch educators joining the line-up, including the noted historian of religion Davíd Carrasco (Harvard University), the first Mexican-American Rhodes scholar and celebrated author, John Phillip Santos (UT San Antonio), one of the most gifted, inspiring, and award-winning philosophy teachers in all of El Paso, Manuela Gómez (El Paso Community College), and the incredibly talented and award-winning New York Times photojournalist, Ryan Christopher Jones. The cool thing about all of these people (including Dolores Huerta and the movie directors) is that we were all together in El Paso in August 2021, for the dedication ceremony of the El Paso Healing Garden, which was part of their "Month of Healing." So in addition to talking about the film, we will also discuss the connections between the film and what we witnessed in El Paso. It's going to be a great event, and I encourage everyone to register for these virtual events. And a side-note... DePaul University has purchased perpetual rights for the film, so all DePaul faculty, staff, and students already have 24/7 access to the documentary on Panopto!
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Past Events Winter 2022- Fall 2021 AUTHOR MIRELSIE VELASQUEZ "PUERTO RICO CHICAGO" EVENT Thursday, March 3 Mirelsie Velasquez, professor at the University of Oklahoma, spoke in person to students and faculty about Puerto Rican student activism in the 1970s, as well as about her book Puerto Rican Chicago that has been published through University of Illinois Press.
AUTHOR ELIZABETH FERRER EVENT Tuesday, March 1 Author Elizabeth Ferrer joined DePaul University via Zoom to discuss the LatinX Civil Rights Era, photographs from the Latinx civil rights movements of the 1960s and 70. and her ground-breaking book, LatinX Photography in the United States:A Visual History.
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CRIMMIGRATION: INTERROGATING THE INTERSECTION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND IMMIGRATION Tuesday. February 1
The event consisted of two panels, the first exploring crimmigration through policy, practice, and law, and the second examining crimmigration through the lived experience of immigrants. The panels were held in conjunction with two Criminology courses with panelists speaking about their experiences in the field and discussing with students "what must be done" to achieve equitable immigration justice.
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This July, the Social Transformation Research Collaborative (STRC), co-directed by the Center for Black Diaspora and the Center for Latino Research, is embarking on a new initiative: a one-week Summer Institute for newly admitted students.Twenty-six students have been selected to attend the institute, which will run from July 24th- 29th. The primary purpose of the institute is to build community at DePaul by introducing new students to faculty and peer mentors, and familiarizing them with important campus resources for student success, including DePaul’s Multicultural Resource Centers. Students in the Summer Institute will be earning college credits as they participate in the mini-courses taught by the faculty co-leads of the institute, Dr. Juan Mora-Torres and Dr. Monica Reyes. As Dr. Mora-Torres explains, “The course will use Chicago as an extension of the classroom. [Students] will attend field trips to different inner-city neighborhoods so that they can experience such concepts as segregation, boundaries, gentrification, inequality, resistance, and so on. In brief, [the course] will introduce new students to Chicago as a site of learning about the world.” Dr. Julie Moody-Freeman, one of the co-directors of the STRC, points out that, “Some exciting stuff is going to go down! Just hearing the curriculum and activities that the faculty have planned is so exciting – I want to be a student in that class!” Participants in the Summer Institute come from a diversity of backgrounds and from all across the country -- including Texas, California, Tennessee, Minnesota, Louisiana, and of course Illinois! As Dr. Bill Johnson González explained, "We couldn't have done this without the support of Dr. Margaret Storey in the Dean's Office. We have all put quite a lot blood, sweat, and tears into organizing this Summer Institute. Everyone has worked so hard, and we have pulled resources and support together from across the university, so we can’t wait to meet the incoming students and introduce them to DePaul.
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SUMMER INSTITUTE LEAD FACULTY 2022 JUAN MORA-TORRES Dr. Juan Mora-Torres is an Associate Professor of Latin American History at DePaul University. A former Teamster, he has worked in the agricultural fields, canneries, and as an adult education instructor. Dr. Mora-Torres has a long history of working with community organizations and cultural groups. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago. He teaches courses on Latin American, Mexican, Latina/o and Chicana/o history, including Discover Chicago. His research and writings focus on the history of the U.S.Mexican borderlands, Mexican migration, popular culture, social movements, working class formations, and Mexicans in Chicago. The author of The Making of the Mexican Border, he is currently working on two book projects Mexicans in Babylon: Barrio Making in Chicago’s West Side, 1917-1983 and “Me voy pa’l norte (I’m Going North)”: The First Great Mexican Migration, 1880-1940.”
MONICA REYES Dr. Monica Reyes is Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, Writing & Discourse Studies at DePaul University. She is a proud HSI graduate of The University of Texas-Brownsville where she received her B.A. and M.A. degree in English. After teaching for several years at a community college as well as The University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, she obtained a PhD in English Studies (Cultural Rhetorics) from Old Dominion University. Prior to her time at DePaul, Dr. Reyes’ teaching was recognized in 2019-20 with the highly selective University of Texas System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award. Dr. Reyes’ scholarship is inspired by her ongoing volunteer work with people seeking asylum in the U.S. Her research aims to understand the rhetorical practices that support immigrants’ efforts to tell required stories about asylum experience. Her scholarship has led to an ongoing initiative to partner writing teachers with people seeking asylum who require help with the written portion of their asylum claim. Her research has been featured most recently in Enculturation: A Journal of Rhetoric, Writing & Culture (2020); Postcolonial Text (2019); as well as the news outlet Latino Rebels. In addition, Dr. Reyes received the Short-Term Research Publication Grant from the American Association of University Women for her book project, Shelter Rhetorics: Storytelling within the U.S. Asylum Process.
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Contact Us Bill Johnson González Director bjohns58@depaul.edu
Sara Luz Torres Department Assistant storre38@depaul.edu
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