Hola Colegas!

We are now less than three months away from the Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS) Summer Institute which will be held July 18-21, 2012 at UC Santa Barbara. One of the highlights of the Summer Institute is the Tortuga Award Dinner which honors  one special artist, scholar, activist every year, but in 2012 we also want to acknowledge the many significant accomplishments of all our members. Please send your accolades to my email address:  ude.bscu.tscihcobfsctd-499cda@adia. We look forward to learning and celebrating with you this summer!

Abrazos,
Aida Hurtado, UCSB Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies and
Luis Leal Endowed Chair, 2012 Summer Institute Site Chair

El Mundo Zurdo: An International Conference
on the Life and Work of Gloria E. Anzaldúa
May 16-19, 2011
University of Texas, San Antonio

For more information contact:
Prof. Norma E. Cantú, Department of English, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249; (210)458-5134 (office)

Colorlines Magazine’s Seth Freed Wessler recently won a Hillman Prize in Web Journalism for this article on the impact of ICE raids and deportations on children. Based on work from the Applied Research Center in Berkeley, CA, the article is part of a series that document:

that at least 5,100 children whose parents are detained or deported are currently in foster care around the United States. That number represents a conservative estimate of the total, based on extensive surveys of child welfare case workers and attorneys and analysis of national immigration and child welfare trends. Many of the kids may never see their parents again.

These children, many of whom should never have been separated from their parents in the first place, face often insurmountable obstacles to reunifying with their mothers and fathers. Though child welfare departments are required by federal law to reunify children with any parents who are able to provide for the basic safety of their children, detention makes this all but impossible. Then, once parents are deported, families are often separated for long periods. Ultimately, child welfare departments and juvenile courts too often move to terminate the parental rights of deportees and put children up for adoption, rather than attempt to unify the family as they would in other circumstances.

While anecdotal reports have circulated about children lingering in foster care because of a parent’s detention or deportation, our investigation provides the first evidence that the problem occurs on a large scale. If these cases continue mounting at the same pace over the next five years, 15,000 children of detained and deported mothers and fathers will likely be separated from their parents and languish in U.S. foster homes.

An excellent series; check it out at Colorlines here.

In collaboration with the UCSB site committee, MALCS seeks artwork for the Summer Institute’s promotional materials that reflects the values of MALCS and this year conference’s theme, “Todos somos Arizona: Confronting the Attack on Difference.”   MALCS invites self-identified Women of Color/Indigenous artists, and/or art collectives to submit an original design . The chosen work will be used for the Summer Institutes’ program cover, as well as additional promotional materials for the conference. Please submit all designs by Monday, May 21 to moc.liamgobfsctd-39fc77@bscu2102sclam.  Include your name, address, email, phone number, short bio (200 words max), title of design (if applicable), and artwork (must be at least 300 dpi).

DEADLINE TO APPLY: Monday, May 21, 2012 [Read more…] about Call for Artists: Design Institute Program Cover