Musco Center for the Arts Presents Heartbeat of Mexico

Big Ideas: Culture and Conversation Series

April 11 - May 21, 2019

Big Ideas is a free, public lecture series exploring the depths of Mexican and Mexican-American culture by top academics in the fields of Mexican Studies, Religious Studies, and Music, leading to the Heartbeat of Mexico festival at Chapman University from May 23–26, 2019.

The series is generously supported by Leatherby Libraries, Hilbert Museum, and Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.
 

Thursday, April 11 | 6-7:30pm Center for American War Letters • Leatherby Libraries

Mendez v. Westminster: For All the Children

Sandra Robbie, Founder of the OC Museum for Peace & Freedom

The Emmy-winning documentary Mendez v. Westminster: For All the Children tells the story of the 1947 Orange County civil rights case that helped end segregation in California, paving the way to Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. In this talk, Sandra Robbie, writer/producer of Mendez v. Westminster, connects the histories of WWII, Japanese internment, and the segregation of Asian Americans, Native American, African Americans and Latinos to show that we are all connected in the American Civil Rights story...and that we make history everyday in every interaction.

Thursday, April 18 | 6-7:30pm Center for American War Letters • Leatherby Libraries

From Fourth Street to La Calle Cuatro: Downtown Revitalization in Santa Ana from the 1970s to 1990s

Dr. Erualdo R. Gonzalez, CSU Fullerton, Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies

Dr. Erualdo R. González traces the shift from White middle-class Downtown 4th Street to the identity formation of Santa Ana’s La Calle Cuatro, the Mexican and immigrant commercial zone that affirmed the heart of the downtown, and shares voices from patrons and business employees and owners who lived this little-told history. Dr. González is author of Latino City: Urban Planning, Politics, and the Grassroots (2017, Routledge).

Thursday, April 25 | 6-7:30pm Center for American War Letters • Leatherby Libraries

Latina/o Cultura in Schools: Maestras in the Heart of Los Angeles

Dr. Glenda M. Flores, UC Irvine, School of Social Sciences and Department of Chicano/Latino Studies

This year began with a massive teacher strike in Los Angeles schools, and a Latina teacher was the face of the movement. In this talk, Dr. Glenda Marisol Flores explains how Latina teachers draw from elements of Latina/o/x cultures in order to be agents of ethnic mobility for their students.

Wednesday, May 1 | 6-7:30pm Center for American War Letters • Leatherby Libraries

Mariachi Beyond North America: How Mexico’s Music Transcends Borders

Dr. Jessie Vallejo, Cal Poly Pomona, College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences and Music Department

Dr. Jessie Vallejo’s talk will explore how mariachi music has been adopted and performed in places outside Mexico and the United States since the mid-twentieth century.

Friday, May 3 | 5-6:30pm Centro Comunitario de Educación

Lunada Poética y Artística: International Literary Circle AryMex

Maricela R. Loaeza & AryMex

Under the direction of the poet Maricela Loaeza, this local Orange and LA group of Latino writers and artists will feature their Lunada Poética y Artística where they will share their writing and artistic perspectives, on poetry, short stories and novels and other art forms.

Thursday, May 9 | 6-7:30pm Center for American War Letters • Leatherby Libraries

Specters of Belonging: The Political Life Cycle of Mexican Migrants

Dr. Adrian Felix, UC Riverside, Department of Ethnic Studies

In this talk, Dr. Adrián Félix examines the political lives (and deaths) of Mexican migrants. Tracing transnationalism across the different stages of the migrant political life cycle - beginning with the so-called political baptism of naturalization and ending with the practice by which migrant bodies are repatriated to Mexico for burial after death - Félix reveals the varied ways in which Mexican transnational subjects practice citizenship in the United States as well as Mexico.

Friday, May 10 | 5-6:30pm Centro Comunitario de Educación

Are We Capable of Dancing on Our Own Accord?: The Jaranerx Movement and the Critical Pedagogy of Community

Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, Chapman University, Attallah College of Educational Studies

This interactive workshop will look at the ways Son Jarocho, also known as Musica de Cuerdas, has engaged the cultural production of poetry, music, dance, and community ceremony, to express the economic, political, and social realities of the Mexican and Chicanx communities. The poetry sung within these community ceremonies, known as Fandangos/ Huapangos, express through cultural form, our identities, our relationships, our communities, and our context. This workshop will explore the radical ways these expressive mediums have been used as critical pedagogies within a US context. Son Jarocho or Música de Cuerdas creates spaces where community can come together to express their passion for music, cultural autonomy, movement and counter-culture. This workshop will provide context about the movimiento Jaranerx, and will be an opportunity for participants to engage with and practice son jarocho rhythms and zapateado.

Thursday, May 16 at 6pm Hilbert Museum

Art Talk: The Life and Art of Hernando Villa

Omar Holguin, Founder, La Mancha Gallery (Pasadena, CA)

Hernando Villa (1881-1952) was a very important California artist. The son of immigrants to Los Angeles from Baja California, he studied art in L.A., England and Germany, and specialized in paintings of the Old West and romantic Old California. He worked for 40 years as a commercial artist for the Santa Fe Railroad, creating their famous “Chief” emblem. La Mancha Gallery founder Omar Holguin illuminates the life and work of this iconic California painter, in conjunction with the Hilbert Museum’s pop-up exhibition featuring six of Villa’s outstanding paintings.

Tuesday, May 21 | 5:30-6:30pm Centro Comunitario de Educación

Revolutionary Subjects in Action: Chicanx and Mexican Women Activists Share their Stories of Hope and Struggle

Dr. Lilia Monzó, Chapman University, Attallah College of Educational Studies

Dr. Lilia Monzó will do a brief introduction about what constitutes a revolutionary subject and that they are made not born. This is followed by a panel of Mexican and Chicanx women who exemplify activism inspired by hope. The panel includes: Martha Sánchez, Marisol Ramírez, and Cheyenne Reynoso.