The Chicano and Latin American Studies Department at California State University, Fresno continues its year-long 40th anniversary celebration – as part of the campus Centennial observance – at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 19, in the Satellite Student Union.
With the theme, “Del Saber el Campo, al Campo de Saber: From the Agricultural Field, to the Field Of Knowledge,” the event is free and open to the public.
Former faculty members return for what will also be a tribute to the late Ernesto Martinez, an original faculty member of the then-La Raza Studies Program and founder of Los Danzantes de Aztlán, the Department’s Mexican folkloric dance program that also is an official ambassador of the CSU.
Martinez died in June and had been scheduled to be one of the featured speakers. The event also will feature a special performance by Los Danzantes.
Dr. Michael Soldatenko, assistant professor in the Department of Chicano Studies in California State University, Los Angeles is the keynote speaker.
Former faculty members returning are former chairs Dr. Alex Saragoza, now at UC Berkeley, Dr. Lea Ybarra, now at Johns Hopkins University and Ricardo Duran (retired).
Cristina Herrera, assistant Chicano and Latin American Studies professor, said the celebration will highlight a 40-year struggle to legitimize Chicano and Latin American Studies as a field of study.
“The preservation of Chicano and Latin American Studies after 40 years attests to the necessity and importance of ethnic studies on this campus and on campuses nationwide,” Herrera said.
The event also is sponsored by Los Danzantes, the College of Social Sciences, Trabajadores de la Raza, Sigma Omega Nu and Nu Alpha Kappa.
For more information, contact Ambar Alvarez Soto at 559.278.6097
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