CSUN’s Chicana/o Studies Department a force to be reckoned with at the 38th Annual NACCS Conference

Pictured from left to right: Cassandra Rodriguez, Sanam Shahmiri, Professor Marta Lopez-Garza, David Guzman, and Gisella Gatica

Faculty, students, and graduates of the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at California State University, Northridge, were an influential presence at this year’s annual conference of the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS). Nearly 30 people affiliated with CSUN Chicana and Chicano Studies participated in 17 panels or workshops at the conference, which took place at the Westin in Pasadena, Calif., March 30 - April 2. Along with traditional presentations and research discussions, two other major events were organized by members of Chicana and Chicano Studies: a fundraiser to support the Ethnic Studies Department in Tucson, Ariz., and a showcase of graduate student art and performance.

The NACCS is the preeminent scholarly conference of Chicana and Chicano Studies. Established in 1972 to serve the then emerging discipline of Chicano Studies in the social sciences, the conference’s mission reflects the discipline’s commitment to social justice through education. As such, NACCS highlights the work of established and emerging scholars whose work directly confronts inequality based on class, gender, and race in society.

With its Chicana and Chicano Studies Department among the nation’s oldest and largest, CSUN has always been represented by a large contingent at NACCS. This year, 13 professors presented at the conference along with 11 graduate and undergraduate students, including the work of five Chicana and Chicano Studies graduates. Altogether, CSUN was associated with 17 panels over the course of nine of the conference’s 11 sessions.

The panels, workshops, and discussions revealed a diversity and wealth of Chicana and Chicano Studies research among CSUN faculty and students. Topics included teaching social justice and activism, labor studies, Nahuatl poetry, Son Jarocho, performance as a site for education, and uses of media. Faculty and students participated in roundtable sessions, including a review of the history of CSUN’s Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies, a memorial tribute to CSUN librarian Karin Durán, a student discussion with Thomas Saenz—president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund—and a Q&A with actress Eva Longoria, who enrolled in CSUN’s Chicana and Chicano Studies master’s program in 2009.

Faculty and students of CSUN’s Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies organized two additional events alongside the conference. The Chicana and Chicano Graduate Student Association hosted a mixer at a café in Pasadena at the conclusion of the first full day of the conference. Four graduate students displayed their artwork and discussed the theoretical underpinnings of their pieces. Graduate students and faculty performed new works of poetry and theater at the event, which also featured live Son Jarocho music. The NACCS annual conference concluded Saturday with an afternoon fundraising event to benefit the Ethnic Studies Department and Raza Studies program in Tucson, Ariz., which is currently under attack by Arizona government officials threatening ceased funding and closure. The fundraiser featured CSUN professors Rudy Acuña, Mary Pardo, and Harry Gamboa, Jr., who are also key members of the Los Angeles Committee to Support Ethnic Studies.

— Submitted by George B. Sánchez-Tello