Ethnic Studies

The Journey to Peace and Healing: Discovering Identity Through Culture, Tradition, and Indigenous Knowledege

Vanessa Baíz Soto — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 09:31:03 PDT

An accurate account of U.S. history is that of imperialism and colonization that includes the systematic extermination of indigenous populations, development of capitalism supported by slavery, and the exploitation of labor of oppressed populations, all supported by racist ideologies and practices. These ideologies and practices have been perpetuated and continue to plague the current state of colonized peoples. History has perpetuated itself and colonized peoples remain in a state of siege in which identities have been lost and cultures, traditions, and knowledge appropriated—all contributing to the loss of peace and balance within our lives and communities. This has been my journey in discovering culture and self-determination and reclaiming my identity. In doing so, I explain identity as a process of action and self-reflection that contributes to the discovery of self-healing, peace and balance within our individual selves. This enables us to embark on the lifelong commitment to the struggle for true liberation of our oppressed communities and revolutionary change within the corrupt political, economic, and social structures that maintain our oppression. Artwork, community activism and dance reveal themselves as essential practices that contribute to the discovery of identity and healing processes which Identity(why caps) are the backbone to being able to make this commitment and “walk in beauty.”

USING COUNTER-MEMORY TO BUILD AN HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE OF STRUGGLE

Gonzalo Chávez Villanueva — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:48:40 PST

The primary goal of this project was to transcribe a 2010 interview with Raul Ceja, a resident of Santa Maria, California who had been a member of the Local 1222 of the Laborers International Union of North America. The interviewee Raul Ceja was born in Guadalupe, California, raised in Nipomo, and was a current resident of Santa Maria, California at the time of the interview. Raul Ceja is known locally and respected for facilitating the United Farm Workers Union’s establishment throughout the Central Coast. The significance of Raul Ceja’s interview is that he has personal reflections and perspectives on controversies specific to the Central Coast, thus providing an example of counter-memory that gives us an alternative and previously suppressed account to the established knowledge that has been propagated by those individuals and institutions with greater power.

From Where I am Standing: Indigenous Narrative and Photo Documentary

Nestor R. Veloz Passalacqua — Tue, 24 May 2011 15:11:12 PDT

Latin American Indigenous Peoples (LAIP) are a marginalized segment in Latin America. They inhabit a sub-America and are forced to migrate due to socio-political struggle and cultural coercion. LAIP experience a transnational and transborder migration that reflects the quality of cultural hybridity and of regional, ethnic, and cultural crossings. The purpose of this study is to research LAIP ways of reclaiming and reproducing cultural practices that elicit Indigenous awareness, knowledge, and ethnic identification in a transnational setting. The study examines through interviews and photographs transborder experiences and the lives of the participants. As a result, the project reveals that LAIP are in a continual process of ethnic and cultural identification with their native roots through the usage of cultural activities and the acknowledgment of multicultural coexistence. It also supports the necessity of participant involvement during the research process of interviews and photographic and data analysis. This joint process creates a supported living narrative that explores LAIP life in the United States. The principal outcome provides support that LAIP cultural practices reflect their perspective from where they are standing in the American social and cultural sphere.