All Events
Cup of Culture-Fun at the MCC
Just Like Us
MCC Theater
Through a celebration of culture and comedy, this film uproots the widely held misconception that Arabs have no sense of humor - when in fact they are just like us. Featuring Egyptian American comedian Ahmed Ahmed, this film reintroduces socially relevant issues to the world in an effort to build cultural bridges in this age of greater tolerance, understanding, and acceptance. Ahmed Ahmed, 72 min., English & Arabic with English subtitles, 2010, USA.
Co-sponsored by the Center for Middle East Studies; the Education Abroad Program; and EOP-Middle Eastern Resource Center.
Performance
¡Gay Tino! Dan Guerrero
MCC Theater
¡GAYTINO! is a remarkable life journey from 1950s East LA to New York’s Great White Way in the 60s and 70s and back to Hollywood. A gay Chicano moves from the back of the bus to the front of American pop culture in this autobiographical play with music. The solo piece is driven by Dan’s lifelong friendship with the late Chicano artist Carlos Almaraz and by Dan’s father, Chicano music legend, Lalo Guerrero. The 90-minute performance travels through decades of Mexican American history and the gay experience from a unique and personal perspective. Touching, provocative, hilarious and absolutely one-of-a-kind, Dan Guerrero brings his two fascinating worlds together in a riveting solo show. Co-sponsored by the UCSB Library, California Ethnic & Multicultural Archives (CEMA), Special Collections; the Chicano Studies Institute; the Department of Chicano Studies; the Department of Theater and Dance; El Congreso; La Familia de Colores; the Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Academic Policy; the Office of Equal Opportunity and Sexual Harassment/Title IX Compliance; the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor; and the Resource Center for Sexual & Gender Diversity.
Performance
An Evening of Flamenco Music and Dance With Briseyda Zárate Flamenco Company
MCC Theater
Briseyda Zárate Flamenco Company delivers an exciting and emotive rendition of the art of flamenco true to its roots and essence. Comprised of renowned artists (including Jesus Montoya, Gabriela Osuna, and Gerardo Morales), this world-class company takes their audiences on an exhilarating journey straight into the heart and soul of flamenco using the flamenco toque (guitar), cajon (percussion), cante (song), palmas (hand clapping), and baile (dance). Tickets $5 UCSB Students and Children under 12/$15 general. Contact the A.S. Ticket Office at 805-893-2064 or buy online at mcc.sa.ucsb.edu (extra fees apply). Limited Seating. Co-sponsored by the Education Abroad Program and the Flamenco Arts Festival.
Race Matters Series
Caged Birds: The Rebirth of Mexican Incarceration in the United States Kelly Lytle Hernandez
MCC Lounge
Statistics show that Blacks and Latinos comprise just over one half of the nation’s prison population. In California, Black and Brown men, mostly Mexicans and Mexican Americans, make up roughly 70% of the prison population. Thus, when scholars and activists discuss the story of race and mass incarceration in the United States today we often do so in terms of 'Black and Brown.' Historically speaking, however, we know relatively little about the rise of Mexican incarceration in the United States. Beginning in the years after the U.S.-Mexico War (1846-1848), when the project of conquest unfolded in the new Anglo-American West, white settlers pushed toward the Pacific Ocean. In pursuit of land and labor, they criminalized and incarcerated both indigenous persons and Mexicans living in the region. But this chapter of race and imprisonment came to a close as conquest seemed assured by the 1880s. It was not until the 1920s and 1930s when Mexican incarceration swelled again in the American West. Why and how Mexican incarceration was reborn during the 1920s and 1930s is the subject of 'Caged Birds: The Rebirth of Mexican Incarceration.' By tracking the carceral history that hangs between the days of conquest and the precipice of our present, 'Caged Birds' illuminates one of the roads by which we arrived at 'black and brown' imprisonment today. Professor Kelly Lytle Hernandez is associate professor of history at UCLA and director of the UCLA Public History Initiative. Co-sponsored by American Cultures & Global Contexts; AntiRacism, Inc.; and the Center for Black Studies Research.
