Professor Gaspar de Alba

Chicano Art by Professor Gaspar de Alba

On Wednesday, our guest speaker will be Professor Gaspar de Alba. She is a founding faculty of the UCLA Cesar E. Chavez Department of Chicana/o Studies and current chair of the LGBT Studies Program. She is the author of eleven books:  three novels, three poetry collections, and five academic publications. Her historical novel titled Sor Juana’s Second Dream brings to lesbian life the prolific 17^th century Mexican feminist nun Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. This novel is currently being adapted into a full feature film. The Mexican actress, Ana de La Reguera (Nacho Libre) will play the role of Sor Juana. This film will also include Bruno Bichir (El callejon de los milagros), Joaquin Cosio (The Lone Ranger) and Adriana Barraza (Babel).

Professor Gaspar de Alba will be presenting and leading a discussion on two essays on Chicana art that will provide a historical perspective on the gendered politics in Chicana art production and exhibitions. One of the essays is “Out of the House, the Halo, and the Whore’s Mask: The Mirror of Malinchismo” from her book titled Chicano Art Inside/Outside the Master’s House: Cultural Politics and the CARA Exhibition (UT Press, 1998). 

If time allows, she will also discuss the essay, “There’s No Place Like Aztlan: Embodied Aesthetics in Chicana Art.” A revised version of this essay is included in her most recent academic publication titled (Un) framing the “Bad Woman”: Sor Juana, Malinche, Coyolxauhqui and Other Rebels with A Cause (UT Press, 2014).

Students: After reading above two essays (which are PDFs on the course website), write down a question for each essay that you would like to ask speaker. Do not just ask the question since the questions themselves won't add up to the required 200-300 words. In your post include why you are interested in such questions as well as perhaps the possible answers to such questions which you can extract from the essays you read. As always, the posts are due before or at 6 pm on Saturday.

From this week on, late posts will not be counted. Make sure to label your post before posting (F2015LastNameFirstName). If no label, then I won't be able to count it either. Make sure to check spelling and grammar. Read previous comments and questions so that you are not repetitive but adding to the discussion.