Earth Shaker Thalía Cataño, Chicano Hispano Mexicano Studies Minor and Youth Organizer, Puts Theory Into Action

Thalía Cataño is a graduating senior this year and a minor in Chicano Hispano Mexicano Studies at the University of New Mexico.  She fits our profile of an “Earth Shaker” because she is someone who advocates for social justice and Chicana and Chicano Studies. Thalía talked about the impact that Chicana and Chicano Studies has had on her education and her experiences as a community organizer with Somos Un Pueblo Unido.  Thalía will be traveling to the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies annual conference in Chicago, Illinois, on March 14, 2012, with Senaida García and Oscar Ortega, Chicano Hispano Mexicano Studies (CHMS) minors, and Irene Vásquez, Director of CHMS.  The group will present on a panel that examines High Impact practices in Chicana and Chicano Studies.

Thalía Cataño is a community organizer with Somos Un Pueblo Unido, a Sante Fe-based immigrant rights organization, that has been one of the driving forces behind the recent movement to maintain driving privileges for all New Mexicans.  Somos’ mission states,

“Because we believe that every person should have the freedom to move in order to pursue a better life, Somos Un Pueblo Unido works to build a community that does not discriminate against people based on their national origin, that institutes humane immigration policies, and that protects the human rights of everyone irrespective of where they are born or what documents they carry.”

Somos has worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for immigrant communities and fight off punitive state legislation.  In 1995, they passed a legislative memorial condemning California’s passage of Proposition 187.  In 2000, Somos successfully organized to prevent the building of a for-profit immigrant prison in Sante Fe, New Mexico.  A leader in the area of educational access for undocumented students, in 2005, Somos worked to pass legislation that enabled students to pay in-state tuition and access state financial aid regardless of their immigration status.

Due to the organizing actions of Somos and other organizations in behalf of immigrant rights, New Mexico has been a leader in the country for ensuring some basic civic protections for all individuals regardless of their status.  In the past few years, several New Mexican politicians, including Governor Susana Martinez, have attempted to overturn a 2003 state law that permits individuals regardless of their immigration status to obtain drivers’ licenses. In 2012, Representative Andy Nuñez (I-Hatch) carried House Bill 103, which sought to rescind the 2003 state law by requiring social security numbers for all drivers.

Following reactionary legislative efforts, Somos quickly went into action waging a regional struggle to maintain driving privileges for all New Mexicans.  In response to HB 103, the Senate passed its own bill, which affirmed access to driver’s licenses with stricter residency regulations and reporting requirements.  The legislative session ended and with it, House Bill 103.  Somos quickly celebrated its victory by posting messages to supporters of driver’s licenses for all new Mexicans on its website and Facebook page.

Thalía Cataño who has been active with Somos, shared some of her learning and professional experience with this pioneering immigrant right organization. 

“We’ve passed some legislation that has helped our communities here in New Mexico like driving licenses for all regardless of social security numbers.  We were one of the first states to pass in-state tuition and in-state financial aid for all students regardless of their immigration status…And now we focus a lot on, we always talk about that its not just immigrant rights, its not just one sort of thing…we’re not just talking about having papers of not having papers.  We are taking about institutional racism; we are talking about workers’ rights and what that means in the context of immigrant communities.  So we focus a lot on workers and racial justice.  So all that we do falls in between those two things.” 

Thalía talked about how her work with Somos and being a minor in Chicana/o Studies has encouraged her to think about a career as a community organizer.  She credits her Chicana/o Studies professors for encouraging her to be active in community based learning.  Thalía said, “It was beneficial to me to be a Chicana Chicano Studies minor student because I was very active on campus and in the community and so sometimes that conflicts with my studies whether it is attending class or something… My Chicana/o Studies professors were always a lot more willing to listen to what I was doing in the community and how I can incorporate that with my studies.  I was able to do community work on my free time and also incorporate that into my studies.” 

Since the founding of the discipline of Chicana and Chicano Studies, community-centered learning has been emphasized as a core component of academic study and service learning.  Students in the Chicano Hispano Mexicano Studies program at UNM have been actively engaged in community-based learning.  In fall 2012, CHMS will inaugurate the Community Based Learning in Chicana/o and Hispana/o communities.  CHMS aims to build on the experiences of students like Olivia Chávez and Thalía Cataño, as well as many others, to highlight the transformative effects that community based learning produces in Chicano and Mexicano communities and in colleges and universities. 

Undergraduate students at UNM are interested in supporting the further expansion of Chicana and Chicano Studies and the development of a major in Chicana and Chicano Studies.  Students, like Thalía, demonstrate the critical role Chicana and Chicano Studies plays in the lives and educational pathways of undergraduate students.  Thalía noted,

I think it is important for colleges and universities to offer Chicano Studies courses because again it’s a different perspective. They [Chicana/o Studies Programs) are giving a more holistic view about our society here in the United States… People want to know different perspectives, different struggles from their point of view and giving everyone the platform to tell their stories.  And, I think that is important and I think that if we are truly talking about higher education then that is what it should be doing…. giving everyone a space to talk about their own struggle, their own history, their own perspective and then having a conversation about what all of that means in relation to each other. 

Thalía will be graduating with a double major in Philosophy and Portuguese.  Although her minor is in Chicano Hispano Mexicano Studies, Thalía clearly indicates that Chicana Chicano Studies has greatly influenced her career pathway and her critical understanding of the world.  Thalía Cataño, earth shaker and community organizer, has been a part of social justice efforts in New Mexico.  Her future path will be brightly lit as she carries her torch of commitment to social justice.

BioPic Assignments

Here are sample text and media projects from the Introduction to Chicana Studies class at the University of New Mexico.  I think the students did a wonderful job on this assignment.

“HOUSEWORK DILEMMA”

(Zoe Baird’s nanny): Race and class intersect and create a diversity of women experiences.  Women do not universally experience housework in completely similar ways. Chicana/Latina housekeepers would like to sustain the label of “housekeepers” and abolish the term, “maid.” Upper-class women hire working-class colored women to complete their housework, which creates an escape.  Chicana women want to redefine the “mistress-maid relationship” into “employee-employer” relationship, which would eliminate labor power and create a “true sisterhood that’s more attainable” (Garcia, 179).

 Group members: Marisa Abeyta and Gregory Rivera

"DOUBLE WORK DAY"

The ILGWU limited Chicanas and Latinas in multiple ways including gender and racial discrimination.. Chicana and Latina women organizing in the ILGWU also faced a double workday at home and limitations in the ILGWU, whose leadership was primarily white men.  Work in the factories was oppressive and the women were not paid living wages. The women then did most of the work at home as well as caring for their children. The ILGWU was a hierarchical and oppressive in and of itself because white men were at the top and Chicana/ Latina leaders were at the bottom.  At the same time, the male leaders were undermining women’s efforts to organize. The Chicana directors had no real power at the Justice Center in Los Angeles in the 1990s but worked under the supervision of white males.  Workers who showed more independent thinking were blacklisted or publicly humiliated. The organization often assumed ignorance on the part of the Latina workers and believed that many lacked previous experience organizing politically.   



Group members: Esli Beltran, Lynea Gonzales, Carolina Rodriguez, Olivia Chavez and Ashley Aragon 

 "DOUBLE SHIFT"

Alma Garcia discusses the work of Chicana scholars who examine Chicana and Mexican women in the labor force who raise upper class white women's children.  Her research highlights Mary Romero’s scholarship on the concept of “double shift,” primarily when she references Zoe Baird.  Zoe’s family was paying an undocumented woman below minimum wage for her childcare services. Not only do women work for low wages in domestic services, they also lack support from their partners in household care.  In our biopic, Alma is represented as a nurturer and a protector of her community. Because of her experience as a community activist, she has seen what effects these issues have on the Chicana community and has served an important role in advocating for social justice.

Group members: Cody Holpp, Olivia Summa, Charlotte Reyna, and Senaida Garcia

“SISTERHOOD"”

The feminist movement has enabled some women to “escape” the drudgery of housework by hiring other women - women of color – as domestic workers. Herein lies another facet of the “housework dilemma”. There is no collective solution to the problem of household labor because “women do not universally experience housework in completely similar ways: race and class intervene and create a diversity of women’s experiences”. Womanhood is not a universal condition. The reality of white women and minority women’s daily lives is shaped in part by their gender, but is shaped even further by their belonging in a racial category.

Group members: Derek Hanley, Nina Peterson, Janet Avila, and Laura Baldwin

"LEADERSHIP"

Many critics of Chicana and Latina workers believe that these groups are not capable of speaking out about their oppressions; that Latina women lack the concept of unionization. However, the Latina women in ILGWU demonstrated that they can organize in the workplace.  In addition, the Latinas of Los Angeles who protested against Forever 21 demonstrated their skills as leaders of social justice movement. They faced barriers from the union bureaucracy to organize their strikes but they stood their ground and made progress. These Latinas like any other ethnic group who have faced oppression, have educated themselves about their issues and have mobilized unions and formed strategies to achieve a solution. The leadership of the Latina garment workers is to be commended for their strength, persistence, and courage to make a difference for themselves and other women.

Group members: Ashley Visitacion, Brianna Gallegos, Rachel Leos, Emily Bregin, and Alysa DeMema.

Introducing ChicanA Studies - CHMS 332

Olivia Interview at La Plazita from Arts of Aztlan on Vimeo.

The First Day in ChicanA Studies at UNM
by Irene Vásquez, Director of Chicano Hispano Mexicano Studies

"ChicanA Studies is like gold," says Olivia Chávez, an undergraduate student at the University of New Mexico minoring in Chicana/o Studies.  She also volunteers at La Plazita institute in Albuquerque. I previously wrote about La Plazita Institute at Xicana-oStudies blog. Olivia is committed to serving her community and improving society. It is students like Olivia who have inspired me over the past 16 years to teach in Chicana/o Studies.  UNM starts the semester on January 19, 2012.  It is also the first day of the first class I am teaching in Chicana/o Studies at UNM.

The course I am teaching is Introduction to ChicanA Studies.  I am involved in a pilot project that provides a mediated laboratory environment where the instructor engages in using an inverted classroom approach.  For me this has meant learning how to blog and vlog, create multimedia instructional materials, and creating collaborative and problem-based learning approaches for classroom instruction.  I have learned a lot and hope that my students will too.  Below you will find the course description.

"This general survey course introduces students to knowledge production on and academic approaches relevant to Chicana women’s diverse and changing social statuses from the times of Indigenous sovereignties preceding European interventions in Mexico to the late 20th century. The purpose is to familiarize students with the diversity and complexity of Chicana experiences and to introduce some key issues central to those experiences. The course traces economic and political transitions highlighting generalized mutations of racial/ethnic, gender, sexuality, social rank/class, and cultural expressions reflecting the conditions and the dominant attitudes of women’s subordination. Course materials will highlight Chicana/Mexican/Indigenous women’s attempts to challenge notions of inferiority and rationalizations for dominance through actions and power contestations and, in turn, contextualize these actions socially, economically and politically. In Mexico and the U.S., women served as agents of social and political change in the formation of the society and the state. The course frames gendered experiences within individual and group processes and identifies women as diverse individuals, groups and aggregates influencing cultural practices and beliefs."

In short, the class will examine how despite structural and ideological limitations in Mexican and U.S. society, Indigenous, Mexican and Chicana women have risen to the challenge of contesting power and contributing to a more positive society.  

I have three objectives for the first day of class.  The first is to introduce the course and its contents.  Then, we will begin our discussion on "What is Chicana Studies?".  Finally, we will talk about the concept of "difference" and how it is a central concept in Chicana Studies and in the historical and contemporary struggles waged by Chicana women gain equality, empowerment and social justice.  In class, I am sharing three multimedia materials with students in CHMS 332.  I plan to start the class with a song sung by Chicana artist, Marta Gónzalez. The first will be a video reading by the phenomenal New Mexican poet/author, Jessica López.  We will be discussing López poem titled "Dangerous Woman."  We will also watch Chicana poet/spoken word artist/performance artist/author Felicia "Fe" Montes', "Independence Day" rap.  Then, we will discuss how these videos highlight the concept of "Chicana difference."

I am excited about teaching this class semester.  I am currently in the process of sharing student work samples on the blog.