Brazilian Slavery Films and the Social Identities

Transcription

Volume XIX
Number 1
Autumn 2011
A Community-Based Magazine About Latinos at Ohio State
Latino Students Help Grow
Ohio Economy
¿Ser o No Ser Latino?
Identidad es la Cuestión
Blaxican Hip Hop and the Ideological
Mosaic of Control Machete
A Spotlight on Brazilian Buckeyes
Global Gateway to Expand Teaching
and Research Partnerships
Brazilian Slavery Films
and the Social Identities
of Spectators
www.quepasa.osu.edu
Change Typically Forecasts More Change
Esquina del Editor
By Christopher Gonzalez, Editor, ¿Que Pasa, OSU? and PhD Candidate, Department of English
2
Besides winter, which can become
tiresome very quickly, autumn really
allows me to appreciate the Midwest. The
stunning colors of fall, with its hues of pale
gold and deep vermilion, remind me of
nothing I experienced as a child growing
up in west Texas and eastern New Mexico.
Before I moved to Columbus to pursue my
doctorate in English, a friend of mine from
northern Kentucky reassured me of the
many positives the Midwest had to offer.
One positive in particular has not only
proven true but has allowed me to appreciate my time here in central Ohio all the
more. “You’ll have four distinct seasons,”
he said. This seemingly banal observation
is unremarkable to a native Midwesterner.
But I’m a flatlander from an area of the US
known as the Llano Estacado, where we get
a lot of summer replete with high winds, a
few weeks of brown autumn, a few weeks
of mostly dry winter, and about five days
of spring’s refreshing temperatures. Being
a flatlander, as Yolanda Zepeda humorously calls me, makes me especially sensitive to the seasonal changes that lie just
around the corner here in Ohio. It makes
me appreciate that no matter how good
or bad things are at this moment, these
moments are, after all, impermanent.
It seems that we have been drumming
the beat of change for the last year here at
¿Qué Pasa, OSU?, and I believe that to be a
good thing. We are told to avoid stagnant
water while in survival situations. In the
university setting (a survival situation in
its own right), stasis tends to yield undesirable outcomes. The risk in moving beyond
a comfort zone, of course, is the possibility of stumbling. Personally, I think that
taking a risk which may yield a holistic
improvement is worth taking. With this in
mind, we continue breaking new ground
at ¿Qué Pasa, OSU? We have retooled our
website and added social media elements
to further engage the Latina/o community
at OSU. In addition, we have also added an
electronic supplement to ¿Qué Pasa, OSU?
that allows a voice for those written pieces
that often cannot make it into the pages of
the print edition due to a lack of space. We
feel that the addition of these outlets for
the exchange of ideas is a risk worth taking.
It is our wish that readers and contributors
alike feel these aspects of ¿Qué Pasa, OSU?
to be at their disposal.
Indeed, the autumn issue of ¿Qué Pasa,
OSU? is always an exciting time. We officially have put the summer of 2011 behind
us and welcomed both the new season and
the new school year here at The Ohio State
University. Students by now have settled
into their classes, and are perhaps already
looking forward to their first extended visit
home during the Thanksgiving holidays.
But before we turn and look towards the
holidays, we invite you appreciate the
moment and read the excellent articles,
profiles, interviews, and academic essays
within this edition.
We are pleased to announce the theme
of this issue of¿Qué Pasa, OSU?: Brazil, the
largest nation in Latin America as well as
one of the largest nations in the world.
Yet interestingly, Brazil is not often mentioned when Latino-themed issues are
raised in the US. Audrey Nicklas, a recent
alumna of OSU, examines this topic in
her Spanish-language essay. FranciscoXavier Gómez Bellengé checks in on two
former OSU students from Brazil, one-time
advisees from the Fisher Graduate Latino
Association. In our cover story, Richard
Gordon discusses Brazilian slavery films
and previews his forthcoming book on
how these films might impact the spectators who view them. On the university
level, our essay on the Global Gateways discusses the potential for a Global Gateway
in Brazil. And in her photo essay, Emily
Strouse introduces our readers to some of
the most important connections OSU has
to Brazil — OSU students from Brazil.
The remainder of our issue continues
the exceptional articles ¿Qué Pasa, OSU?
readers have come to expect. “Compassion
for Others Pushes Dean to the Top of Her
Field” and “Gearing Up for Law School”
comprise our faculty and student profiles
on Dean Cheryl Achterberg and Chakir’
Underdown, respectively. “Conversation
with Success” features Aida Sabo, Vice
President of Diversity/Inclusion at Cardinal
Health. I had the privilege of being interviewed by Distinguished Humanities
Professor Frederick Luis Aldama regarding
my teaching successes and philosophy,
and I’m happy and humbled to see the
interview in this issue. “A Report from the
Field” entails the highlights of the Bridge
Builders Forum intended to inform potential students and their families of college
success and preparation. Ignacio Corona’s
examination of Blaxican Hip Hop and the
music group Control Machete reveals the
transnational interconnections not only
of commerce but of the music forms of
hip hop. And in our second interview of
this issue, PhD student and artist Theresa
Rojas interviews Alex Loza on his work and
studio. Our issue concludes with the food
review of Fito’s Peruvian Rotisserie Chicken.
¿Qué Pasa, OSU? is pleased to be a part
of the growing Latina/o community at
OSU. We look forward to the inevitable
changes that lay in our path as we aspire to
continue to provide a voice for the diverse
individuals who comprise our inspiring
collective of students and staff, friends and
faculty.
We welcome you to the autumn 2011
edition of ¿Qué Pasa, OSU?
Paz,
Christopher Gonzalez
Editor
Christopher Gonzalez
Designer & Photo Editor
Emily Strouse
Volume XIX Number 1 Autumn 2011
Features
8
10
13
16
On the Rewards of Teaching
An Interview with Christopher Gonzalez
By Frederick Luis Aldama
In Ohio's Best Interest
Latino Students Help Grow Ohio Economy
By Francisco-Xavier Gómez-Bellengé
Brazil Connection
By Emily Strouse
Brasileños en los Estados Unidos
¿Ser o No Ser Latino? Identidad es
la Cuestión
By Audrey Nicklas
18
22
24
Cinema and Nationalism
Brazilian Slavery Films and the Social
Identities of Spectators
By Richard A. Gordon
La Avanzada Regia
Blaxican Hip Hop and the Ideological
Mosaic of Control Machete
By Ignacio Corona
Loza Studio & Atelier
Interview with Alex Loza, Artist
By Theresa N. Rojas
Sections
2
4
5
6
7
Esquina del Editor
Change Typically Forecasts
More Change
By Christopher Gonzalez
Faculty Profile
Cheryl Achterberg
Compassion for Others Pushes Dean to
the Top of her Field
Student Profile
Chakir’ Underdown
Gearing Up for Law School
In the Community
Aida Sabo
Conversation with Success
By Juan Hurtado
12
20
26
27
A Report from the Field
Creating a College-Going Culture among
Ohio Hispanics
By Maria Sanchez
Ohio State Strengthens Brazilian Ties
Global Gateway to Expand Teaching and
Research Partnerships
By ¿Qué Pasa, OSU? Staff
Summer 2011 Graduates
Editorial Board
Jose Cabral, Chair
Frederick Luis Aldama
Francesca Amigo
Normando Caban
Jeff Cohen
Ignacio Corona
Andrea Doseff
Francisco-Xavier Gómez-Bellengé
Indra Leyva-Santiago
Victor Mora
Patricia Palominos-Dunaeff
Abril Trigo
Fernando Unzueta
Yolanda Zepeda, Ex Officio
This publication is supported by
the Office of Academic Affairs
and the Office of Diversity and
Inclusion, through the auspices of
the Hispanic Oversight Committee.
Issue production is a collaboration
of the ¿Qué Pasa, OSU? Editorial
Board and the Office of Diversity
and Inclusion.
The Ohio State University is not
responsible for the content and
views of this publication. The
publication does not necessarily
reflect the views and opinions
of the staff and Editorial Board.
All submissions for publications
must include the name and phone
number or e-mail address of
those responsible for the
submissions. ¿Qué Pasa, OSU?
reserves the right to refuse any
submission for publication.
For questions and inquiries, please
contact quepasa@osu.edu
Note: We use the term "Latinos" to
represent both Latino and Latina.
Cover Artist
Photo by Emily Strouse
(All photos by Emily Strouse
unless otherwise noted.)
Food Review
Fito's Peruvian Rotisserie Chicken
Come for the Chicken and Stay for Dessert
A Bilingual Review by Theresa Rojas and
Indra Leyva-Santiago
Announcements
Introducing ¿QP? Online
Now there are many ways to connect
with us!
www.quepasa.osu.edu
Autumn Quarter 2011
3
Cheryl Achterberg
Compassion for Others Pushes Dean to the Top of her Field
Faculty Profile
4
PHOTO PROVIdED BY Cheryl achterberg
“I was lost, I was poor, I was weary
of the violence around me. I wanted to go
somewhere far away.”
If one were to hear these words, there
would be no small measure of dread in
anticipating the story’s closure. It sounds
like the stuff of drama, the narrative
building blocks of a bildungsroman that
takes us on a journey towards uncertain
territory. But these words don’t come from
a figment of some author’s imagination.
They are from Dr. Cheryl Achterberg, Dean
of the College of Education and Human
Ecology at OSU.
“I grew up in California,” Achterberg
recalls. “In my early years, I lived with my
grandmother in Watts. Later on, I lived
with my sisters and parents. We moved frequently. I can relate to all the characters in
the movie, Mi Familia.” As she was always
on the move, it was difficult for Achterberg
to develop deep, meaningful friendships.
Her compassionate spirit found an outlet
in helping animals in need. “My back yard
was full of sick animals and animals that
others deserted. I tried to
nurse them all and determined that I wanted to live a
different life than my mother
and the other women I
observed.” A small scholarship allowed Achterberg to
take the first small steps in
pursuit of her goal to better
herself.
Her passion for helping
animals, which had motivated Achterberg to major in
biology and later veterinary
school, was thwarted by the
gender bias of the program.
“I found out in my senior
year that UC Davis wouldn't
admit women to vet school
and since they didn't admit
out of state students either,
no other vet school in the
nation admitted Californians.”
Ultimately, Achterberg made
what seems like a drastic
move, literally: “I moved to
Maine,” she says.
But still, within Achterberg
there was always a need to
help others. While in Maine she thought
she might want to be a medical doctor,
but later decided that she would take a
different approach to keeping people
healthy: she’d “work with people before
they got to the E.R.” Though people generally complain that they “don’t have enough
time,” Achterberg made no excuses. “I grew
all of my own food, had a baby and over
time finished a master's degree in Human
Development at the University of Maine,”
Achterberg says. Soon she realized that
those she wanted to help most had no
voice, in the sense that their words had no
power in society. “In all my jobs, I worked
with people in poverty. I eventually figured
out that to have my voice heard, I needed
some magical initials after my name. I
needed to be called doctor.”
Achterberg says she was “fortunate”
to be accepted into the PhD program at
Cornell, the only university to which she
applied. But unlike many academics who
are happy to simply have a job in a tough
market after taking a PhD, Achterberg had
bigger plans. “I went through the professorial ranks, directed a center and started an
honors college where I got the chance to
design undergraduate instruction the way
I thought it should be done.” Her leadership
skills naturally came to the fore, but there
was one problem for Achterberg. “I didn't
have a faculty. So, when the job of dean
opened up at Iowa State, I went there. And
when the job of dean opened up at OSU
where there are so many more opportunities to make a difference, I came here.”
In her belief that education has the
power to make a difference, Achterberg
is unequivocal. In addition, Achterberg
continues to draw on her own formative
experiences and interactions with her
community in terms of her current work.
“Latinas in my experience often hold back
because of family and lack of support but
professional women who can serve the
Latina and larger community are greatly
needed. In Columbus, I can serve a diverse
community and children of all backgrounds and needs. They are all important
to me.”
Achterberg is in a powerful leadership
role that serves not only OSU, Columbus,
or Ohio, but the US. “I recently served on
the US Dietary Guidelines committee,”
Achterberg says. “I often spoke up in terms
of policy formulation for the concerns of low
income families and for the unique needs
and perspectives of those with different
food patterns than the 'typical American.'
The Mexican American diet varies by generation but tends to be high in sugar and
lard and low in Vitamin A. I always make my
chili with carrots for that reason.” Of course,
serving on such a committee for more than
a year while performing the duties of Dean
were immense, but Achterberg takes it in
stride, epitomizing her leadership style: “I
don't know how I managed except to say,
when there is a chance to say ‘yes’ to doing
good, it is best not to say ‘no.’”
For more information on Dr. Cheryl
Achterberg and the College of Education and
Human Ecology, please visit http://ehe.osu.
edu/admin/dean/
Chakir’ Underdown
Gearing Up for Law School
Chakir' and her sister, Shemaiah, enjoyed the Student
Involvement Fair on September 19, 2011.
Some people are perfectly content to live
their entire lives close to home. Others are
just too dynamic of spirit to be tethered
to such constraints. Chakir’ Underdown’s
passion for travel is rooted in her childhood.
“I was born in Michigan,” she notes, “but
I lived in five different states throughout
my adolescence: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana,
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. It’s not a
surprise that I love to travel, and I truly
enjoy having a diverse background due to
this.” Chakir’s travels have, for the moment,
allowed her to spend some time at OSU as
she works tenaciously to complete an MA in
Latin American Studies with a GIS in Latino
Studies.
Like many students, Chakir’ has enjoyed
the rollercoaster ups and downs of her
time at OSU. “My OSU experience has been
amazing, yet I would be naïve to overlook
the challenges I have overcome while a
student here,” she reflects. Initially, one of
Chakir’s greatest challenges at Ohio State,
as she puts it, “was trying to find my way,
both from a personal and an academic
standpoint, one which I overcame by
embracing the diversity of the university
and the opportunities for career growth.”
Noting her valuable relationship to her
advisors and mentors, Chakir’ has flourished
www.quepasa.osu.edu
under the strength of their guidance. As a
L.A.S.E.R Mentor, Chakir’ currently provides
undergraduates with invaluable mentorship during their transition into graduate
school. Chakir’ is a firm believer in mentorship, citing it as “an integral part of my
academic success, providing me with the
needed support to keep pushing forward
and to accomplish my goals.”
Taking the fruits of the lessons learned
from mentors and advisors, as well as being
inspired by her father (who received his
J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania),
Chakir’ has pushed herself toward a career
in law. Upon the completion of her master’s
degree in spring 2012, Chakir’ will make
the transition to law school. “I think I am a
glutton for punishment,” she jokes. “From
imagining myself arguing in front of the
court, like the DAs on Law and Order, to
helping my friends navigate various institutional systems, collegiate, governmental
or otherwise, my passion for helping others
and debating an issue has only grown since
my years in Philadelphia. After completing my law studies, I would like to work
with either family or criminal law sectors,
focusing on aiding minority groups and
using my language and cultural awareness
skills to their fullest each day.”
For now, Chakir’ continues her work
on all things Brazil. “I truly enjoy studying
Brazil, especially analyzing racialized and
gendered Brazilian identity in film,” she
admits. Her research interests have taken
Chakir’ to Brazil, where she participated
in a study abroad program through the
University of Florida, consisting of six weeks
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “It was an amazing
experience,” she asserts, “because I was
able to connect with brasileiros of all ages
and ‘races,’ a highly polemic term there; the
culture courses during the program also
allowed me to understand and analyze
more Brazilian films and musical artists. I
now have a new love for forro, and Pessanha,
one of the authors of The Brazilian Sound
helped give me tools to dissect music used
in the various Brazilian films I have studied
in my graduate courses.”
One could hardly achieve such successes
without a large measure of encouragement, and Chakir’ notes the motivation she
gets from both students and family: “I have
also been inspired by the students whom I
have tutored while at Ohio State; they constantly remind me of why the pursuit of
knowledge is valuable and that learning is
a two-way street.” Above it all, Chakir’ draws
inspiration from her family, especially her
sister Mia. “Watching her strive to be the
best in her academic life, witnessing her
achieve her personal goals, and learning
from her positive attitude towards life have
helped me to become a better person,”
Chakir’ acknowledges. “Of course, both
of us humbly thank our parents, to whom
we are forever indebted for all of the hard
work and sacrifices they have made to raise
us.” Though, Chakir’ playfully concedes,
“My father is an alum of both Purdue and
Michigan, so it was completely ironic that I
applied to THE Ohio State University for my
undergraduate career, but I am extremely
happy with my ‘enemy’ decision.” While
some autumn Saturdays might bring about
interesting dinner conversation between
Chakir’ and her father, such rivalries are relegated to playful banter when she discusses
her father’s career. “The company my father
works for is stationed in Cleveland, where
four films are currently being shot; one of
them is The Avengers. I must say that it is
very exciting to hear him return from work
with stories of chatting with the stars of the
film, and I watched his office building being
blown up for one of the action scenes.
Pretty cool stuff.”
Indeed, Chakir’ Underdown is doing
some pretty cool stuff of her own. As she
nears a significant moment in her career,
she takes a moment to reflect. “The connections that I have made with fellow
students, faculty, and staff here have been
life-changing, thus I wish to continue to
foster my learning and connections to the
Latin American and Latino/a communities
at OSU. Now well into my graduate studies,
I definitely feel that I am doing more to
capitalize on the myriad of opportunities for growth available to me.” While her
experiences may have already taken her
through Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, and Ohio, Chakir’s travels have
seemingly only begun.
Autumn Quarter 2011
Student Profile
5
Aida Sabo
Conversation with Success
In the Community
By Juan Hurtado, Real Estate and Urban Analysis, Fisher College of Business
6
PHOTO PROVIdED BY AIDA SABO
Aida Sabo currently serves as the
Vice President of Diversity/Inclusion at
Cardinal Health, where she is responsible for deploying world-class diversity
and inclusion strategies that support an
organizational culture that embraces and
leverages diversity and inclusion.
I had the opportunity to meet Aida
over dinner and discuss how she attained
success in life and in business as a
Hispanic in the United States. Aida was
born in Michoacán, Mexico. Her family
immigrated to Silicon Valley (California) in
search of opportunity and the American
Dream.
Aida is a very hard-working woman. She
enjoys her job and she works hard every
day. Aida received her Bachelor’s Degree in
Electrical Engineering/Computer Science
at the University of California Davis.
After receiving her
degree she went to
work for Hewlett
Packard for sixteen
years. She did fascinating work while
at Hewlett Packard,
such as designing and installing
various outdoor
antenna ranges
including one at the
Naval Post Graduate
School in Monterey,
California.
Ms. Sabo was
later offered an
interview with
EMC, a leading IT
Storage company,
in Boston. Aida
flew out to Boston
along with her son
for the interview.
She had to make
sure her children
would be comfortable living there.
She impressed the
people at EMC and
landed the position
of Chief Diversity
Officer. At EMC,
she developed a formal 3-year diversity
strategy and played a key role in developing a Work Life program. These initiatives were widely recognized by national
organizations.
Five years later she came to Columbus
to work with Cardinal Health. She has been
at Cardinal Health for over three years now,
developing diversity/inclusion strategy
and supporting senior management lead
these efforts. “What I think is different here
is that we are involving the senior leaders
of this company to create, support, and
lead this wonderful work. They have
passion and are helping cascade the
message throughout the company," said
Aida. She is particularly excited about a
Managing Inclusion course she brought to
Cardinal Health; “This course has created
tremendous cultural change employees
love this course it is rated the best course
in the company. We have trained over
5,000 employees and managers over the
past two and a half years.” Aida enjoys
being able to help people and doing it on
a large scale. She saw the opportunity at
Cardinal Health and seized it.
Helping people and being able to do
large-scale changes to improve people’s
lives is what drives Aida Sabo. She has
made a huge impact in California as well
as in Boston and now Columbus. To Aida,
diversity is part of innovation. Her job is
to connect it and improve the inner functioning of the company she is working
for. She has personally seen diversity and
inclusion increase at Cardinal Health in the
past three years. She believes everyone
deserves an opportunity to further themselves and reach their aspirations.
Like most Hispanic women, Aida is very
family oriented. In fact, the most important aspect thing in Aida’s life is her family.
She wants to make sure she is doing the
right thing with her children, “to make
sure they are the best people they can be."
Aida has a daughter and son. Her son is
19 and is an undergraduate at Penn State
University. Her daughter is an engineer
who is about to start studying at Harvard
Business School. For Aida, “education is
freedom." With education one can choose
where to send one’s children to school,
where to live, where to vacation, where to
go out for dinner.
Aida has come a long way from being
a little girl in Michoacán yet she still sees
herself as that little girl. Some of her
favorite hobbies are swimming, running,
and biking. When the weather cooperates,
she will even do them all in one evening.
She is a successful corporate woman and
a mother. She wants her legacy to be her
children. Her children are her biggest life
aspirations and she wants them to be
“the best people they can possibly be, to
be leaders and make this world a better
place." With a combination of hard work,
perseverance, and education, anything
is possible. Aida Sabo is an inspiration
to the Hispanic community across the
United States.
Introducing ¿QP? Online
Now there are many ways to connect with us!
an e-supplement to ¿Qué Pasa, OSU?
Visit our new website at quepasa.osu.edu
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Ohio State Observes Hispanic Heritage Month
Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15, the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries—Costa Rica,
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico declared its independence on September 16, and Chile on
September 18. Observance began on September 15, 1968, when President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed National Hispanic Heritage
Week. It was expanded in 1988 to include a 30-day, month long period.
OSU events celebrating Hispanic culture,
traditions and accomplishments
Couch Project: documenting individual voices of immigration
L.A.S.E.R. Lecture Series: “New Horizons in the Study
of Cultural Phenomena of the Americas”
Ohio Hispanic Business Summit
Lambda Theta Phi presents: Altares
Nuestros Talentos Student Performances Presents:
"Donde Hay Vida, There is Art"
L.A.S.E.R. Lecture Series: “US/Mexico andMexico/
US Migration Narratives”
"Immigration: What's at Stake?" Fall 2011 COMPAS Conference
L.A.S.E.R. Lecture Series: “Relocating Aztlan”
L.A.S.E.R. Lecture Series: “Americanicity”
Visit mcc.osu.edu to learn more!
www.quepasa.osu.edu
Nuestros Talentos Student Performances Presents: "Donde Hay Vida, There is Art"
Autumn Quarter 2011
7
On the Rewards of Teaching
An Interview with Christopher Gonzalez
By Frederick Luis Aldama, PhD, Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor of English
instructor-developed themes
that even I would feel uncomfortable with, mainly because I
have no experience or interest
in them. If that happens, how
can I expect a student to have
an investment in the class
assignments?
¿Qué Pasa, OSU? Editor Christopher
Gonzalez received the prestigious English
Department Award for Excellence in
Teaching by a First-Year GTA this year. He discussed his ideas about teaching and scholarship with Professor Frederick Aldama.
F.L.A.: First, it’s a great delight and honor
to interview you. I think you are well on
your way to redrawing the discipline of
Latino literary studies.
C.G.: That’s very kind of you to say, especially coming from such a distinguished
scholar as yourself.
F.L.A: When did you begin teaching?
C.G.: My experience with what we generally think of as classroom teaching began in
2003. I accepted a position teaching 11th
grade English at Forney High School in
Forney, Texas, not far from Dallas. For nearly
four years before I became a high school
English teacher, I was a collegiate-level
assistant coach (track and field; strength
and conditioning) at Sam Houston State
8
University and the University of North
Texas. Many of the teaching principles that
I continue to adhere to were forged in my
experiences in coaching. What unites a
good teacher and an effective coach is that
both see themselves as mentors individuals
who are truly invested in seeing a mentee
develop a specialized skill. In teaching,
there is an emotional investment as well
that goes beyond scores on a state-level
exam required to graduate. I think you find
this mindset in all effective teachers. It’s
what I strive to do in my own teaching.
F.L.A.: This summer you are teaching the
first-year writing course “The Rhetoric of
Relationships.”
C.G.: True. I had taught earlier versions
of this course under the theme of the family
dynamic. I decided to change it to expand
to the concept of the relationship. I strive
for a wide-reaching theme that allows
students of all backgrounds to be able
to gain purchase into the class and not
feel somewhat alienated. There are some
F.L.A.:
Relationships are
everywhere. How do you
delimit this area of inquiry in
the classroom?
C.G.: Relationships are everywhere indeed. My class knows
going in that relationships
encompass nearly every aspect
of our lives. In our readings we
see a variety of relationships in
play. Students are encouraged
to pursue an avenue of research
(in terms of relationships) that
they are intrinsically motivated
by. If I restricted the idea of relationships to romantic relationships, for example, some of my
students might not express any
interest in this topic. They might
be interested in the military, though. So if I
expand my topic to a more inclusive state of
relationships, I allow the students to follow
the path that strikes their fancy. And since
this is a course that is concerned with analytical forms of writing, I want them to be so
interested in their topic that I know I will get
their best writing efforts.
F.L.A.: Do you consider relationships
to be foundational to all our forms of
behavior? How might this express itself
in the fiction you have your students
read and analyze?
C.G.: Great questions here. I think it’s
easy to argue that our relationships form
the basis for many of our actions throughout our lives. Whether I have my father in
my life or not will yield two very different
possibilities for how I conduct my life. But
we are affected even by other humans we
hardly know. Consider the phenomenon of
“road rage,” where some people act in irrational, often violent, ways simply because of
a perceived offense by another driver. Our
entire day can be “ruined” because we were
disrespected. But consider how we can be
moved by an act of kindness. We are often
defined, fairly or not, by our relationships.
The selections of fiction we read in our
class highlight these human interactions.
For instance, Edwidge Danticat’s story
“Night Women” is narrated by a young
Haitian woman who has sex with men for
money. This woman has a young son who
is ever in proximity to his mother’s sexual
act with a strange man because they live
in such a small space. The salient relationship here is the mother/son dynamic, but
the socioeconomic realities always threaten
to impinge on their delicate balance. The
mother knows that the white lies she tells
her son to explain the presence of men in
their home will lose their power in time.
Now, in our discussions, students struggle
with the ethics of Danticat’s story. They
thought it was wrong for the narrator to
have sex with men for money, and further,
to do business with her son so close. But
they also understood the mother’s devotion
to her son and the necessity of a source of
income. It yielded a great discussion, and
we saw how our relationships often influence our behavior as well as our decision
making.
F.L.A.: How do you guide your students
to become better writers and thinkers in
your teaching?
C.G.: There are two things that I stress
over and over in class. First, no one writes
perfectly (whatever that means). Second,
even the best writers revise. So what I
emphasize in my comments to students
is that good writing is not happenstance.
Many students feel that just because they
wrote an excellent paper once they will
be able to duplicate this result again and
again. I show them that there are steps to
take when writing that are conducive to
producing a superior paper. Above all, I
want student to be self-reflexive when they
write. I want them to be aware of what they
are doing and why they are making the
decisions they are making. As for showing
students how to become better thinkers, I
think students are very good at emulating
something when they see it. So, I model
again and again how to ask questions and
how not to give up because you have come
up with one answer. Finally, I comment
extensively on their writing assignments.
Not only do I point out areas that are either
problematic or successful, I am careful to
explain why it is so. Students really respond
well to copious comments on their papers.
F.L.A.: What seems to get your students
most excited?
C.G.: I think any opportunity for selfexpression really invigorates students. This
excitement may be instigated by many
things. It could be the result of a question
I have posed in class, a writing assignment where they are asked to express a
strongly-felt opinion, or perhaps even a
creative assignment. When I taught high
school English I would often have students
use visual art to demonstrate their understanding of a text. Several years I had
my classes recreate a life-sized model of
Frankenstein’s Monster! Even now my
former students still remember what we
discussed during that particular project.
They loved it! Or sometimes I would have
students adapt a short story into something
like a graphic narrative or comic. My point
is that every student has an opinion. Now,
for some reason some student don’t want
to share their opinion perhaps out of fear
of somehow being “wrong” or some such
thing. But when pushed to it, students have
very strong opinions. When a teacher can
get students to tap into that energy, that’s
when some pretty amazing things happen
in the classroom.
F.L.A.: Do you think your work in other
capacities such as a LASER Mentor might
cross-pollinate with your classroom
teaching?
C.G.: I mentioned earlier that I thought
great teaching was actually more akin to
mentoring. I truly believe that. Consider
what a mentor does. A mentor works with
a mentee and guides the mentee through
an unknown process. Or at least a process
as yet unknown to the mentee. But there
is a personal relationship between mentors
and mentees. The mentor has a true desire
to see the mentee succeed. The same
should be said of teachers. Teachers often
have an image problem. They are often
thought of as teaching to the group and
churning out clones who can pass the same
test. Granted, some teachers may operate
in this fashion. But the successful teachers
I have worked with and learned from teach
individuated yet differentiated instruction.
In other words, all of the learners in a classroom are diverse and have differing capacities and talents. Why should we expect all
of them to learn the same way? My mentoring is a reflection of how I interact with
my students, and vice versa.
www.quepasa.osu.edu
F.L.A.: How might your experiences as a
Latino inform your pedagogy?
C.G.: I’m glad you asked this question.
You know, I’ve been speaking about how
learners are individuals and come from different backgrounds. Imagine the surprise
of many of my Latino high school students
when they discovered their English teacher
was a Latino. Now, you’ll find that male
high school English teachers are rare. A
male high school English teacher that is
Latino is even rarer! My experiences as a
Latino have made me hypersensitive to the
minority in the classroom whether that be
an economic minority, gender minority,
ethnic minority, and so on. I know what it
is like to belong to the outgroup. I know
what it feels like to feel like you don’t truly
belong with the rest of your class. I am
always looking for ways to validate varied
backgrounds and experiences not just
during my office hours but in front of the
class! Being validated in front of your peers
is a wonderfully edifying experience. There
are some students who have never had this
experience before. I never want one of my
students to feel as if he or she did not have
any business in my class.
F.L.A.: You received the prestigious
English
Department
Award
for
Excellence in Teaching by a First-Year
GTA. What’s your sense of what got
you this?
C.G.: This award is a great honor, one
that I truly cherish. The First-Year Writing
Program stresses the teaching persona of
its instructors. For many instructors, this
takes time to develop. But I had a secret
advantage was a high school teacher for
seven years. I had all that time to learn how
to be effective in the classroom. When I was
observed, the first question my observer
asked me in our subsequent discussion was
whether I had taught prior to this year. He
could tell that I had an ease about me in the
class, and that students were comfortable
to ask me clarifying questions. I would also
say that my students, in their evaluations
of me, emphasized my willingness to help
them out by meeting with them on an individual basis, replying promptly to emails,
and showing an overall interest in their
success. A teacher can’t fake interest or
concern for his or her students. Fortunately,
I tend to have that in spades.
For a full-length version of this article,
please visit ¿QP? online.
Autumn Quarter 2011
9
In Ohio's Best Interest
Latino Students Help Grow Ohio Economy
PHOTO PROVIdED BY Jorge concha
By Francisco-Xavier Gómez-Bellengé, Associate to the Dean, Fisher College of Business
In fall 2010, Ohio State enrolled 4,940
international students, up 16.6% from the
previous year. They represented 7.7% of
OSU students on all campuses. In keeping
with the Brazil theme of this issue of ¿Qué
Pasa, OSU? I decided to check on two of my
former advisees from the Fisher Graduate
Latino Association. Both Gustavo Wille and
Jorge Concha earned MBAs from Fisher
College of Business in 2010 and both
settled in Ohio after graduation.
Gustavo Wille is from Brazil and like
many of his countrymen, is polyglot, funloving and globe-trotting. He accepted an
offer from R&M Materials Handling, based
in Springfield, Ohio. Established in 1929,
their hoist products and services are distributed by a network of independently
owned and operated businesses. This wide
network includes crane and hoist builders,
crane and hoist service companies,
industrial distributors and other material
handling and hoist equipment manufacturers and distributors. R&M's distribution
10
network extends from Canada to Chile and
includes Mexico, Brazil and indeed all of
Latin America.
Gustavo was hired to help grow the
firm’s Brazil and Latin American markets.
The company’s goal is to be one of the
largest suppliers in the quality segment of
the hoist and crane industry in Brazil and
Latin America as a whole. They believe
they offer one of the best values in their
industry. By this they mean not only the
tangible attributes of their product, which
they consider the best in the industry,
but also the quality of their people and
services, which they provide through their
Export, Marketing, Training, IT, and Sales
departments.
Achieving this goal is no easy task.
“Communications is always a vital aspect
of conducting business, but even more so
when you are operating in foreign countries with varying languages, customs
and business practices,” comments Jim
Vandegrift, President of R&M Materials
Handling, Inc. “We have been very successful in recruiting and attracting bilingual
associates into our organization. In the
case of Gustavo Wille, one of several OSU
graduates within our Springfield, OH based
company, he possesses multi-lingual skills
in Portuguese, Spanish and English as
well as a vast understanding of his native
country, Brazil. It would be impossible for
R&M to function and succeed within the
Latin American markets without these skill
sets within our organization. We are fortunate that institutions such as OSU attract,
educate and place such highly qualified
human resources into our local labor force.”
"My background as a Fisher MBA has
given me a broader understanding of
the challenges R&M customers face each
day; from market size, local competition
and legal issues associated with importations. To be able to understand their situation is important. On any given day it's
not uncommon for me to have contact
with clients from all areas; I communicate
with English, Portuguese, Spanish and
French-speaking clients on a regular basis.
While other markets have experienced a
fluctuating economy in recent years, the
Brazilian economy has remained steady.
Through ongoing internal market development, Brazil has been able to shield
itself from the global crisis of 2009. R&M's
presence in the Brazilian market is strong
and the Brazilian market is a priority in our
business plan. We foresee steady growth in
the upcoming years," said Gustavo.
Many economists expect Brazil will
continue to grow at a very fast pace for
the next five years and beyond. Brazil has
long been considered a country of the
future and it appears that the future is
now. Growing countries tend to increase
their imports. Conversely, exports are
important for the Ohio economy. As
recently as 2008, Brazil accounted for 4.3%
of all Ohio exports for a value of nearly 2
billion dollars. In fact, Brazil is the sixth
largest recipient of Ohio exports, second
only to Mexico among all Latin American
countries.
In 2008, Ohio exported more than 82
million dollars of crane-related equipment. In 2009, even with the impact of the
recession, Ohio exported almost four and
a half billion dollars’ worth of chemicals.
This is where Jorge Concha and Ashland
come in.
Currently, 70% of Ashland’s revenue
comes from the United States and less
than 4% comes from Central and South
America. The company’s goal is to increase
global revenues from outside the U.S.
to 50% within a few years. Latin America
is key to this ambitious goal and Brazil is
the center of that effort. Jorge is Chilean
and like his fellow Fisher MBA grad
Gustavo, is well-traveled, multicultural and
multilingual.
Ashland’s major commercial units are
Ashland Specialty Ingredients (additives,
coatings), Ashland Performance Materials
(resins, gelcoatsC, adhesives and metal
casting consumables), Ashland Water
Technologies (water treatment), and
Ashland Consumer Markets, featuring
their well-known Valvoline automotive
lubricant.
Jorge works in the Hercules Water
Technologies unit. It is launching a new
Food and Beverage division in Brazil and
Jorge is part of this effort. Entering a
new market in a foreign country is a challenge for any company. Ashland’s edge
comes from understanding the value of
www.quepasa.osu.edu
employing multicultural, multilingual
associates.
“Expansion in the emerging markets
is an essential part of our growth strategy
and Brazil and Latin America are key
markets for our specialty chemical
products. Ashland is present here with
all of our commercial units and each has
a great opportunity to continue to expand
and grow in the region. A critical path
to business success in these communities is having talented employees; those
with local skills and knowledge accompanied with a strong foundation and
when combined with international experiences greatly enhances the value that
employee brings and assists their ability
to interact within the global structure of
an international company,” said Andrew J.
Beer, Commercial Director, South America,
Ashland.
“We were looking for a Food &
Beverages representative with South
American experience, an understanding
of diverse cultures, and an engineering
background in the food and beverage
industry. Jorge, with a Fisher College of
Business MBA, with a degree in Industrial
Engineering from Purdue, having worked
in that industry and having lived in Mexico,
Panama, Puerto Rico in addition to his
native Chile and the U.S., fit the bill,” said
Tim Harman, Senior Staffing Specialist,
College Relations & Diversity.
Ashland can export technological
know-how but cannot simply copy the U.S.
way of doing things because local circumstances differ. This means they need to be
able to hire people who will work well in
multicultural, multinational teams. “Fisher
helped a lot with my business skills and my
teamwork. FisherConnect (Fisher College’s
online Office of Career Management
portal), the advice I received from the
Graduate Programs Office and Career
Management’s help with resumes and the
interview process as well as the core and
elective classes I took made me the professional I am today,” said Jorge.
“Our land grant mission is at the heart
of an inextricable relationship between
the university and the economic health
of the state,” said Fisher College of
Business Dean Christine Poon. “Gustavo’s
and Jorge’s stories speak to how Fisher’s
partnerships with the global business
community inform and strengthen that
relationship. By attracting, training, and
retaining global talent here in Ohio, we
continue to contribute to the economic
vitality of our community.”
OSU president E. Gordon Gee has said
that he would like every incoming OSU
student to have a passport and every
graduating international student a work
visa. With stories like Gustavo's and Jorge’s,
it is easy to see why this would be in Ohio’s
best interest.
PHOTO PROVIdED BY Gustavo Wille
Autumn Quarter 2011
11
A Report from the Field
Creating a College-Going Culture among Ohio Hispanics
By Maria Sanchez, Academic Studies Coordinator, Office of Diversity and Inclusion
Student Panelists, Marcos Cruz, Angelica Wardell and Miguel Guevara field questions from students.
Hispanics are driving US population
growth. According to the 2010 Census,
Ohio’s Hispanic population grew by 63.4
percent since 2000 and has nearly tripled
since 1980. Today, three percent of Ohio’s
total population is Hispanic, and more than
50,000 Hispanics are enrolled in Ohio’s
public schools. Yet, Hispanics are nearly
three times as likely than the general US
population to drop out of high school, and
half as likely to earn a bachelor’s degree.
To combat these statistics, the Office
of Diversity and Inclusion partnered with
two national scholarship organizations to
host a Bridge Builder Forum on September
17 at the Ohio Union. The Forum is a bilingual, day-long event designed to inspire
and inform students and their families
about school success and preparing for
college. The Hispanic Scholarship Fund
(HSF) is the nation’s leading organization
that supports Hispanic higher education.
The Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS)
program provides scholarships funded
by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation and is administered in partnership with the HSF.
“The HSF/GMS Bridge Builder programs
are important, because while the US Latino
population is the fastest growing population in this country, Latinos are still falling
behind when it comes to higher education
12
and attaining bachelor degrees,” explains
Amia Soto Carrion, Scholarship Outreach
and Promotion Coordinator for HSF
and GMS. “At the Hispanic Scholarship
Fund and the Gates Millennium Scholars
Program, we strive to eliminate the financial barriers that may prevent Latinos
and other students of color, from obtaining a degree and pursuing their college
dreams."
The Forum brought together some 300
Ohio youth and more than 200 parents,
college representatives and community
leaders from 22 Ohio cities and Kentucky.
Participants
attended
workshops
designed to promote student success,
including topics such as setting and
attaining goals, preparing for college and
taking advantage of scholarship opportunities. The program featured a student
panel that included OSU student leaders
Marcos Cruz and Miguel Guevara. Alfred
Ramirez, Vice President for Government
Relations & Diversity at Group O., delivered
the keynote address.
The Ohio Commission on Hispanic/
Latino Affairs (OCHLA) engaged its expansive networks to mobilize community
leaders and promote the event among
their constituents. ODI’s Young Scholars
Program staff, located in nine urban school
districts, served as important liaisons to
public schools and civic groups in their
cities, and organized bus transportation
for large groups of students and families.
Transportation proved to be a critical
factor in making it possible for participants to attend. The Ohio Job and Family
Services agency and the Northwest Ohio
Educational Center were instrumental in
reaching rural populations. Also critical to
the success of the event were the nearly 30
Ohio colleges and universities that participated in the event. In addition to financial
support, the Ohio organization of college
admissions personnel, Educators and
Community Helping Hispanics Onward
(ECHHO), was a prime mover, deploying its
network of college admissions officers to
facilitate broad participation.
In addition to outreach by community organizations, multiple and layered
marketing strategies were deployed. For
several weeks leading up to the event, I
appeared on a local Spanish-language
radio program, En Familia, hosted by
Benito Lucio on 1550 AM to discuss issues
in Hispanic education and to take calls
from listeners. In addition, flyers were
mailed to individual Latino high school
students across the state, and flyers were
distributed to schools, churches and businesses that serve Hispanics.
An event on this scale would not have
been possible without financial contribution from many supporters. The
Organization of Hispanic Faculty and Staff
(OHFS), the Fisher College of Business, and
the Ohio Union generously supported
the event. Based on the enthusiastic participant feedback, it is clear that there
is much demand for programs like the
Bridge Builder Forum, as many expressed
a desire to attend another event in the
future. An unanticipated benefit of the
planning experience was the development of Latino-focused relationships
among higher education and community agencies. The Bridge Builders Forum
has presented a valuable experience that
nurtured positive cooperation across
higher education and social agencies, and
among the many Latino families across the
state, and conversations are underway to
build on this promising start.
Brazil Connection
By Emily Strouse, Designer, ¿Que Pasa, OSU? and MFA Candidate, Department of Design
Samanta Chiarini Franchim, International Studies and Italian major from Campinas, São Paulo, says that her favorite place on campus is the Oval. “In a way, it is an
excellent representation of our student body. We may all be on different paths and come from different backgrounds, but we all belong to a bigger community of Buckeyes.”
Daniela Krueger Hopkins hails from Santa Catarina, Brazil, and studies languages.
Samuel Cruz, doctoral student of Latin American Literatures and Cultures, is from
Her favorite adage is "Os sonhos movem moinhos. Dreams move windmills."
Curitiba, the capital of the state of Paraná. “I love Brazil, which is a very diverse
Daniela tells us that she finds escape from the cold gray days of winter in the
country in the broadest sense of the word...OSU is a great institution to be part of,
Thompson Library.
and I'm glad I'm right here, right now."
www.quepasa.osu.edu
Autumn Quarter 2011
13
PhD candidate Renata Nave came to OSU from São Paulo to study agriculture and now looks forward to
a career in the US. Commenting on how much her life has changed since she first arrived in Columbus,
Renata says, “I now have a dog, a cat and a fiancé who makes me really happy!"
14
Meibe Villumsen is a native of Rio de Janiero and a student of history
Pedro da Gloria, a doctoral student of anthropology from São Paulo, shares his passion for soccer, “As
and Jewish studies. She loves animals and tells us that her favorite
many Brazilians, I take soccer very seriously. But the reason soccer is serious for me is because it is the
pastime is “football—oh, here it is called soccer!”
best moment to have fun, make friends and enjoy a good time.”
MFA candidate Ibsen Santos do
Rego is from the Barra da Tijuca
neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro.“
Capoeira originated in Brasil and it
brings me closer to my roots when
I practice the classical Japanese
Noh inspired techniques of director
Tadashi Suzuki,” do Rego explains.
”With the merging of these worlds
plus my second home, the United
States of America, underneath
supporting my every step, I feel
enlightened and original."
A PhD candidate in Pharmaceutics, Ana Clara Azevedo moved to the US from Goiania,
A native of São Paolo, André Zampaulo came to OSU for a doctoral degree in
Goias when her mother pursued a PhD at OSU. Between her academic demands and
Spanish and Portuguese Linguistics. “I study Spanish & Portuguese phonetics
service to graduate organizations, Ana manages to find time for baking “cupcakes and
and phonology, with a special interest in the evolutionary pathways of their
Brazilian goodies like pudim, broas, pao de queijo, quindim... YUM YUM!”
sound systems.”
www.quepasa.osu.edu
Autumn Quarter 2011
15
Brasileños en los Estados Unidos
¿Ser o No Ser Latino? Identidad es la Cuestión
By Audrey Nicklas, 2011 OSU Alumna
Audrey Yumi Nicklas enjoys the restaurant "La Patrona" and says, "It's the closest thing I have here in the US even though it is not a Brazilian restaurant."
Al solicitar trabajo en una institución
estadounidense, como, por ejemplo, en
la universidad Ohio State, el brasileño se
encuentra con la determinada pregunta en
el proceso de aplicación: “Are you Hispanic
or Latino?” La pregunta es seguida por una
definición que explica que latinos o hispánicos son: “A person of Cuban, Mexican,
Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or
other Spanish culture or origin regardless of
race”. El Brasil pertenece a la América del Sur,
pero tiene como su idioma de origen el portugués. En este caso, ¿pueden los brasileños
considerarse latinos o hispánicos según la
definición encontrada en la página del web
de la universidad?
16
En 2005 habían cerca de un millón y
doscientos mil brasileños vivían en los
Estados Unidos. Mientras muchos de estos
brasileños reconocen sus raíces latinoamericanas, la mayoría prefiere identificarse a través da su nacionalidad; o sea, el
brasileño que vive en los Estados Unidos
prefiere ser reconocido como brasileiro
y no como latino o hispánico. Según las
regularizaciones administrativas de 1976
estadounidenses, hay dos definiciones
para los términos latino e hispánico. La
primer afirma que el hispánico o latino es:
“a member of an ethnic group that traces
its roots to 20 Spanish-speaking nations
from Latin America and Spain itself”. Notase
que esta definición no incluye países que
hablan el portugués, como Brasil y Portugal.
La segunda afirma que el hispánico o latino
es: “Anyone who says they are. And nobody
who says they aren't.” El censo estadounidense actual usa la segunda definición
como enfoque en su cuestionario.
El término hispánico surgió en los
Estados Unidos a través del gobierno
estadounidense que buscaba una manera
de identificar los ciudadanos de origen
mexicana, sur-americana y centro-americana en el censo estadounidense. Para que
tantas personas de nacionalidades diferentes se sintiesen parte de este grupo, el
censo definió el hispánico como siendo un
hablante del idioma español. Ya que en la
época que el término fue criado, la mayoría
de esas personas era de países que hablan el
español. Ya el término latino surgió en ciclos
activistas populares. Él fue desarrollado y
popularizado por grupos de movimientos
portorriqueños y chicanos como símbolo
del compartimiento de los problemas
sociales y políticos divididos entre estos
grupos.
La definición estadounidense de los
términos latino e hispánico es diferente de
la definición dada por algunas personas
consideradas latinas e hispánicas. Para un
brasileño, por ejemplo, un hispánico es una
persona que tiene el español como su idioma
nativo o es de descendencia española. Un
latino, por su vez, es una persona cuya ciudadanía pertenece a un país latinoamericano y/o habla un idioma originario del
latín. Ya en la definición estadounidense,
ambos los términos son considerados
sinónimos y, muchas veces, son usados
intercambiablemente. Obviamente, esta
definición se equivoca en relación al origen,
idioma y cultura de los brasileños que,
por su mayoría, son considerados por los
propios como siendo bastante distintos del
origen, idioma y cultura hispánicos.
No obstante, para entender como los
brasileños que migran o inmigran a los
Estados Unidos se identifican, es importante
entender como los brasileños que viven en
Brasil se identifican. El punto de referencia
de un brasileño en relación a su identidad
étnica es la región o el estado en que vive.
No obstante, raza y posición social también
son componentes de identidad étnica
bastante importantes, pero secundarias a
identidad regional o estatal. El Brasil es un
país muy grande geográficamente y que
ha recibido a muchos inmigrantes de diferentes nacionalidades al longo de los años.
Eses inmigrantes enriquecerán la cultura
brasileña. No obstante, cada región o estado
brasileño presenta distinciones o características únicas que reflejen la mistura de diferentes culturas y razas.
Según el censo estadounidense de 1990,
68.4% de los brasileños participantes se consideraran “Non-hispánicos.” Como muestra
el censo, la mayoría de los brasileños que
viven en los Estados Unidos no se considera
hispánica. Su razón envuelve a como los
brasileños definen los términos latino e hispánico y la diferencia en el idioma. Muchos
brasileños acreditan que es necesario hablar
el español o tener descendencia española
para ser considerado hispánico. Como la
mayoría de los países considerados latinos
www.quepasa.osu.edu
o hispánicos son hablantes del español,
muchos brasileños, que hablan el portugués, acreditan no compartir uno de los
elementos principales que define ambos los
grupos.
Otro factor es la falta de familiaridad
que la mayoría de los brasileños tienen en
relación a cultura latina/hispánica. Aunque
gran parte del lado oeste de Brasil hace
frontera con países latinos/hispánicos, el
brasileño que vive en Brasil no tiene mucho
contacto con sus vecinos hispanohablantes.
El motivo principal puede ser trazado en un
proverbio de herencia portuguesa que dice:
“neither good winds nor good marriages
come from Spain”, indicando que la distinción que Brasil siente por sus vecinos es
resultado de las diferencias históricas entre
España y Portugal. La mayoría de los brasileños solo se familiarizan con otras personas
latinas/ hispánicas al migrar a un país
extranjero, como a los Estados Unidos por
ejemplo. Muchos brasileños, cuando finalmente familiarizados con la cultura latina/
hispana, perciben que la cultura brasileña es
muy semejante a la cultura de otros países
latinos y, por eso, comienzan a identificarse
como tal. Esa identificación es ilustrada por
un inmigrante brasileño cuando él dice:
“Nós vimos à Flórida e descobrimos que
somos latinos.”
Otro factor envuelve la mala connotación dada por algunos estadounidenses
a los términos latino e hispánico. En los
Estados Unidos el grupo Latino es muchas
veces conectado a un estatus social bajo
o la determinación económica, el tercer
mundo. Los brasileños, por su vez, no
quieren asociarse a los estereotipos e connotaciones negativas reafirmadas por estos
estadounidenses.
Hay también el factor de postura
transnacional brasileña y el estatus de residente temporario en los Estados Unidos y
permanente en Brasil. El migrante brasileño
busca mantener una fuerte postura transnacional donde él mantiene conexiones
familiares, culturales, políticas y económicas con el Brasil, continuando a orientarse
por su país de origen y no sintiendo parte
directamente de la sociedad hospedera.
Eso acontece por medio de dos causas principales: el propósito de no vivir definitivamente en un país extranjero, pero mejorar
sus situaciones financieras en Brasil y l sueño
que eses brasileños tienen de retornar al
Brasil futuramente.
Para muchos brasileños que migran a
un país extranjero, esta es la primera vez
por la cual la idea de identidad nacional es
reflejada. El significado de brasileño, que
en Brasil significa pertenecer a una nacionalidad, cambia de significado en los Estados
Unidos u otro país extranjero y pasa a significar grupo étnico. El brasileño que vive en
Brasil se identifica principalmente a través
del estado o región en que este nasció. Al
cambiar de país, el brasileño deja de ser
regional para tornarse nacional.
Además de denominarse brasileño,
gran parte de los brasileños también se
denomina “blanca,” ya que Brasil ha exhibido
grandes índices de inmigración europea en
el pasado. Prueba de esta identificación
racial se encuentra en el censo estadounidense de 1990, que indica que gran parte
de los brasileños participantes (82.7%) se
identificaran su raza como siendo “White.”
Solamente 1.7% de los brasileños se consideraran negros, aunque Brasil es uno de los
países con mayor número de negros fuera
del continente africano. Eso es resultado de
las diferentes definiciones de raza entre el
Brasil y los Estados Unidos.
El inmigrante brasileño también asume
diferentes identidades simultáneamente
dependiendo de con quien él habla o
se relaciona. Al lidiar con los estadounidenses u otros extranjeros, el brasileño
asume identidad nacional de brasileño,
dando poca importancia para su identidad
regional o estatal. No obstante, esa identidad cambia cuando él se relaciona con
otro brasileño de su propia región o de una
región distinta. Para el brasileño, posición
social y descendencia regional/estatal son
muy importantes. Estos valores continúan
siendo importantes cuando el brasileño se
relaciona con otro brasileño. Por tanto, el
inmigrante brasileño prefiere se relacionar
con otros brasileños de nivel social y educacional semejantes o mejores y que también
tengan semejante descendencia regional o
estatal.
Entonces, como muchos brasileños
respondería a la pregunta presentada por la
universidad Ohio State “Are you hispanic or
latino?” a pesar de la definición presentada
en el web de la universidad, la mayoría de
los brasileños respondería “no.”
For a version of this article with full citations and endnotes, please visit ¿QP? online.
This essay is excerpted and revised from a longer
version originally written by Audrey Nicklas in
Professor Ignacio Corona's Spanish 557 class.
Audrey's paper went on to win the ABUELo/S (Award
for Best Undergraduate Essay in Latino/a Studies)
award for 2011, and she was recognized at the
Latino Buckeye Dinner in April 2011.
Autumn Quarter 2011
17
Cinema and Nationalism
Brazilian Slavery Films and the Social Identities of Spectators
By Richard A. Gordon, PhD, Associate Professor of Literatures and Cultures of Latin America, Portuguese
I’m intrigued by films that paint pictures
of national communities, from actionpacked Hollywood blockbusters like
Independence Day (1996), to contemplative foreign features like Brazil’s Central
Station (1998). Specifically, I’m interested in
whether or not, and through what means,
they might influence how viewers think
about those communities. Typically, such
cinematic portraits tend toward the plausible, and for that reason their versions of
reality promise to resonate with spectators. Yet the rendering of the national social
group represented in these narratives inevitably diverges from precisely what spectators have in mind about that group when
the film begins. After all, any fictional narrative is to some degree a stylization of reality.
Sometimes this sort of tolerable disconnect
between spectator understandings of the
national community and that communicated by a film sticks with us. Those are the
sorts of films that intrigue me most of all:
the ones in which cinema conceivably plays
18
a role in the sphere of national identity,
regardless of whether or not the efficacious
challenge to existing viewer beliefs was
intended by those responsible for making
the film.
I’m currently writing a book on Brazilian
films about slavery that approaches such
dynamics in part through the prism of social
identity theory. In an influential article,
social psychologists Henri Tajfel and John
C. Turner defined social identity as “those
aspects of an individual’s self-image that
derive from the social categories to which
he perceives himself as belonging” (16).
They assert that individuals assign to these
categories, or social groups, “value-laden
attributes and characteristics” (16). From this
angle, my study considers how films constitute proposals for spectators to reevaluate
part of their self-concepts, or, in this more
specific context, how cinema urges viewers
to rethink the collected attributes that they
associate with the national category of their
social identities.
From what I’ve said so far, it should be
evident that I’m treating the concept of
national identity not as a reified truth that
uniformly overlays a population, but as the
set of attributes that a person who is conscious of being part of that social group
associates with it at a given time, or as Homi
Bhabha has expressed with regard to a
similar concept, “the field of meanings and
symbols associated with national life” (3).
Of course, the qualities of the national community that different people might conjure
up will largely overlap, and such correspondences constitute in my view what some
people call “national identity,” an essential
characteristic of what Benedict Anderson
famously termed an “imagined community.”
The widespread coalescing of definitions of
the national group among citizens—as well
as individual divergences from prevailing
views of the chief attributes of the social
group—evolve in part from diverse efforts
to sell certain ways of thinking about the
nation. Such efforts include, for example:
the sort of “foundational fictions”—or
nation-building narratives—that Doris
Sommer led us to appreciate; political
speeches; advertising; television; and, of
course, movies. If the commonplace is
indeed true that cinema can sway the attitudes and beliefs of viewers, then it is worth
our effort to examine how this spectator
engagement works.
I’m in the process of investigating how
cinema can persuasively put into question
prevailing definitions of a national community, whatever they may be. My study
focuses on films that generally contest
dominant, and presumably less desirable,
definitions of identity in a kind of counternationalism. However, I believe that this
cluster of films can shed light on other,
distinct cinematic interventions on national
identity, such as films that reinforce, or strategically tweak, pervasive and deleterious
understandings of the chief attributes of
a national community. A salient example
would be Nazi propaganda films, a case
that reminds us that promoting the widespread embrace of certain values that are
assigned to given groups can lead to tragic
outcomes. Ultimately, then, what is at stake
in the exploration of these communicative
dynamics of film is the capacity for audiovisual texts, regardless of their political or
ideological orientation, to reshape society.
My book builds on the work of Patrick
Colm Hogan in bringing to bear insights from
social psychology, among other disciplines,
on the study of literature and culture. In
several respects, I take as my point of departure his recent Understanding Nationalism:
On Narrative, Cognitive Science, and Identity
(2009). Hogan’s work and related research
helps to elucidate the cinema-spectator
interface that I mentioned, and its relation
to the ways that individuals conceive of
national identity. Research in social psychology provides valuable perspectives on how
social identity tends to work for people in
general, as well as in distinct societies. Work
in this area provides those who study narrative with tools to describe in detail representations of the social identities of fictional
characters. Likewise, this discipline helps us
to comprehend the ways in which the social
identities of spectators may be malleable,
and by extension how a spectator’s identity
might change when exposed to certain
kinds of stimuli.
Brazilian cinema is an especially appropriate context in which to study this filmspectator interface. A significant portion
of the films of that country have actively
www.quepasa.osu.edu
reflected on the nation and the national
community. My book focuses on five films,
released between 1976 and 2005, that
manifest remarkably similar persuasive
overtures toward spectators, and coincide
largely in the understanding Brazilianness
that they invite viewers to embrace. These
films promote racial and ethnic inclusiveness within a culturally syncretic, EuroAfrican (yet also somewhat Afro-centric)
view of the nation. I contend that it is
with Carlos Diegues’s highly popular 1976
film, Xica da Silva, that a trend emerged in
Brazilian cinema that we can reencounter
not only in the other feature of his that I
analyze, Quilombo (1984), but also in the
three additional films, Chico Rei (1985), O
Aleijadinho: Paixão, glória e suplício (2000),
and Cafundó (2005). I examine how this
cinematic corpus recalls the history of
African slavery in Brazil, an institution that
was abolished there in 1888, and how it
invites spectators to rethink what it means
to be Brazilian. These films are emblematic of a tendency in the cinema of this
nation to analyze race and identity in the
present through the context of the past. If
historical films in general lend themselves
to provoking reconsiderations of national
identity, cinema about slavery intensifies
this tendency. Indeed, filmic depictions of
enslavement evoke for audiences part of
the fraught genesis of this culturally, ethnically, and racially diverse society.
My analysis of Brazilian slavery films
sets out to identify and examine aspects of
the films that correspond to several interrelated, common tactics that I have delineated in order to understand better the
role that Brazilian historical cinema plays
in grappling with race and ethnicity, and in
proposing alternative definitions of national
identity. I believe that these films have gravitated toward similar means of communicating with spectators in part through mutual
influence, but also because of equivalent
intuitions of what those responsible for
making the films thought would work to
achieve their apparent goal of influencing
individuals’ concepts of Brazilian national
identity. I observe five interrelated elements
that the group of films identified employs
in what I see as the crafting of protagonists
and narratives that might guide viewer
ideas about Brazilianness: (1) linking the
past portrayed by the film to the present of
the spectator; (2) encouraging spectators
to consider national identity important, to
rank it highly among the various categories of social identity, such as race, ethnicity,
gender, and religion; (3) casting the film’s
protagonist as a national metaphor; (4)
encouraging spectators to identify with
the national stand-in, and sometimes with
other characters, in such a way that he or
she might act as what I call a “cinematic self,”
a model for how viewers conceptualize the
part of their self-concept that corresponds
to social identity; and (5) strategically
shaping this proxy for the nation and the
national population. The first four aspects
combine to create a presumably effective
vehicle of influence. If all goes well, then,
the film has sculpted from the context of a
clearly relevant past an appealing national
surrogate, one who is well positioned to
tweak in the minds of spectators a nowsalient national category of identity.
To conclude, I’d like to once again
broaden our perspective beyond the case
study of Brazilian slavery films. I would
argue that even with regard to films that
do not overtly or with apparent intentionality treat social identity—such as
Hollywood films that privilege box office
potential—the sort of film-spectator relationship that I’ve sketched is often still at
work. Entertainment and interventions on
national identity often go hand in hand. The
promotion of national pride and the reinforcement and revision of prevailing understandings of what it means to be from the
United States, for example, in the context
of a hero’s tale from a past era have long
been the bread and butter of this country’s
film industry. Consider the example of the
dominant genres of World War II films or the
Western. Even if we feel generally inclined
to simply sit back and enjoy the show, it
behooves us to appreciate the ways in
which audiovisual narratives so efficiently
tug at our psychological strings, especially
because at times the resulting modification
in social identity can have unfortunate consequences. I would argue that sometimes
the best way to scrutinize dynamics so
natural that they hide in plain sight is to look
beyond our own context. That is one of my
chief motives in undertaking this research
on Brazilian films about slavery. It is my hope
that the project will help us to comprehend
better what I see as one of the main ways
that our understandings of ourselves and
others can change. Often it is through the
lens of a distinct culture that the familiar yet
obscure finally begins to come into focus.
For a version of this article with full citations
and endnotes, please visit ¿QP? online.
Autumn Quarter 2011
19
Ohio State Strengthens Brazilian Ties
Global Gateway to Expand Teaching and Research Partnerships
By ¿Qué Pasa, OSU? Staff
at the undergraduate level. In partnership
with the University of São Paulo, Ohio State
sends students to Brazil each fall on a trip
funded by the University Honors & Scholars
Center, and other colleges on campus.
While in Brazil, students visit several of the
University of São Paulo campuses, participate in poster presentations, engage in
topics of research with Brazilian students
and faculty, as well as participate in cultural
activities. During the spring, students from
the University of São Paulo visit OSU. OSU
graduate students who are interested in
conducting research under the guidance
of faculty from University of São Paulo may
apply to the Directed Graduate Research
Abroad program. For students who are
interested in learning about the global
significance of Brazil, the Global Gateway
Study Abroad in Brazil program introduces students to Brazilian history, culture,
society, and contemporary issues. Visit the
study abroad office (oia.osu.edu/studyabroad.html) to learn more about these
opportunities.
Amanda Harper and fellow students on the 2009 OSU/University of São Paulo,
PHOTO PROVIdED BY amanda Harper
Brazil Honors Research Exchange Program.
Brazil has long been known for its
samba and soccer. Today, however, Brazil
is becoming known for its global scientific
achievements. The nation produces 10,000
PhDs annually, ten times more than it did
two decades ago. Brazil’s fast-growing
economy is the largest in Latin America,
investing about one percent of its gross
domestic product on research and development. It has become a world leader in
research in tropical medicine, bioenergy,
agricultural research, and deep-sea oil
production.
As Ohio State advances toward its goal
to become a preeminent global university, it
makes sense that it would turn to this powerhouse neighbor to the south. Under the
leadership of Vice Provost William Brustein,
the Office of International Affairs is currently
in the process of exploring opportunities for
a Global Gateway in Brazil. Global Gateways
create a physical presence in international
locations to support international teaching,
research, student exchange, and alumni
engagement. Global Gateways enhance
20
student recruitment efforts and study
abroad placements, cultivate faculty and
institutional relationships, as well as reconnect alumni abroad to their alma mater.
Becoming a Global University
Ohio State is dedicated to preparing its students to actively participate in
knowledge-based collaborations around
the world and to compete successfully in
the global marketplace. “Ohio State has
potentially powerful connections across
the globe through study abroad programs,
international students, faculty teaching and
research, university partnerships, alumni
and Ohio businesses. Global Gateways as a
concept is a strategy for building on these
strengths to internationalize teaching,
research and engagement across the university,” explains Christopher Carey, director
of Gateway initiatives.
A prime example of such preparation is the experience provided through
the Brazil Research Exchange Program, a
program designed to encourage research
Expanding Partnerships
To deepen and broaden Brazilian collaborations, Ohio State hosted a visit in
the spring from administrative leaders at
its partner institution, the University of
São Paulo. Visitors included Marco Antonio
Zago, vice provost for research, and Raul
Machado Neto, professor and vice president for international relations, who met
with President Gordon Gee and Ohio
State leaders from various departments.
To explore further collaboration opportunities, the Ohio State University Medical
Center co-organized a symposium held this
month in Washington, DC, that convened
researchers and officials from Brazil and the
US to discuss bioenergy, climate change,
biodiversity and Amazon studies, plant
genomics, policy studies, optics and photonics, vaccines and drug discovery, stem
cells, and cancer. Daniel Janies, associate
professor in the department of biomedical informatics at Ohio State, is the principal investigator for a National Science
Foundation grant that is supporting Ohio
State’s involvement in this event, the first of
its kind between the two countries.
A number of colleges and departments already enjoy collaborative relationships with other Brazilian universities. For
example, the Federal University of Paraiba
partners with the OSU College of Veterinary
Medicine, and has hosted a number of Ohio
State students who spend two months in
northern Brazil working in the area of food
safety and infectious diseases. Collaborative
relationships also grow more organically, with individual faculty serving as a
natural link to new relationships. Assistant
Professor Ronaldo Casimiro da Costa
joined Ohio State three years ago from the
Federal University of Parana. As the only
South American Board certified Veterinary
Neurologist who speaks Portuguese, he is
ideally positioned to serve as spokesperson.
His global experience is a great advantage,
as da Costa notes, “The higher education
system and the Veterinary programs have
some very remarkable differences between
Brazil and US, and so it is important that
researchers and students understand the
differences.” Dr. da Costa continues to
publish in both the United States and in
Brazil, and returns to his homeland several
times per year to teach. A PhD student from
Brazil will visit OSU to conduct a research
project with da Costa his winter, and next
year a faculty member from the Federal
University of Parana will spend his sabbatical with da Costa conducting collaborative
research. A partner on a more personal
level, Luciana da Costa, a veterinarian and
Ronaldo’s wife, is working toward her PhD
at Ohio State.
Forty Years in Brazil
The College of Food, Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences (CFAES) has a
strong record of collaboration with Brazilian
partners dating back to the 1960s, including
relationships with the Federal University of
Rio Grande do Sul, the University of São
Paulo, the Federal University of Parana, the
Brazilian Association of Higher Agricultural
Education, the Ministry of Agriculture, the
Ministry of Education, and the Brazilian
Agricultural Research Enterprise.
According to Dr. Mark Erbaugh, director
of for CFAES International Programs in
Agriculture, “A strong, enduring relationship has been retained with the agricultural
college of the University of São Paulo in
Piracicaba, Brazil (ESALQ). This program was
funded by the US Agency for International
Development from 1964 to 1973, and collaborations continue to this day.” Such collaborations include the placement of 50
www.quepasa.osu.edu
Brazilian trainees in US horticultural/agricultural businesses in 2010-2011 through The
Ohio Program (TOP), part of International
Programs in Agriculture.
Each year Assistant Dean Dr. Jill Pfister
travels to Brazil with approximately 20 OSU
students for a study abroad program that
explores historical, institutional, organizational, and individual leadership perspectives in Brazilian society. These students
are specially selected members of Alpha
Zeta Partners, a professional honorary fraternity in the college of Food, Agricultural,
and Environmental Sciences that focuses
on leadership and professional development. The study abroad classes are taught
by ESALQ faculty, some of whom are OSU
alumni.
A broad range and depth of collaborative activity has emerged from the
long-standing relationships. For instance,
OSU and Rutgers University are working
with ESALQ to develop an interdisciplinary, joint PhD program in Molecular and
Cellular Biology. The proposed joint degree
program is currently working through the
approval process. Faculty in the Department
of Horticulture and Crop Sciences have
worked closely with their Brazilian counterparts in Seed Technology research
and teaching, and in the past two years,
twelve students have visited the OSU Seed
Biology laboratory to conduct research.
OSU faculty are currently partnering with
researchers at five Brazilian institutions on
a collaborative project, “Imaging Analysis
in Seed Technology.” CFAES also regularly
hosts doctoral students and researchers.
Memoranda of Understanding are currently
in development between CFAES and the
Federal University of VIÇOSA (UFV) and the
Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP).
Dynamic Brazilian economic and scientific developments are creating a many
opportunities and high demand in both
nations for collaboration. Additional relationships exist in architecture, education,
nutrition and in the humanities. Brazil is
proving to be an increasingly important
partner as Ohio State advances its goals as
a global university.
Credit: Mary Ann Rose, CFAES, contributed to
this story.
Marco Antonio Zago and Raul Machado Neto from the University of São Paolo met with
PHOTO PROVIdED BY Victor van Buchem
OSU President Gordon Gee and Vice Provost Patrick Osmer on May 27th, 2011 at OSU.
Autumn Quarter 2011
21
La Avanzada Regia
Blaxican Hip Hop and the Ideological Mosaic of Control Machete
By Ignacio Corona, PhD, Associate Professor Literatures and Cultures of Latin America
At the turn of the century, a new musical
movement took shape in Monterrey, a
sprawling city about two hours south from
the US-Mexico border and Mexico’s industrial capital. Known as La avanzada regia,
such a movement has come to represent
another element in a soundscape dominated by norteña music, long considered
the musical expression of a cultural topography that encompasses the Texas Lower
Rio Grande Valley region and Mexico’s
northern states.
While some of the factors that may help
to explain its emergence originate in the
social and economic dynamics that have
placed Monterrey in even closer contact
with US culture and society—by forming a
commercial triangle that includes Houston
and San Antonio, its alternative music
scene constitutes a cultural response to
the broader impact of globalization. Local
musicians aspire to position their work in
a transnational system of production and
distribution while pursuing a strategy that
articulates regional cultural sign markers
with transnational musical formats, values,
and technologies. Such transnationalism
can be interpreted as traversing geopolitical, linguistic, cultural, and even ethnic
borders. Most groups of la avanzada regia
are fully aware, however, that an aesthetic of
transnationalism also means cultural negotiation and not simply effacing of all forms
of national, regional, or local identification. An example of this negotiation could
be found in the music of the first group of
the movement that received international
attention about a decade ago.
Taking their cues from US Latino artists
like Cypress Hill and Kid Frost, but also from
Rage Against the Machine and The Beastie
Boys, Control Machete (Fermín Caballero
Elizondo, Patricio “Pato” Chapa Elizalde, and
Antonio “Toy” Hernández) would lead the
alternative Mexican rap/hip hop movement
beginning in 1996. They invited California
producer Jason Roberts to produce their
first album, and thus became pioneers
of a new “local” trend, that of a transnational mode of production. By doing that
instead of going to Mexico City and trying
to be signed by regional representatives
of a major label, they were charting new
22
territory. The move was simple but turned
out to be crucial as it gave unusual agency
to a then unknown group (later signed by
Universal). They are still considered the
most commercially successful rap/hip hop
band in the country.
While most of Control Machete’s lyrics
are in Spanish, their use of Spanglish and/
or English seems to criticize the manipulative use of linguistic purity by the country’s elites and is akin to a postcolonial
critique. As represented by the title of their
first album Mucho barato (1997)—with a
Spanish lexicon and English syntax, they
address the border experience by switching linguistic codes and bending their rules.
For the social experience they relate and
refer to—that of the migrant communities
in the north and the sending communities
in the south, linguistic conflict, overlapping,
and interference are a fact of life. Their own
language politics defies the prison house
of narrow-minded nationalism. Control
Machete’s lyrics often allude to the difficult social and economic conditions in the
barrios across the United States, not much
different to those in the disenfranchised
neighborhoods of Mexican cities and so,
the group implicitly establishes a process
of cultural recognition and connections of
solidarity with la raza on both sides of the
border.
In a post-NAFTA context of increasing economic polarization, the political
criticism expressed in the group’s first two
albums, depicting the urban youth’s struggles, their way of life, and their frustrations,
are similar to other characterizations of an
unadorned, changing, and predominantly
urban Mexico in contemporary film and
literature. By doing that, Control Machete
focuses on the underside of globalization to capture the mood, taste, travails
and disenchantment toward politics of
large sectors of the Mexican and MexicanAmerican youth. In their turn to rap and
hip hop, they also reminds us that everyday
contact between Mexicans and Latinos in
general and US culture in the transnational
space of migration occurs less in predominantly white suburbs than in the inner city
and in those working-class areas in which
Latinos and blacks coexist and face some of
the same economic challenges and social
issues. Chicano essayist Richard Rodriguez
has even coined a term for this cultural or
ethnic mix of US black and Mexican culture:
“Blaxican.”
Just like rock en español in the late
eighties, amid a wave of modernization
projects that marked the turn toward neoliberalism, hip hop represents another case
of both contestation and transculturation.
This time, it comes from the other side of
the racial divide of popular music in the
US society, in which rock and heavy metal
are seen associated with white and mostly
male culture, and rap and hip hop as
dominant expressions of black culture. The
link between Mexican and Afro-American
cultures is the result of a different case
of transnationalism, one that surpasses
one-way and top-down notions of cultural
imposition from the dominant culture.
The use of hip hop by similarly disenfranchised youth groups in contiguous barrios
and ghettos becomes a cultural response
to analogous collective and individual
pressures and, therefore, a more horizontal cultural interaction. In this context,
the Mexicanization of hip hop by Control
Machete and Mexico City’s Molotov can be
interpreted as a continuation of political
and social concerns that address the mostly
hollow sociopolitical core of Mexican pop.
Their position is one of defiance of the
monolith of national culture and denunciation of the international forces that erode
community and family life, both inside and
outside the country. Their outspoken lyrics
in playful Spanglish then provide continuity
to protest music, but they are not monovalent either, as they speak to the diversity of
experiences, including those negative attitudes and practices that reproduce violence
within the Mexican community.
The narrative form of some rap songs in
Control Machete is analogous to the typical
structure of corridos. The rappers are aware
of history in the making, to which they give
a voice and a point of view. Unlike corridos,
they tend toward an indefinite present with
no foreseeable conclusion on the horizon.
In Mucho barato, the deep, scratchy, and
forceful way of singing by both Pato and
Fermín, often delivered with a tinge of
mordacity, irony, or sarcasm to amplify their
emotional impact, attempts to capture the
ominous tone of someone who is witness
to rough urban experiences. As modern
day griots, the vocalists play an almost testimonial role by referring to “epic” turf wars
in neighborhoods deprived of
public safety or adequate public
services, but plagued with drugs,
gang violence, and poverty.
The listener is reminded that
the country is one of the most
violent ones on the planet and
that the poor young are easy
targets for recruitment by organized crime.
Musical experimentation is
prominent in other tracks of the
album. In an instrumental song
electronic hip hop incorporates
the accordion sounds typical of
norteña music, but the rhythm
is that of the cumbia. Border
divisions are not erased by juxtaposing ambient sounds and
cumbia. And yet the proposition
links cultures and communities
across the border in an act of
re-encountering. The presence
of cumbia appears stylized as part of the
“internationalization” required by an aesthetic of transnationalism, in which musical
taste is also re-class-ified for an international
audience focusing on rap and hip hop.
Control Machete’s second album shows
the ways in which hip hop connects with
other musical genres in the Latin American
cultural horizon, especially those of the
African diaspora. Entitled Artillería pesada,
like the album’s central song, it contains
their most commercially successful songs
so far. “Amores perros” and “Sí señor” were
both used in the soundtrack of González
Iñárritu’s film Amores perros, another “text”
articulated by a sense of the transnational.
“Amores perros” is a rap song that has the
peculiarity of using acoustic guitars, which
creates a certain atmosphere of intimacy
needed for the soundtrack, but is at odds
with US rap music. “Sí señor” had a tremendous exposure in a Levi’s commercial, “Crazy
Legs,” broadcast during the TV coverage of
the 2002 Super Bowl. The song articulates
contrasting views of nightlife in Monterrey,
framed by the recording of a local reporter
talking to his radio-audience. The song’s
music video shows him in a helicopter
reporting on the city’s nocturnal goings-on.
The reporter, as a new Benjaminian Angel of
History, is a suggestive choice, as journalists
www.quepasa.osu.edu
albums. The lines are mere suggestions; references are vague. In “Quemo bandera,” for
instance, the listener is left with more questions than answers, e.g., has the eagle of the
Mexican flag been replaced by the Texan
lone star? The video is not less ambivalent
regarding a possible allusion by
presenting a fictional flag with
one star and three vertical color
sections. The album presents the
group’s typical approach to orality
in which the voice becomes
another instrument with repetitive short phrases and few narrative lines. Language itself is used
for its musical qualities, resisting
a narrative logic. In effect, tone,
rhythm, and pronunciation, as
in avant-garde poetry, end up
being more significant than
phrases, which are merely suggestions, allusions, and incomplete thoughts. In some of the
lyrics verbal connectors are eliminated to the maximum in order to
focus on the acoustic qualities of
nouns and verbs. There is a considerable degree of condensation
Album Art provided by control machete
and metonymic displacement.
vocals to refer to intersecting planes in the The effect is not one of speeding up, but
lives of those who have chosen the night for rather slowing the pace of reality. The last
some untold activities. Again, the song uses track, “El genio del dub,” with the collaboraa corrido-like opening to situate the main tion of Blanquito Man amid tropical sounds
subjects and their feelings of attachment and rhythms, does make explicit an oppofor their hometown (San Pedro, a well-to- sition to war, repression, and pollution. It is
do city part of the Monterrey metropolitan the album’s more “political” song: “listen to
area). Pato’s repetitive “Sí señor” interacts what the genie of the dub is about to tell:
with Fermín’s meditative and dark mono- love and consciousness is not for sale.” The
logue and subjects it to an implicit dialogic accompanying video ends with the image
perspective, one in which the listener has to of sub-comandante Marcos in affinity with
fill the gaps in information about the exact Rage Against the Machine and many groups
topic of the conversation. It is the possibility from the rock en español movement. In this
of underground lives and the changing face limited fashion, Control Machete continues
of a city growing and becoming, a place of to endorse diverse struggles for a more
just society on both sides of the border. In
opportunity but also of danger.
By 2002, the trio became a duo as Fermín a tacit performance of transnationalism,
left to pursue a solo career and collabora- but from the other end of musical productions with US musicians. Rumors of breaking tion, Control Machete has founded the label
up ended with the release of their third Machete Music, as a subsidiary of Universal
record for Universal Music. Uno, dos: bandera Music and begun to sign Mexican and US
(2003) abandons the dominant sociopo- musicians, among them the LA Latin rap duo
litical thematic of their previous albums and Akwid. As represented by Control Machete,
turns toward more intimist songs. Control the condition of transnationalism has been
Machete explores a diversity of topics more purposefully explored by la avanzada
often from a conflictive locus of enuncia- regia than by previous musical movements
tion (sexual abuse or corruption of minors; as a relevant way in which music and iden“political” protest, gambling, etc.) and yet titary discourses are organically interrelated
details are kept to a minimum. This narra- along the US-Mexico border.
tive minimalism represents a denial of the
For a version of this article with full citablatant political meaning of their previous tions and endnotes, please visit ¿QP? online.
have played a crucial role in a changing
Mexican society, in particular because
recent important events have been dominated by crime news. Against an intermittent playful claxon-like sound and a deep
drum-n-bass line, Fermín takes the lead
Autumn Quarter 2011
23
Loza Studio & Atelier
Interview with Alex Loza, Artist
By Theresa N. Rojas, PhD Candidate, Department of English
Frontal, Lateral & Posterior views of the Skull, Shoulder Bones and Thorax, Charcoal on paper, 2011, Alex Loza
TR: Thank you for taking the time to let
us get to know you and your work better,
Alex.
AL: Theresa, thank you for your time and
to ¿Qué Pasa,OSU? for giving me the opportunity to share a little bit about myself and
my artwork. I hope that I can persuade
your readers to continue working diligently
to achieve their dreams and professional
goals.
TR: Many people aren’t yet familiar with
the concept of the Atelier. Would you
explain what this is and your philosophy
in using the atelier model of instruction?
AL: Atelier is the French word for
"workshop." Lately, there has been a vast
movement in reviving the Atelier Method
within the Classical Realism artists’ community. An Atelier consists of an artist,
usually a professional painter or sculptor,
working with a small number of students
(4-8) to train them in art. Although the
methods vary, most Ateliers train students
in the skills and techniques associated with
creating some form of representational art,
the making of two-dimensional images that
appear real to the viewer.
Unfortunately, many art schools today
do not equip their students with the
24
proper training and knowledge, leaving
them feeling unprepared to face the art
world after receiving their degree. When I
decided to establish, Loza Studio & Atelier,
my main objective was to meet each art
student’s individual needs by working with
them one-on-one and giving them the
opportunity to work with a full-time artist
who will help them observe the challenges
and accomplishments that this wonderful
career offers.
TR: Would you also tell us about écorché
and how this technique plays into your
work?
AL: Yes, écorché (ay-kor-shay) is another
French word meaning "flayed" or "skinned."
It is one of the main tools in the training of
painters and sculptors because an understanding of how the body is built can
improve the artist’s precision when working
with the human figure.
I have seen a difference in my portraiture/figurative work after taking écorché
classes. What I noticed was that my
drawings became more three dimensional
and realistic. I strongly believe that having
knowledge in anatomy will help individuals who are interested in pursuing a career
in painting or sculpting the human figure.
This understanding will open doors for
those interested in anatomical/medical
illustration.
TR: You were mentored by Artist Harry
Ahn. Tell us more about him and how his
tutelage influenced you.
AL: Harry Ahn is a self-taught artist from
South Korea with over thirty years of experience. I am fortunate and honored being
trained by Mr. Ahn. In his classes, he would
share with his students the struggles and
accomplishments in pursuing his dream
of becoming an artist. I can recall once in
my art training class, he had me draw the
same vase for almost a month. It was not
a complex vase and I thought to myself, "I
have this under control." I was noticing that
all my good drawings were erased and my
bad drawings remained. I confronted Mr.
Ahn and asked him why he was erasing
every good drawing of the vase and telling
me to keep all my bad drawings. Since I was
proud of my good drawings, I did not comprehend his teaching strategy. His response
was priceless: “As artists and human beings,
we tend to forget our mistakes and begin
believing that all we draw or do is flawless.
You need to keep your bad drawings as a
reminder to not make a bad drawing and
that you too make mistakes." Ten years have
passed yet I still call him for advice because
besides being a great artist and a mentor,
he is also a great friend. I hope I have the
same impact on my students.
TR: Your Artist’s Biography mentions
that your works honor Peru; what is your
connection to the country and how does
Peru inspire you?
AL: I was born and raised in Peru. My
grandparents help cultivate the appreciation and love I have for the Peruvian culture,
food, music, and history. I moved to the
United States when I was twelve and my
Peruvian roots are as strong as ever. Though
I learned to adapt to the culture here, I stood
true to myself and never forgotten where
I came from. I've always said, "Yo llevo a El
Peru en la sangre" (I carry Peru in my blood).
The admiration for my country encourages
me to be a better artist and person. I want
my work to exalt "la tierra que me vio nacer"
(the land that saw me grow) and one day
see my artwork alongside historical pieces
that influenced our society, particularly
Peruvian culture.
TR: How might your experiences as a
Latino artist inform your work?
AL: Being a Latino or not does not make a
difference because artists are universal. Art
is multicultural and multilingual. Artists use
their paintbrush to write the story of their
surroundings. If you glance at past decades
of artwork it expresses how the artist felt in
that moment. Artists express their experiences in their work, no matter the culture.
TR: You did forensic drawings for the
Chicago Police Department—what was
that experience like and how did you get
involved?
AL: I thank God for giving me this talent
and placing me in the right place at the
right time. As classes ended, I headed to the
parking lot of the elementary school where
I worked as a teacher's assistant and afterschool art instructor. I saw my co-worker
and friend (a Chicago Police Officer) and
we started to talk as we walked toward the
main entrance of the school and to make
sure all kids went home. Out of nowhere
an 8th grade student and her 1st grade
brother came crying and running toward
the door screaming for help. She began to
tell us what caused her terrified reaction.
While two men burglarized her home, she
walked into her house with her brother. The
burglars saw them and held guns to these
www.quepasa.osu.edu
children’s head. As she told her story, we felt
helpless, especially since the burglars fled
and there were no witnesses. I started to
ask her if she remembered how these guys
looked. Fortunately she did! I sketched as
she described one of the burglars. When I
was done I showed her the sketch, she cried
out loud, “That's him!” My friend asked me
to fax the sketch to the police station as he
called for back-up. The next day the sketch
was dispersed to surrounding schools
and local businesses. Three days after this
incident, the burglars were caught and the
family recovered their valuables but most
importantly the children regained their
confidence and peace. After this unpleasant incident, I was able to sketch criminals
whenever they would call me from the
police station to help a victim recognize his/
her aggressor. It gave me great pleasure to
know that I was able to be of assistance to
my community in making our neighborhood a safer place.
TR: Tell us about your experience moving
to Tennessee from the Midwest.
AL: To tell you the truth, I've moved
various times. Moving from Lima, Peru to
New Jersey was a difficult transition since
I was not accustomed to the culture and
language of this country. Then, I moved
to Berrien Springs, Michigan to study Fine
Art with Artist Harry Ahn. Later, I moved to
Chicago, Illinois to complete my Bachelor’s
Degree in Fine Art at the American Academy
of Art and where I met my wife. Finally in
early 2010 we decided to head to the south
to Chattanooga, Tennessee to raise our
daughter as well as to explore professional
opportunities. We read that Chattanooga
is a growing city with new developments
and with more job opportunities especially
in my wife's field as well as a growing artist
community.
Recently, I joined a team of local artists
lead by artist Sandra Paynter Washburn to
offer Art Classes to the Chattanooga Area.
Classes will be held at Art Creations new
location by Hamilton Place Mall. I hope that
these classes can benefit emerging and
experienced artists.
TR: What are some of your other interests that might surprise people? How
might those interests either connect to
or create a separation from your art?
AL: The most important one is to
continue nurturing my daughter’s creative
development. Throughout my ten years
working with elementary school children,
I have seen how the arts can help a child's
communication, cognitive and social skills
providing the child a thriving future in their
adulthood. My wife and I want to expose
our daughter to numerous careers so she
can have options.
I enjoy spending the evenings with my
wife cooking, visiting a new restaurant or
playing with our daughter. We also like to
educate ourselves in learning about other
cultures. The goal is to visit a different
country every other year. As a proud South
American I like to play and watch fútbol
(soccer).
As for my career endeavors, my training
in anatomy has interested me to pursue a
career in medicine (physical therapy, chiropractor assistant, sports and injury rehabilitation or forensic pathology).
TR: How might you see yourself as a
role model for either (or both) Latinos
in general and emerging artists in
particular?
AL: As a Latino, I hope I can influence
other Latinos to pursue higher education and to unite. It’s unfortunate to see
the struggles amongst our people due to
cultural discrimination (Mexico vs. Puerto
Rico, Peru vs. Chile, etc.). As Latinos, we
need to unite and obliterate those stereotypes for example, that Latino men are
cheaters, gang members, Casanovas, lazy;
that Latinas are sexual objects, servants,
adolescent mothers, and so on.
If we teach our children to value their
culture, they will value and respect other
cultures hence reducing racism in this
country. If we push our children to dream
big, they will not fear obstacles that come
their way. Teach them to be content with
the successes they achieved and to be
modest.
I would like to say to the rising artist,
“Never give up!” Pursuing a career in Art is
as challenging as any other career. Pablo
Picasso did not become the renowned
Picasso with his first painting. The key is
practice, practice, and practice. DO NOT
allow anyone to destroy your dreams.
Visit Alex Loza’s website: www.alexloza.com
For more information, contact
Jocelyn Avendano-Loza,
Artist Representative & Marketing
Director, Loza Studio & Atelier
jaloza@alexloza.com 423-650-4501
Theresa Rojas is a PhD student in the
Department of English and an artist.
Visit theresarojas.com
Autumn Quarter 2011
25
Bachelor’s Degrees
Master's Degrees
Name Citizen Degree Major
De La Mota,Orel
DOM
BA
Theatre
Alvarez, Susana
USA
MFA
Art
Dominguez, Edgar
USA
BS
Exploration
Casal, Patricia
USA
MS
Biomedical Engineering
Flores, Natalie
USA
BA
Health Professions Exp.
Del Pilar, Joselyn
USA
MS
Chemistry
Galvan, Maricela
USA
BA
Nursing
Elizondo, Sara
USA
MA
Art Education
Leitzinger, John
USA
BS
Aero and Astronautical Eng
Gouvrit Montano, Florence
MEX
MFA
Art
Michalsky, David
USA
BS
Management & Industry
Guerra, Jesse
USA
MS
Industrial and Systems Eng
Morales, Peter
USA
BA
Marketing
Guerra, Dante
USA
MS
Mechanical Engineering
Munoz, Sergio
USA
BS
Business Administration
Juarez, Carlos
USA
MA
Music
Reyes, David
USA
BA
English
Oliver, Kendea
USA
MA
Psychology
Rincon, Karla
MEX
BA
Social Work
Pandolfi de Rinaldis, Gianna
USA
MA
Theatre
Sanchez, Kevin
USA
BA Journalism
Romero Aguilar, Randall
CRI
MA
Agr, Env & Devp Econ
Sanchez, Gerardo
USA
BFA
Exploration
Simon, Miriam
BOL
MFA
Design
Sarmiento, Alexander
USA
BS
Chemical Engineering
Torrent, Daniel
USA
MPH
Public Health
Toro, Roberto
USA
BA
Exploration
Traveria, Enrique
USA
MA
Economics
Vera, Crystal
USA
BA
Consumer Services
Wynter, Matthew
USA
MA
Business Administration
Zelaya, Joliana
USA
MA
Speech Lang. Path.
Doctoral Degrees
26
Cabrera, Antonio
PER
PHD
Horticulture and Crop Science
Dials, Justin
USA
PHD
Education:Phy Act & Ed Srvc
Ortiz-Castillo, Esther
USA
PHD
Education:Phy Act & Ed Srvc
Rodriguez-Palacios, Alexander COL
PHD
Veterinary Prev Medicine
"Capoeira is an art developed in Brazil hundreds of years ago by slaves. It is a fight
disguised as a dance, with its own style of music." – Brian "Avô" Griffin, instructor
Check the Facebook page, T.A.B.C.A.T. Columbus, for updates
and events. The club practices capoeira biweekly.
"The Portuguese speaking group, or 'Bate-Papo,'
has often served as a kind of family for me. Every
Thursday night, I am always guaranteed to run into
great people from all walks of life, to drink, trade
barbs, and flap gums in various languages. Even
though 'bater papo' literally means 'to flap the gums'
in Portuguese, it's become something more than
that: a home away from home for native Spanishspeakers, students and lovers of Brazilian or Latin
culture, and those who just want to learn more. It is
also known for occasionally descending into sheer
silliness, which I like to photograph in all its 'beleza'
(beauty)."
– Ed Luna, OSU alumnus
Bate-Papo meets most Thursday nights.
Every one is welcome to join us!
Contact osubatepapo@gmail.com to get
the weekly announcements.
Fito’s Peruvian Rotisserie Chicken
Come for the Chicken and Stay for Dessert
In Spanish, there is a
phrase “Para chuparse
los dedos,” which
means “Finger-lickin’
good.” This precisely
describes the food at
Fito’s Rotisserie Chicken,
a Peruvian restaurant
conveniently located
at 1644 N. High Street.
The address is deceptive as the restaurant
sits on the corner of
Chittenden and N. Pearl.
While Fito’s is easy
to miss, we recommend you make every
effort to experience the menu and
friendly, casual atmosphere.
Fito’s ofrece una variedad de platillos
tradicionales del Perú, así como una fusión
entre su cocina tradicional y la cultura
de comida rápida de los Estados Unidos.
Fito’s es un rincón del Perú en medio del
ocupado distrito universitario. Con su
ambiente familiar y acogedor, Fito’s da la
bienvenida a sus comensales cada día. El
establecimiento esta decorado con telares
típicos del Perú, otras artesanías peruanas
y fotos que adornan el lugar. La cocina
abierta, deja ver la preparación de las
comidas.
While the restaurant’s speciality is a
marinated, slow-roasted chicken cooked
in an oven imported from Peru, the restaurant also offers a variety of exciting, savory
dishes that include fried yucca, chicharrón
(deep fried pork), and chorizo. There are
also a number of wraps and salad options,
including the house salad, which comes
bathed in an inexplicably tasty dressing.
El pollo a las brasas, uno de los platillos típicos del Perú es servido con papas
a la francesa y ají -salsa también típica
de la región- la cual recientemente gano
el premio a la mejor salsa de Columbus.
Durante nuestra visita al local, nos ofrecieron la ensalada de la casa, la cual cuenta
de lechuga, rábanos, cebolla, aguacate,
bañados en un aderezo ligero y agridulce
de la casa. El pollo a las brasas tiene un
sabor ahumado gracias al que es rostizado
a base de carbón. El pollo según nos
comentaron, es marinado por varias horas
www.quepasa.osu.edu
en especias y es cocinado a fuego
lento a las brasas. La mayoría de
los platillos van acompañados de
papas a la francesa o camote.
The chicharrón, a traditional
breakfast of Peru, is one of the restaurant’s
most popular dishes. The sandwich is
made of a specialty-bakery toasted bun
filled with fried Peruvian-style pork layered
with sweet potato, onion, and bathed in
creole sarza (South-American salsa). It’s
difficult to describe the mouth-watering
spicy flavors that this mixture generates.
Tangy and deeply flavorful, the end bits of
crispy pork, in particular, are delightful.
Para terminar el cortejo de alimentos,
pasamos a los postres. La crema volteada,
un platillo típico del Perú muy similar al
flan, es cocinado en el tradicional baño
María. Para la sorpresa de Indra, la crema
volteada no es tan dulce como el flan, aun
manteniendo su acaramelado sabor. El
segundo postre, fue el pastel de tres leches,
que es uno de sus favoritos. ¿Que se puede
decir de un pastel saturado de armoniosas
leches dulces? Simplemente una experiencia endulzantemente embriagadora.
While it is easy to expect to fall in love
with the pastel de tres leches (three milk
cake), the star dessert for Theresa is by
far the crema volteada (turned cream). A
stiff custard-like base with liquid caramel
poured over, it looks very much like flan
without the after taste. Instead, the crema
volteada was curiously delicious without
being overly sweet.
El servicio es bueno, familiar, amigable.
La familia Mandriotti, siempre te recibe
con una sonrisa y es tanto su buen servicio
como la comida, que te atrae a regresar al
establecimiento mas de una vez. Noten
que la familia Mandriotti se esmera por
ofrecer platillos frescos, así que recomendamos que vayan con tiempo pues
como en toda familia, la comida toma
tiempo para preparar… claro que definitivamente vale la pena esperar para degustar.
Fito’s offers reasonably priced delicious
food that you won’t find just anywhere. If
you’re in a hurry, give them a call and get
your order to go. Try Fito’s on the weekend
for special rotating seafood dishes such as
Peruvian ceviche. Stop in and do as the
owners recommend: use your fingers.
Fito's
1644 N. High
Columbus, OH 43201
Phone: (614) 299-2066
www.letseat.at/fitos
��
Rating System:
5 chiles = Exceptional
4 chiles = Very good
3 chiles = Average
2 chiles = Poor
1 chile = Very poor
$$$$$
Autumn Quarter 2011
Food Review
A Bilingual Review by Theresa Rojas, Department of English, and Indra Leyva-Santiago, Intercultural Specialist, Multicultural Center
27
NONPROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
COLUMBUS, OHIO
PERMIT NO. 711
The Ohio State University
Student Academic Services Building, 3rd Floor
281 West Lane Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210-1132
Are you interested in contributing to ¿Qué Pasa, OSU?
Contact us at quepasa@osu.edu
New Book Announcement
Spiritual Mestizaje: Religion,
Gender, Race, and Nation in
Contemporary Chicana Narrative
By Theresa Delgadillo
Assistant Professor of Comparative Studies at Ohio State University
Duke University Press, 2011
“Spiritual Mestizaje offers brilliant readings of some
of the most significant Chicana writers and artists of
our era. It is indispensable to understanding anew the
broad spiritual and social significance of U.S. ethnic
cultures.“
– Rafael Pérez-Torres, University of California, Los Angeles

Brazilian Slavery Films and the Social Identities

Transcription

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