Summer Institute Director Ellen Clark and Author Carmen Tafolla.
Members of the Tri-Campus Community Invited to Events Scheduled During Summer Institute
UTSA'S second Derrumbando Fronteras/Breaking Boundaries: Summer Institute
for Integrating Mexican American and Latino Literatures and Culture into the
Secondary Curriculum is now under way at the Downtown Campus.
Funded for the second consecutive year by the National Endowment for the Humanities
(NEH), the intensive four-week program is designed to help teachers from across
the nation revamp curricula to be more inclusive of the Latino experience.
The institute affords a provocative exploration of Mexican American and Latino
literatures, including Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican and Central American,
using a combination of traditional classroom exchanges and high-tech tools.
It is the only program of its type funded this year by the NEH. During its
debut last year, the institute drew more than 500 applicants nationwide for
just 25 available fellowships reserved for middle and high school teachers.
The institute's 28 teacher-participants, who reflect a diverse age, ethnic,
educational and geographical mix, will listen and interact with 10 visiting
scholars and more than a dozen creative writers. Many of the summer institute's
presentations are open to members of the Tri-Campus community and the public,
as seating permits, at no cost, including:
–"With Our Very Own Names," by Carmen Tafolla.
10: 30 a.m.-noon Monday, June 25
UTSA Downtown Campus Buena Vista Street Building Theater
An internationally acclaimed poet, author and lecturer on multicultural issues, Carmen Tafolla has published five books of poetry, seven television screenplays, one nonfiction volume on Chicana women plus numerous short stories, articles and children's works. Her award winning collection of poetry, Sonnets to Human Beings, was published in Germany in a dual-language edition, and in several editions in the United States. Her latest children's book, "Baby Coyote and the Old Woman," has just been released by Wings Press in both bilingual book and tape editions.
–"Chancla at the Border," a dramatic performance by Maria
Elena Gaitan.
10:30 a.m.-noon Tuesday, June 26
UTSA Downtown Campus Buena Vista Street Building Theater
Maria Elena Gaitan is a multidisciplinary artist who examines cross-cultural,
gender and class issues through music, performance art and fierce satire.
A native of East Los Angeles, Gaitan moves fluently between the worlds of
virtuoso instrumentalist and community artist, exploring the integration and
conflict of language, culture, history and gender endemic to the Chicana experience.
She has originated succesful commissioned and touring multimedia solo shows throughout the United States, including "Chola Con Cello/A Home Girl in the Philharmonic", about hatred directed at Mexican immigrants, and "The Adventures of Connie Chancla," a satirical commentary on the state of affairs in Pocholandia, the ancestral lands of the Pocho people. The state of the taco, the politico and the maniaco are reflected upon as Connie Chancla takes the audience through a wild counter-narrative of 150+ years of borders, barriers and stereotypes through multilingual humor, pre-Hispanic codices, sculpture, paintings, photography, video and...a little cello music to soothe the soul.
CAUTION: "Pochonics" will be spoken here! However, linguistic purists and the monolingually-impaired are welcome too!
–Reading by Loida Maritza Perez, author of "Geographies of the
Home."
7 p.m. Monday, July 2
Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, located at 922 San Pedro–"Bluestown
Mockingbird
Mambo" and "Finding Your Way." Readings by poet/artist
Sandra Maria Esteves.
7 p.m. Thursday, July 5
San Antonio Central Public Library, located at 600 Soledad
--"Reclamacion," a dramatic interpretation by Celeste Guzman,
and "Narratives of Self, " by Virgil Suarez.
6:30- 8: 30 p.m. Tuesday, July 17
UTSA Downtown Campus Buena Vista Street Building Room 1.320
Guzman delivers her presentation as internationally acclaimed author and San Antonio resident Sandra Cisneros; Terry Ybanez; and Ellen Riojas Clark, UTSA associate professor of bicultural bilingual studies and a co-director of the institute.