FALL 2009 HUMANITIES INSTITUTE EVENTS AND PROGRAMS
"Hula of Ancient Hawai'i"
Hula of Ancient Hawai'i performed by Kumu Hula Kapena Malulani Perez and Halau Hula 'O Malulani at the closing event of San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery's exhibit “EXPANDING-EEL-DEVOURER from THE GREAT FISH CHANGING SKIES by Alexander Lee with Keith Moore and Juliana Snapper Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 7 pm In front of San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery (Art Gallery courtyard)
Powerful, graceful, and engaging, the dance company of Halau Hula `O Malulani offers a rare look into hula kahiko--the ancient dances of Hawai`i. Students will experience the authentic instruments, chants, and dances of Hawai`i and the perpetuity of hula as a living art form. The performance of this discipline is in striking contrast to much of what has been popularized as Hawaiian, offering instead, the simplicity, natural dignity, and diversity of Hawai`i itself—a culture that extends far beyond the boundaries of race and geographical location.
"There and Back Again: The Hermes Castro Antarctica Story"
Thursday, October 8th at 4PM-5:30PM
G-101
Hermes Castro will speak to students, faculty, and staff about his Antarctica experience. As the first paraplegic in history to visit Antarctica, what personal challenges did he overcome? How has the experience changed Him? What can we do both personally and collectively to address climate change issues? These are but a few of the questions Hermes will address in his talk.
Judith F. Baca "Public Art, Private Works"
October 21 & 22, 2009
Lecture: Wednesday, Oct. 21st, 11:10AM in H-117/118
Art Gallery Artist Reception: Thursday, Oct. 22nd, 4PM-7PM in the Art Gallery
Lecture: Thursday, Oct. 22nd, 7PM-9PM in LRC-435
Judith F. Baca will visit Mesa College in October 2009 to present at the opening of an art show of her work in the Mesa College Art Gallery. Along with the Art Gallery exhibit of her work focusing on issues of public art, public memorials and human agency through the arts, Baca will make two formal presentations over two days to students, faculty, and staff about her career working as a Chicana muralist, professor and activist in many communities locally and internationally. On the second day of her visit, the Art Gallery will host an artist reception.
The Global E-Waste Crisis Speaker
November 2009
Time/Date: TBA
A global e-waste crisis is underway in which up to 80% of recycled e-waste is sent to impoverished countries. Toxic components are openly burned, soaked in acid baths and dumped into rivers, or piled into mountains of e-waste for scrap recovery. Impoverished workers, including children, smash leaded glass tubes, breathe lead solder fumes and melt plastics with toxic flame retardants. The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) discusses the hazardous effects e-waste has on workers who must handle recycled e-waste and explores ways in which we can help promote safe recycling practices that are both sound and humane.
Three Sisters Garden Harvest
November 2009
Time/Date: TBA
Green Garden on the Mesa link:
http://homework.sdmesa.edu/cmona/ECOFiles/OGFiles/Garden.html
The San Diego Mesa College Environmental Stewardship Committee (ESC) would like to invite the campus and community to revisit the Mesa College Organic Garden for the harvesting of the Three Sisters Garden (corn, beans and squash) commonly grown together by various Native American groups. On harvest day individuals from the campus and community would come together and learn about sustainable practices while creating environmental and cultural awareness. A discussion of the cultural origins of various plants in the garden as well as cooking demonstrations using the Three Sisters crops will form the basis for the harvest day.
Chicano Latino Heritage Celebration: ¡Cultura y Resistencia!
October/November 2009
Olga A. Garcia (poet): Monday, October 19th at 9:30AM-11AM in H-117/118
Judith F. Baca (muralist): Wednesday, October 21st at 11:10AM-12:30PM in H-117/118
San Diego Committee on Chicano Rights (community panel): Time/Date TBA
Mark Guerrero (musician): Time/Date TBA
Cultural Vendors: Time/Date TBA
The Chicano/Latino Heritage Committee is proud to continue its annual celebration of Chicana/o and Latina/o history and culture by presenting a series of events that offers the Mesa College community with a better understanding of Chicana/o culture and its relation/impact to U.S. culture. This year's theme, Cultura y Resistencia focuses on the impact that cultural expression has had on the political struggles of the Chicana/o community and works very well with the Humanities Institutes own theme for this year. This year's celebration will consist of a panel discussion on San Diego's Committee on Chicano Rights, as well as a presentation on the history of Chicano music by Mark Guerrero. We also hope to include a literary reading by East Los Angeles poet, Olga A. Garcia.
Mesa Visions: Mesa College's Art and Literary Magazine
Publication Date: December 7, 2009
The staff of Mesa Visions, Mesa's student-produced art and literary magazine is excited to offer--in addition to the traditional awards for poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction--the Rosa Parks Commemorative Prize for Writing, which will celebrate resistance through collective action and quiet strength. Our awards ceremony will include a slideshow of student art from this year's art exhibition as well as spoken word. Come celebrate student creativity on Monday, December 7th, 2009, from 6:30-8:30 in G101. Copies of Mesa Visions will be available for purchase.
SPRING 2010 HUMANITIES INSTITUTE EVENTS & PROGRAMS (TENTATIVE SCHEDULE)
Understanding Globalization in the US Mexican Border: A creative workshop
Dates and location of activities:
(1st) Lecture/Presentation: Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Suggested rooms: G101 or H117.
(2nd) Proposed date for final exhibition and fair, May 4th (to allow two months for students to develop their projects.)
Possible locations: LRC foyer or Gallery courtyard.
This two-part project wants to infuse global understanding into the college community by making visible the experience of binational culture through interpretive first-hand research, and the final creation of a project to be shared collectively. In the lecture/presentations facilitators will discuss issues related to globalization's impact in the U.S./Mexico border, and more specifically its effect in the San Diego and Tijuana region. Students will be divided in teams and required to go out in the community to research topics related to the workshop's theme. Students will create final projects according to their disciplines of interest to be presented to the campus, while making adequate interdisciplinary connections. Language acquisition, Historic research and Artistic Production will be explored and applied. All projects, interdisciplinary in nature, have to be justified within the three fields involved. Using Spanish and studying the evolution of Spanglish (both at the appropriate basic communicative level, and in forms and constructions that entice cultural sensitivity), conducting research of popular and vernacular forms of art –murals, graffiti- and exploring different methods of historical research -oral histories, testimonies, alternative voices, and primary documents.-
The San Diego Chicano History Project: Triumphs of the Human Spirit: Mesa College as a Community Partner
Date/Location of Activity: LRC 435 or H-117-118 and Off-Campus (possible location University of San Diego) in March 2010
The Humanities Institute will sponsor one campus and one community discussion to learn about a new community project named The San Diego Chicano History Project (SDCHP). This is an oral history project that is being led by local San Diego scholars in Chicano and Ethnic Studies. The SDCHP is dedicated to documenting the history of Chicanos in San Diego. To achieve this end, it will engage in an oral history project, an archive project, and an ongoing dialogue with community members to find important actors in our local history whose voices have not been heard. Its long term goals include the creation of materials that will be the basis of future scholarship and the hosting of events that will engage the community in intergenerational dialogues that will pass on a legacy of resistance and affirmation.
2009-2010 Cesar Chavez Celebration: Music and Discussion with Agustin Lira
Event Title: Arte y Musica en Chavez's Farm worker Movement: A Presentation by Agustin Lira
Date(s) and Location of Activity: H-117/118 in March 2010
Cesar Chavez's farm worker movement had a very profound impact on the Chicano community that is felt to this day. Among the most important impacts that this movement has had is its role in the formation of a distinctive Chicano Art movement which began to shape the identity of the Chicana and Chicano in the United States. This presentation is offered as a way to celebrate and analyze the importance of artistic expression in Chavez's Farm worker movement through the presentation of one of the movement's most important figures. Agustin Lira's participation in and contribution to the farm workers' struggle is important in that it helped to establish a theatrical and musical movement embedded in the ideals that Chavez used as his own inspiration. Lira will be on campus to present his music and share his experiences as one of the founding fathers of "Movimiento Music" and his memories of working as an activist during the Grape Boycott.
Powerful Latinas Lecture featuring Aurelia E. Flores, J.D.
April 2010
Time/Date: TBA
The Powerful Latinas lecture will feature Aurelia E. Flores, J.D. for a campus talk. This lecture will focus on a living legacy of the state of cultural enrichment and enhancement that Latina women have brought to the U.S. community.
Guatemala and Family Planning: A Story of Hope for Women and Children and the World
Date(s) and Location of Activity: Spring semester 2010, late afternoon presentation at Mesa College. Specific date and time to be determined based on room availability.
The main event will be a public lecture focused on the current socio-economic conditions in Guatemala and how voluntary family planning programs can contribute to sustainable development by reducing population growth, improving maternal and child health, increasing investment in education, and enhancing opportunities for women and girls. The speakers will use real examples from their personal work with WINGS (see below). The lecture would be divided up into a formal presentation and then a 15 minute question and answer section.
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration
Date(s) and Location of Activity: Late Spring 2010
The purpose of this proposal is to engage Mesa students in recognizing not only the cultural diversity, but also the indispensable contribution to this country by Asian Pacific Americans. Through their participation of the following events, we hope to enhance the curriculum, enrich students' education, increase students' global awareness and appreciation of cultural diversity.
Opening of the 2010 Glass Gallery Exhibition: African Balance in Art and Life
Date(s) and Location of Activity: Spring 2010
The artworks in Mesa's 2010 Glass Gallery Exhibition were produced within age-old patterns of culture that created well-functioning democratic communities in Africa. Although this assertion is contrary to images of a troubled and poverty-stricken African continent projected by popular media, there are areas where ancestral requirements of governance and behavior are still successfully honored. Before colonial governments introduced conflicting values like individual competition for personal gain, Africans had developed educational systems, philosophies of leadership, checks and balances, farming practices, and social relationships that functioned well for centuries, treading lightly on the land.
The videos and slides presented at the Opening Reception will illustrate the way that the authentic African artworks on display were used by Africans whose lives have remained outside of western commercial and materialistic influences. There will be examples of methods in which freedom of expression, service to others, and respect for human dignity are built into the structure of African customs, and required in specific patterns of African governance. This spring, by leaving the video and slides on view next to the Glass Gallery for several months, we have found that students are taking notice, and taking notes. This will be repeated with the new video.
People's Power in the Philippines (Feb. 22-25, 1986):A Non-Violent Revolution
Date(s) and Location of Activity: February 2010
Discover how people in another part of the world prevented a civil war. Hear first hand accounts from Filipinos who lived through martial law and twenty years of dictatorship but remained resilient and peace-loving. Celebrate the triumphs of the human spirit through Philippine music, arts and literature!
Guerrilla Girls Performance
Date(s) and Location of Activity: March 2010
The Guerrilla Girls is an activist group that exposes racism, sexism, and corruption in art, film and popular culture. They are authors of the book titled, "The Guerrilla Girls Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art" which is used in art history and women's studies courses throughout the country. They travel throughout the world and perform for thousands to promote social awareness and activism. Their appearance at Mesa College is an excellent educational opportunity to expose our students to the injustices suffered by women in the arts and other venues to promote social and political awareness.
Festival of Colors
Date(s) and Location of Activity: March 24 & 25, 2010
The Festival of Colors is an annual event that celebrates the diversity of Mesa College. This Festival closely aligns with the mission of the Humanities Institute by allowing faculty, staff and students to appreciate the different cultures around the world. This year we had an array of cultures and ages represented from preschool Japanese dancers to Polynesian traditional dance. We also enjoyed food from Mexico, Taiwan, Hawaii and the Middle East. The festival is intended to promote cultural awareness and understanding within the college, campus wide. Its numerous cultural exhibits, varied ethnic food offerings, and delightful artistic performances are eagerly anticipated by students and visitors to San Diego Mesa College.
Entertainment over the two-day long event will bring us culturally diverse, as well as contemporary performances. Throughout the day you will see and hear a variety of music, dancers and singers. In addition to the entertainment we hope to bring in speakers to conduct a variety of multicultural workshops that will hopefully connect with this year's theme "Triumphs of the Human Spirit: Resistance through Collective Action and quiet strength."
Prevention and Intervention Research in Hispanic Populations
Date(s) and Location of Activity: March 2010
The Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program is an NIH/NIGMS funded program at SD Mesa College which provides support to help students of diverse backgrounds experience a successful transition from the community college to the four-year college. The goal of the program is to strengthen the pipeline of biomedical and behavioral science related graduates from underrepresented groups and/or health disparities populations, considered one of the first steps toward increasing diversity in professional personnel investigating health disparities.
We plan to invite Dr. Felipe Gonzalez Castro of Arizona State University to speak about his research activities. Dr. Castro's research interest is in health promotion in Hispanic populations, with a focus on motivational aspects in prevention of HIV infection, drug abuse, cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases. He and his colleagues, for example, reviewed 18 previously published studies to develop recommendations for future research aimed at developing culturally relevant interventions for Hispanic populations.