“Fiesta Centenario,” a colorful observance on Thursday, Sept. 16, of Mexican Independence Day’s bicentennial, begins a year-long celebration of the Chicano and Latin American Studies Department’s 40th anniversary at California State University, Fresno.
The day’s activities, which are free and open to the public, start with an informational fair at 3 p.m. at the Satellite Student Union. Music is planned as representatives of the university’s Latino student organizations staff booths and the fair will be followed with a performance by Fresno State’s Los Danzantes de Aztlán.
A panel of speakers at 6 p.m. will discuss the significance of the independence of Mexico and other Latin American countries. The focus also will be on contemporary issues facing Latinos in the United States, including Arizona laws, immigration and the impact of drugs and associated violence in Mexico and along the border.
Among the panelists are Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, 1988 Mexico presidential candidate, and Dr. José Luis Talancón E., director of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Los Angeles. The moderator is Dr. Maria Lopes, a Chicano and Latin American Studies professor at Fresno State.
In the spirit of the university’s year-long Centennial celebration, short videos wishing Fresno State a happy 100thbirthday will be taped in Spanish throughout the event by guests.
Established as La Raza Studies during the height of the Civil Rights Movement at the end of the 1960s, the department has grown as a symbol of academic progress and a source of pride for Latinos, who account for almost half the central San Joaquin Valley residents. Fresno State’s Latino enrollment was approximately 36 percent in fall 2009.
Other major events planned this year include a Nov. 20 commemoration of 40 years of Chicano and Latin American Studies at Fresno State and its acclaimed Los Danzantes de Aztlán. The event will pay tribute to professor Ernesto Martínez, a founding member of the department and of Los Danzantes de Aztlán, who died in June.
Nov. 20 also is the centennial of the revolt that began the Mexican Revolution.
The Mexican Independence Day celebration – also known as El Dieciséis de Septiembre (16th of September) – is presented by the Department of Chicano and Latin American Studies and the Central Valley Latin American Project. Sponsors include the College of Social Sciences and the Mexican Consulate in Fresno.
For more information, call 559.278.6097.
University Communications news intern Christy Patron contributed to this copy
