Anyone surprised that protests include looting of luxury stores in Soho & elsewhere doesn't know the 1st thing about racial capitalism & luxury consumption. Racial exploitation is at the root of consumer capitalism built on the commodification of black bodies through slavery (1)
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Arlene Dávila
@arlenedavila1
Professor Latinx/LatinAm studies, Founding Dir. Author Latinos Inc., Latino Spin, Barrio Dreams, El Mall, Latinx Art ++
Arlene Dávila’s Tweets
Today I was exposed to a tale of two worlds in Academia: A meeting w a working class Latina student who finished her Phd but will leave academia for her mental health & white colleague sharing she met with her Dean to request an endowed chairmanship: for herself. Así esta la cosa
The tendency of white Latin Americans to identify as POC in forms applications, taking space and opportunities from Black and Indigenous Latinx and Latin American migrants has historically been one of the most troubling trends in Latinx cultural politics from #LatinosInc to today
News about the fire in the Bronx blame a space heater — so these tenants probably had no heat, & the fire alarms went off multiple times a day according to residents so they were prob broken. In sum substandard housing in one if the most unequal cities in the world is to blame
If you're a BIPOC student applying to a MA program because you don't think you're ready/good enough for a PhD program-- please stop right there and do not do it. If it is a PhD you're after- just apply and reapply. Whatever you do, plz do not get into debt for an MA degree.
This Harvard/Chicago anthropology scandal must be contextualized in relation to the nepotistic hiring practices of the discipline where most TT hires hail from Chicago/Harvard & top 15 programs accounted for 52.8% of all positions. nicholaskawa.com/2018/12/28/the
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Throughout the world, consumer capitalism, shopping, & inequality are intertwined at the production & consumption ends-- from exploitative sweatshop jobs to precarious minimum wage retail jobs without benefits. Advertising is one of the whitest industries in corporate America (2)
There’s so few libraries left in Puerto Rico. Shouting out librería Mágica in Rio Piedras -I wish zillion more years for this magic space.
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Oh, and Soho shopping district is NOT New York. NYC is more than the privatized urban landscape it has become, which is another place where see the inks between racial capitalism and consumption in the form of gentrification and displacement (4)
Thinking about how Latin American countries have been passing legislation protecting womxn rights with even the most catholic and conservative countries increasingly respecting their right to abortion and reproductive choice —while the US is going backwards.
"People with tenure in all campuses have a deep responsibility to support adjuncts and the unionization of academic labor." Angela Y Davis. #CommunityAsRebellion
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Finally across the globe protests against neoliberal capitalism have involved looting of major symbols of consumption, most recently in Chile where it was symbols of global capitalism such as Starbuck stores and banks that were most looted (3)
RIP Leith Mullings anthropologist extraordinaire. Leith mentored generations of bipoc anthros & beyond & was a model of engaged scholarship. Her last work on comparative racisms across the Americas is a necessary read for all. Huge loss. leithmullings.com/about/
Prohibited From Speaking Quechua as Child, Peruvian Woman Now Professor of Quechua at Stanford 💪🏽❤️
This is huge. The University of Puerto Rico launches its first program for the study of race and Afro descendants, directed by renowned writer Mayra Santos-Febres
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Universidad de Puerto Rico (UPR), Río Piedras, hogar del primer Programa de Estudios sobre Afrodescendencia y Racialidad en Puerto Rico
@journal_jordan #wbai
@latinojustice @latinorebels @Deoliver47 @arlenedavila1 @AlanAAja1 @apadillafilm6 @BillFletcherJr
shar.es/abXYFQ
So I got married yesterday familia-And it turned out to be the most amazing queer, Boricua POC, international event. So proud to celebrate on such landmark wknd. Love is Love. #WorldPride #happyPride
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“The Latin music industry borrows heavily from Afro-Latino cultural practices, but privileges and prioritizes white Latino artists to perform them,” says Rivera-Rideau. “And that’s a historical pattern we’ve had.”
We have to stop asking candidates of color to apply to jobs just to ensure a diverse pool of candidates- only to operate business as usual. Bipoc candidates deserve more than to be treated as a simple background statistic.
For the first time in its 150-year history, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has hired a full-time Native American art curator.
Bellísima! This is how Vogue Mexico should look every month.
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Omg! Beyond honored to get these news: “Congratulations on being named a 2020 recipient of the prestigious Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Faculty Award!” recognizing teaching excellence, leadership, social justice activism, and community building at NYU ✊🏽🙏🏽
So this happened. Creating spaces for Latinx art & scholarship in academia is a daily struggle. While our continuous access to a shiny gallery space like this remains uncertain, for today I'm going to celebrate this win & smile, feel hopeful & grateful M-Thu 10-4.
Layers of colonialism are exposed when the former king of Spain —forced into exile by his own country for stealing hundreds of millions—takes refuge in a luxury resort in the Dominican Republic, (Hispaniola) exactly where the pillage of Spanish colonization commenced.
This embarrassing columbising "discovery" of Latinx diversity is exactly why we need Latinx/ethnic studies now, & why diverse Latinx journalists, analysts, and political consultants must be hired by major newspapers & campaigns year-round. Painful to see ignorance = invisibility
I’ve been teaching for over twenty years and today I taught my first Latinx Studies graduate class ever—and it felt amazing. 💫
University administrators need to understand that students’ demand for Latinx Studies Now is not a “new” thing - Latinx studies is over 50 years old, and that’s how long students have been struggling to see themselves, and their histories represented and acknowledged
I love seeing new generations of recent PhDs putting their happiness, personal lives and families first with greater ease, fully aware that they are brilliant and will succeed no matter what, -- beyond the limits of an academic career or sacrifices involved in a TT job.
Latinx identity is not a matter of language & speaking Spanish “to connect” w Latinx voters is passé. Everyone should speak Spanish because we live in the Americas. Let's talk health, education, immigration, the refugee crisis, Puerto Rico, the envr, that's how you "talk"Latinx.
To ethnic studies scholars wondering when do we get to talk about how Latinx & other POC are also victims of racism, remember this is the time to center anti-blackness as universal register for white supremacy. If we get this right Latinx/all ethnic studies will be more powerful
Before Latinx Heritage Month ends, it's good to remember the invisibility of Latinx Studies is a key factor behind the invisibility of Latinx peoples across museums, the arts, & the media, because students are seldom exposed/taught that Latinx history is American history.
Rest in power artist/activist Yolanda Lopez, who fueled feminism, power, pride, and activism in her work —timeless and more prescient than ever.
Being an ethnic studies scholar is having your entire career reduced to "the person who does Latinx stuff". Thankful of the urbanist colleague who reminded an interlocutor that my work is must-read in urban/media studies- Time to stop the disciplinary ghettoizing of our work.
I wrote about the need for more complex analysis of Latinx voters, shouting out the work of & more. Thanks @AmyRosary
To Latinx students everywhere who are working on research/proposals etc.: Tell us in simple terms, as if you were describing your research a tu abuelita, & focus on what's new & makes your research different & necessary. Clarity IS powerful. ✊🏽
In Puerto Rico, A New Generation of Women’s Plena Groups Are Raising Their Voices ❤️remezcla.com/features/music via the brilliant
"Teaching the Zoot Suit Riots as a multicultural affair reminds us about the interconnection between Mexican American history & African American history...and that we can’t necessarily tell the story of one without the other."
Transgender actress Mj Rodriguez to be honored at Puerto Rican Day parade. Lovers of #Pose: Rejoice!
Hey you can also mention she's Boricua! This is a major win for Puerto Ricans & NYC Latinxs to be represented by her! #Bronxrican Power! #AlexandriaOcasio-Cortez’s nyti.ms/2lENTtw
This goes to writers struggling to get their 1st book out: Write about topics you’re passionate about, write clearly sans jargon, for yourself & communities you care deeply about—not to impress mentors/gain academic fame & most of all: Don't let perfectionism sabotage you/r voice
Don't look for Latinx studies in Ivys or R1 institutions because for the most part we're not welcomed there. Rest assured however, we exist, are thriving and growing
About this horrific editorial, it's not only about an emeritus professor voicing sexist views but about the networks of friends/facilitators/editors that amplify these voices: a direct outcome of who dominates journalism, & which voices have greater access to editorial platforms
Someone just asked me how to create Latinx studies in their university & my humble advice: less planning, more doing. Do you have Latinx faculty? If no, hire them ASAP & ensure you reach out to communities. We need Latinx studies now. This isn’t the time to let planning derail us
Televisa’s Yessica Rosales Does a ‘Parody’ Brownface of Yalitza Aparacio and Then Has No Idea Why It’s So Problematic! #Televisa needs to hire indigenous Talent and stop mocking people of color in their networks. #BastaTelevisa
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Im not denying that in dominant white society most ppl of Latin American backgrounds are racialized through lx, culture etc. Yet we must avoid using white supremacy to further white supremacy in Latinx spaces (see media, publishing, the arts, & most culture industries). Hard work
Message to university Dept chairs, deans etc: if your social science departments like sociology, anthro, politics, etc. in fact any discipline that purports to study race/inequality are majority white faculty teaching on these subjects you have major recruitment to do, and pronto
A Database of Fugitive Slave Ads Reveals Thousands of Untold Resistance Stories hyperallergic.com/435183/freedom
I had been meaning to subscribe to for ages and kept forgetting but this Bad Bunny story just did it! Who can resist all these🔥Latinx reporters & a pub with an active writers union! Pa'lante ! latimes.com/entertainment-
RIP to brilliant Quino, the creator of #Mafalda a character who served as the voice of global revolutions, womxn rights, anti consumerism and as an astute critic of middle class respectability across Latin America and the world. #quinoeterno
Let's Keep it Accurate: Yalitza Aparicio is 1st Mexican Indigenous Actor Nominated. She's Mixtec Not Latina. Key issue is Indigenous visibility. Last year Cherokee Wes Studi presented at #Oscars, but Native Am/indigenous actors have been largely missing. hiplatina.com/yalitza-aparic
I want to send out a huge shoutout to all the students, especially BIPOC and first generation students, about to complete their first year of any graduate program during a pandemic. You are all rockstars. 🤜
When the Black Panthers and Young Lords Teamed Up to Fight Addiction with Acupuncture hyperallergic.com/647044/dope-is
To all the faculty of color out there who are hired through double appointments know these arrangements have little to do with privilege & more w. exploitative practices that allow depts to remain white dominant spaces by double counting faculty of color who are barely seen there
"Indigenous people like me are left to reckon with contemporary idols like Kahlo who benefited from a digestible indigeneity...Today, the most radical honoring of Indigenous peoples is letting us tell our own narratives."
After more than 50 years of pressure from students, Stanford University has officially agreed to implement an African American Studies Department.—keep on the great job students! 👏 👏
Being a Latinx and ethnic studies scholar is an utterly political act - existing in academia, challenging canons, mentoring others: all of this is an exhausting task getting harder by the minute. Yet we are here presente and not going anywhere.
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From NBC News: "Some Latinos in academia are assessing the impact of the increasing attacks on and measures against diversity initiatives amid low numbers of tenured Latino professors and a difficult career path." nbcnews.com/news/latino/cu
I'm reading a dissertation ms where the author ends every sentence with an endnote and I can't stop thinking about the politics of overcompensation in academic writing faced by many Bipoc scholars & writers. It shouldn't be such a long road/fight to writing authoritatively.
It's been a while since I served as reviewer for major scholarly award competitions and I forgot how homogenous the pool of applicants is for these awards: most hailing from IvyLeagues and R1 universities. This is how Inequalities in academic credentials get reproduced.
Key to citational erasure is the belief that research by scholars of color is only about "race" or "ethnic studies" and does not contribute/or should be cited within the fields/areas/topics that are also key to their analyses such as urban studies, capitalism, visual studies ++
Look what I just got in the mail:: This is the book thats going to change Anthropology! (And if not, then the discipline will be officially hopeless) Via @ChicfemmZavella Sherina Feliciano Gina Perez ++
Great, except we need more TT faculty/full time positions and less “fellows” and “interns”
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"The Office of the Provost at Stanford U. is pleased to announce that it is seeking to appoint 4-5 early career fellows engaged in the study of race + ethnicity...Fellows will receive $83,000 per year compensation + a 1-time research fund of $5,000."
facultydevelopment.stanford.edu/ideal-provosti
Like other Latinas in academia I too was underpaid for decades & the truth is once you start low you never catch up. I’m so glad new generations are so much wiser/confident. This #LatinaEqualPayDay let’s ensure we end the cycle, & work towards equity & wage transparency.
Haiti independence Day- January 1, 1804 Haiti becomes first black republic in the world and first country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery. Viva 🇭🇹
Hey editors please stop asking for editorials about the term “Latinx”—So much to discuss about our community: why are you pushing this convo as if there’s only room for one term & anything else needs to be eradicated or fought against. Que lata!
This is one of the most destructive consequences of the #GarciaPeña's case: the doubts it casts on future scholars over whether they belong in academia just when they are most needed. Gente: don't forget we're here to stay & going nowhere #LatinxStudiesNow
Can someone remind me why is it that peer review journals that charge subscriptions and demand payment to access published articles still rely on the free labor of “invited” reviewers?
Hispanic Latino Latina Latin@ Latine Latinx -This heritage month less remember it's not the labels, but the projects & social movements behind such labels we should be focusing on in order to build, & move forward more inclusive & anti-racist projects, policies & representations
Mexico City to swap Columbus statue for one of indigenous woman-
Hey please mention context! This is due to #LinsMiranda support of #Promesa which is robbing students & residents to pay bond holders.
Focus on Renata Flores, Peru’s Queen of Quechua Rap, and part of a Quechua language/culture renaissance throughout the Americas <3
Every year I’m more convinced I wouldn’t make it in today’s academia. So grateful to CUNY open admissions policy that allowed me to enter a PhD program as a non-matriculated student, & saddened this/other paths are no longer available to many qualified students #AcademicTwitter
We are grateful & ready to work! Gets $750,000 Grant from “I trust the news will inspire many other such projects to develop & thrive throughout U.S. universities, where Latinx studies has been historically invisible.”
"Don't be afraid to make community with your students- and to co-create with them" closing words #CommunityAsRebellion.
Worst thing about the academy is seeing brilliant, confident/outspoken young people turn into mush over their writing or giving public presentations. Gente- plz do not internalize the "academic stance" that you've never done enough work/are good enough because you are👊
Rest in Power Miriam Jiménez Román: foundational figure in Afro-Latinx studies, mentor of generations, powerful truth speaker & model of intellectual generosity. Solidarity to her colleagues
So honored- as so many creatives, I never thought I'd ever get this opp. Thankful and hopeful this bolster's work and what we're doing and that it helps Latinx Studies scholarship be recognized and uplifted #guggfellows2023.
Must read 🧵 about the Mexican American communities erased by the Oppenheimer film/story
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This quote, from the @nytimes review of the OPPENHEIMER film: "He served as director of a clandestine weapons lab built in a near-desolate stretch of Los Alamos, in New Mexico"...
It was inhabited by Hispanos. They were given less than 24 hr to leave. Their farms bulldozed. 1
Hey academics: There are so many brilliant Black and Latinx scholars out there right now doing amazing groundbreaking work. And ZERO excuses for not diversifying your departments Pronto! Especially #Anthropology Latin American Studies & soc sciences 💥💫
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show Latinos making up 34 percent of cases nationwide, a much higher proportion than the group’s 18 percent share of the population. nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/
Dear academic universe: Please do not ask me to endorse/blurb a book where all the contributors are white scholars -- especially if such a book is about a topic that is centrally embroiled in dynamics of identity and race. Thank you.
I wrote about how we can do better than to celebrate our heritage once a year, during Hispanic Heritage Month. Our students deserve to learn that their history is expansive and that our cultures have shaped this country since even before its inception.
The intro to my book is available- and yes I discuss racism in mainstream museums but also how it plays out in “Latino” and Latin American art spaces -because how could you not? Out in July.
dukeupress.edu/latinx-art
Thanks ! It’s here, it’s beautiful and makes me proud and excited to continue the work.
Plz do not talk about the "Latino vote" in Fl or anywhere without reading this. Miami Dade is only 3.1% of Latino vote in a powerful swing state, & Puerto Ricans voted markedly different than Cubans & "other Latinos." Latino voters exist across all 50 states
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It’s laughable that in 2020, this country still needs to be reminded, Sesame Street style, that Latinos are not a monolith & the Latino vote is a mirage. This misconception comes from how little u bother knowing us, how superficially u cover us & how absent we are in newsrooms.
Basically the title says it all. Our community deserves original productions written, produced, directed by us! Enough of this treatment of Latinx audiences as passive consumers of whatever #hollywoodsowhite dishes at us
An Exhibition Made for and by the Afro-Latinx Angeleno Community ❤️
"The universal framing of Latinxs as people of color erases the hegemony of whiteness and white supremacy in our communities, preventing us from addressing endemic Latinx anti-Blackness and the systematic marginalization and erasure of Black Latinxs." ==> alla.americananthro.org
In just a matter of weeks this baby will finally be a real thing 💫
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Among our new books in July is Latinx Art by @arlenedavila1, which provides an inside and critical look of the global contemporary art market.
ow.ly/pxXd50AmJIL
Better headline: Latinos are enthusiastically backing Black Lives Matter Protests, recognizing it is in everyone's material interest to fundamentally change policing in this country. nytimes.com/2020/07/03/us/
RIP salsa giant Johnny Pacheco, musician, composer, promoter and co-founder of Fania all stars. “Que cante mi gente”
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Ha fallecido Johnny Pacheco uno de los responsables del surgimiento de la salsa como un movimiento que sacudió a America y al mundo.
We all need to have our eyes in #PuertoRico and demand that this administration release relief funds withheld illegally. We can’t play politics with Peoples lives & suffering.
We’re finally a Provostial center at nyu, and here to stay. Let’s go!
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Thanks @MellonFdn for supporting our development as a newly named provostial center @nyuniversity. We will now function as “The Latinx Project: Interdisciplinary Center for Arts & Culture” -Great news for the future of Latinx Studies nationally: Let’s go!! nyu.edu/about/news-pub
Looking forward to #LatinxArt: Artists, Markets & Politics, finally out in July/August '20. Glad to see it advertised in the digital world of . Thanks
for cover art & #AmaliaMesaBains #FranklinSirmans for generous blurbs. Ahhh! 💫
dukeupress.edu/latinx-art
Just watched Miles Morales Spiderman dubbed in Spanish in a Buenos Aires theater and feel like tons was lost in the translation - no Spanglish, Brooklyn accents, slangs -- just perfect diction and tons of "bro." Perfect candidate for research on hemispheric sonic media cultures.
Faculties So White: A new report underscores how faculty diversity and student success go “hand-in-hand” and asks, “Why are university faculties so white?”
Yes to all of this: "If a U.S. media outlet today doesn’t have several Latino writers, editors and columnists it should be embarrassed and it should be hiring" Same w museums, universities & more. nytimes.com/2020/09/02/opi
Bad bunny’s Spanish language prime time TV message to graduating seniors is everything.
