The Chicano movement history has largely been painted as a Southwest/West Coast phenomenon. Even famous Chicano poet Alurista commented after the Denver National Youth Conference of 1969 how, “he was surprised to learn that Mexicans came from exotic places such as Kansas City and Chicago.”1 Who would have guessed that another one of those “exotic…
Author: Pau Nava
Reflection: Raza Art/Media Collective and the Midwest Chicano movement
The inspiration for my historia follows my research background in the Chicano art movement. In any work that I do I aim to challenge public understanding of the Chicano movement as a Southwest/West Coast bubble. I wanted my historia to showcase how the midwest was also a part of this historical moment and learn more…
A Collective out of Scarcity: Raza Arts and Media Collective
Out of the depths of activism in the 1970s, the University of Michigan is home to the nationally recognized Raza Art and Media Collective (RAM) 1974-1977. Started out of growing frustrations from Art History graduate student Ana Cardona, RAM pulled together a group of Michigan based artists such as George Vargas, Jesse Gonzalez, Julio Peraza,…
Journal # 4
There is no clean cut research guide to help us embark on these archival adventures as a class. When one typically thinks of approaching a research project, one imagines things such as research specialists, and computers with databases that hold any and all information one would want on any given topic. For Latino history at…
From Vicente to Vincent.
My assigned Latin American club member was Vicente Guillermety. I initially chose him because of his interesting last name, which I figured would gather some interesting results. Alas, he was not one of those guys in the frat that we discovered in our time at the Bentley library. I’m not a big fan of greek…
Journal #2: Nuts and Freshmen
Below are the two entries on the Michigan Heritage site that I will be talking about in this entry: Just Nuts https://heritage.umich.edu/stories/just-nuts/ The first freshmen https://heritage.umich.edu/stories/the-first-freshmen/ What struck me most about these entries on the michigan heritage site was the tone. Each entry made it sound like you were uncovering some shocking untold history piece.…
Art and archives — Pau
Hello all! My name is Pau Nava and I am second year grad student in American Culture. My research looks at the art history of Mexican Chicago and larger Chicanx history in the midwest via the arts. Reflect on the Research Process Within any research project (be it a paper or major purchase) I always…