All Events
Race and Literature Series
Brother, I’m Dying
This year, the MultiCultural Center kicked off a new series to explore the issues of race and belonging through literature. This will be an interactive space for lively discussions on various theories about race, a safe space for articulating perspectives on identity and belonging which are contextualized by different authors, and an intentional time for centering the narratives of marginalized communities. Discussions will be facilitated by various faculty members, graduate students, and staff members. Readings may be suggested but are not required for attendance. This series hopes to cultivate open dialogue, and a spirit of appreciation and intellectual kinship. Dessert will be provided! All are welcome.
Engaging Communities with Resilient Love
Civic Imagination: Roadmaps, Stories, Research and Calls to Action Sangita Shresthova
MCC Theater
Drawing on the work of the Civic Imagination Project at the University of Southern California, this interactive talk engages the imagination as a complex tool for civic action. Here, the civic imagination is defined as the capacity to imagine alternatives to current cultural, social, political, or economic conditions; one cannot change the world unless one can imagine what a better world might look like.This talk will offer a historical context and theoretical framework to situate our approach to the civic imagination. Sangita Shresthova, Ph.D., focuses on digital media, civics, participation, the civic imagination, and cross cultural dialogue. Her recent academic research has focused on storytelling and surveillance among American Muslim youth, the fallout from the Kony2012 campaign, and global Bollywood.
Cup of Culture
Hailing Cesar
MCC Theater
The grandson of civil rights activist Cesar Chavez, Eduardo Chavez, embarks on a journey to better understand his grandfather's legacy. Like his father and grandfather before him, he begins to work as a farm-worker, picking grapes in the field, and learns first hand the kind of labor that goes into putting fruits and vegetables on people’s plates. Through his reconnection with his family's legacy, we learn about Cesar Chavez's plight to create equality for farm-workers and use that knowledge to understand the current conditions that they face in the fields and back at home. Post-film discussion with director, Eduardo Chavez.
Exhibit
Vexed: The East L.A. Chicano Punk Scene Sal Guerena, UCSB Library Special Research Collections
MCC Lounge
Not long after the punk scene exploded in New York City in the mid-1970s, young Chicanas and Chicanos in the greater Eastside of Los Angeles began adopting the DIY (do it yourself) punk aesthetic. They expressed their anger, discontent, and feelings of marginalization through a frenzied musical style and biting social commentary. Early Chicano punk bands, or punkeros, embraced the punk rock energy and political edge to draw attention to historic and contemporary injustices. The photographs are drawn from the Chicano Punk Rock Collection in the Special Research Collection’s California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives.
