Society and Culture

By Julienne Lauler

Upon my supervisor’s request, I attended an event last week at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) here in Washington, D.C.; it was the launch of a report titled “Local Justice in Southern Sudan”, documenting the local judicial systems in southern Sudan ahead of January’s referendum for southern secession. Glancing at the title (and length) of the report, I anticipated a tedious and bore-inducing presentation, and filled my coffee cup to the brim in preparation for the hours ahead. I took a seat in the front row, because presumably falling asleep would be difficult if the speakers were in close proximity.

Upon sitting down, however, the event became tremendously more exciting, and my fears of falling asleep mid-discussion were nulled. The reason for this sudden change of heart? Occupying the seat next to me was none other than Dr. Akec Khoc Acieu, the Sudanese ambassador to the United States.

What’s more raucous than road rage and ambulance sirens along Los Angeles roads? Talk in the town – discourse regarding the 7.0* magnitude earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12, 2010. Many stories are nothing but shattered glass. Coming from all avenues, they pierce our emotions with the same message: Haiti is a victim beseeching “heroic” western countries for aid. However, the concept of international aid needs reconstruction. During crises, what does agency really mean and who has it? Digging deeper beneath the rubble of public misunderstandings, the UCLA community unearths a clearer, more holistic picture – a picture of Haiti Rising.

On March 5, 2010, the public attended a free information forum about Haiti. International Development Studies students and faculty organized the event by collaborating with African Studies, History, the Bunche Center for African American Studies, the UCLA Center for Black Studies Research, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. Support came from the UCLA Graduate Division, International Institute and event attendees.

Panelists presented different perspectives on Haiti’s situation, converging on the main theme of empowering local Haitian communities and being sensitive to their cultures and needs.

Nick Entrikin, Vice Provost of International Studies, delivered the welcome remarks. He expressed that despite land devastation, the human spirit remains robust. Natural disasters have occurred throughout history, but the January earthquake was so severe because Haiti’s underlying poverty and human injustices exacerbated nature’s havoc. While people attend to immediate concerns of infrastructure and human health, something is forgotten: the psychological loss of everyday social order. Listen to the speech: 5min, 30 sec

Claudine Michel, professor of Black Studies at UCSB, read “A Poem for Haiti” (by A-lan Holt). One of several messages was that you may never see Haiti but can still feel what it is like to break. Listen: 2:30

Claudine Michel then spoke about grassroots efforts and community mobilization. In the aftermath, there were many faces without names and a nation knocked off balance. She called for reconstructing history, knowledge and the self – a rebuilding of one community at a time, one sacred space at a time. Prof. Michel also spoke about the Bibliothéque du Soleil (French for “library of the sun”) project in the town of Carre-Four Feuilles. It was a place of literacy, community and solace. Listen: 11:33.

Robin Derby, UCLA professor of History, discussed how violence cuts across all social classes. All rungs of the socioeconomic ladder have been rattled, and elites are no longer so safe on top. She presented video clips of herself interviewing Haitian civilians in the marketplace. Among some of their concerns were lost remittances (which many poor individuals relied upon for livelihoods) and not knowing their family members’ whereabouts. Derby subsequently discussed death’s enduring place in Haitian culture, as well as the scant aid allocated to rural areas – a zone to which 500,000 refugees have fled. Listen: 10:10

Robert Hill, UCLA professor of History, gave an unscripted talk about his struggle to understand why he mourns for Haiti. Death encompasses excruciating repetition. It seems like Haiti’s hope and beauty has been replaced with powerlessness. However, Hill acknowledged that healthy mourning can be empowering. It can unite dispirited individuals under a common destiny. Haitians will recover from the incident because they can tell stories of what happened. Hill emphasized that storytelling remedies human madness. Listen: 05:23

Don Cosentino, UCLA professor of World Arts & Cultures, discussed art and religion. Many symbolic buildings in Haiti, including art galleries and temples, were obliterated. However, death was not considered an enemy. Rather, it was the continuation of life. To illustrate various ideas, Dr. Cosentino showed a framed New Yorker magazine cover and a bottle composed of detritus. Listen: 14:30

Russell Stockard, Cal Lutheran professor of Communication, talked about media representations being financially motivated, and what related policy implications are. Audio is unavailable. Apologies to Dr. Stockard: without an intermission, transferring data out of the full memory card occurred during his speech.

Nandini Gunewardena, UCLA professor of International Development Studies, discussed how neoliberal policies jeopardized human security. Privatization, deregulation and cut backs in social safety nets eroded locals’ agency, access and control of their own livelihoods. The dream of transforming Haiti into the “Taiwan of the Caribbean” was extinguished. Gunewardena was suspicious of the March 9-10 investment summit in Miami, noting that many of its players were from privatized entities. With predatory capital running amuck, neoliberal firms forgo transparency, bypass civil society and portray locals as development disruptors. During this process, human insecurities dwindle. Thus, Gunewardena urges for the empowerment of NGOs and civilians on the ground. Listen: 08:41

Coming soon: Power Point presentation by Gunewardena

A Q&A concluded the night. Topics:

• How will Haitians be represented in the Investment Summit and general development dialogue? Do they need green technology or houses?
• How will the Haitians be affected by the Chilean earthquake?
• What are the ethical implications of journalists who attempt alleviating traumatic situations that they were supposed to objectively report? Who are these stories truly about? -CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper’s roles; -Prof. Michel’s emotional account of “the murder of Anaika by CNN”
• Can we equip Haitians with new media tools such as Twitter and blogs?

Listen: 24:18

Coming soon: panelists’ biographies

*earthquake.usgs.gov.

By Amy Ta

I left Vietnam for America in 1992. I’ll be leaving UCLA in 2010. While I make another transition in my life, one thing remains the same: my ethnicity. I’ve been thinking about what it means to be an Asian American – especially one at UCLA, where diversity is found along the corridors of Royce Hall, between the book shelves at Powell library, and within the pages of the Daily Bruin newspaper. I’m glad that “Define Asian American” will not appear on my final exam – because I can’t find a concrete answer.

At least I have experiences – plenty of them throughout my undergraduate years at UCLA. I’ve taken classes in International Development Studies and cross-cultural communication. I’ve worked for the African-American Studies Interdepartmental Program. I’ve gone on study and volunteer abroad programs to Czech Republic, New Zealand and Thailand. I’ve produced radio news stories about student-organized culture shows. I’ve helped organize events and multimedia recaps of them for the Burkle Center — UCLA’s hub for international affairs. Most importantly, I’ve met peers, professors and colleagues who are African, Australian, Austrian, French, Polish, Scottish, English, Irish, Jamaican, Colombian, Laotian, Japanese, Korean, Cambodian….the list goes on. So maybe my ethnicity is all of the above.

I’m Amy Ta. As my undergraduate career is ending, I recently discovered how UCLA’s Ethnic Studies began. The field resulted from a campus struggle for “diversity, access and inclusion.” I learned this from a family festival marking the debut of the Fowler Museum’s exhibition called “Art, Activism, Access: 40 Years of Ethnic Studies at UCLA.” The festival also featured music performances, poetry readings, drawing rooms. I give you a photographic tour of the exhibition, organized according to each ethnic department.

The four Ethnic Studies centers sold publications in the Fowler Museum’s 1^st Floor Goldenberg Galleria from 12:00-5:00pm. The Museum doors opened into the Art, Activism, Access exhibit.

A mural beside the entrance of the Lucas gallery. We’ve come a long way to achieve justice in America…but we’re not done yet.

A large mural upon entrance into the exhibit in the 1^st floor Lucas Gallery.

Chancellor Charles E. Young established four centers in 1969: the American Indian Studies Center, Asian American Studies Center, Bunche Center for African American Studies, and the Chicano Studies Research Center. Art, Activism, Access: 40 Years of Ethnic Studies at UCLA shows how these centers addressed concerns of underrepresented groups during the past four decades.

Commemorating the 1969 founding of Ethnic Studies Research Centers

“We students wanted to make sure the center didn’t become just an academic institution but would always have a braoder outreach to both students and the off-campus community. I don’t think that would’ve happened if there hadn’t been so much student involvement”. – Amy Uyematsu, first publication director, Asian American Studies Center.

American Indian Studies

From Nov. 1969 to Jun. 1971, activist Richard Oakes and eighty students of the UCLA American Indian Studies Center occupied Alcatraz Island – along with roughly 100 American Indians. The event brought international scrutiny to the U.S. government’s policies on termination and assimilation. Thereafter, Congress passed bills supporting tribal self-rule. There were major increases in funding to American Indian health care, education and economic growth.

Asian American Studies

Students said racism was why Harvard-educated Don T. Nakanishi, professor in Education and Asian American Studies, was denied tenure in 1987.  Asian American, African American, Latino and Native American undergraduates formed a coalition to galvanize colored communities, write petitions and lobby influential political leaders. In May 1989, Chancellor Charles E. Young granted tenure to Nakanishi – who was the first Asian American professor in UCLA’s Graduate School of Education to obtain it.

The right direction.

African American Studies

“Don’t act like it didn’t happen. It happened on this campus. The blood of John and Bunchy still stains the halls of Campbell Hall.” – Elaine Brown, UCLA student who witnessed the shootings.

On Jan. 17, 1969, there was a heated discussion about which person would direct the planned program in black studies. Members of the Black Panther Party and United Slaves Organization erupted in an argument that led to fatal shootings of two Black Panther leaders – Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter and John J. Huggins.

In 1969, Angela Davis’ job as a Philosophy professor at UCLA was in jeopardy because of her Communist Party affiliation. UC Regents let her lecture without academic credit. However, black UCLA faculty said they would issue grades only if Davis’ classes were allocated full credit. In a UCLA referendum, 81% of UCLA students voted against the Regents’ decision to fire Davis. (Article from The LA Times.)

Bruin students, staff and faculty urged UCLA to withdraw financial aid from companies financing oppressive South African apartheid in the early 1980s. After 61 students were arrested after constructing a shantytown at UC Berkeley, UCLA students adopted the idea and built a “tent city” in Dickson Plaza. In 1986, the UC Regents agreed to divest $3.1 billion in South Africa. (Photo courtesy of LA Times Archives, Dept. of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library.)

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to 450 students at a civil rights rally outside Royce Hall. (Photo courtesy of the Herald Examiner Collection/Los Angeles Public Library.)

Students designed a graphic to put the brakes on the UC Regents’ anti-affirmative action decision.

Chicano/Chicana Studies

This mural by Eduardo Carillo, Saul Solache, Ramses Noriega & Sergio Hernandez symbolizes indigenous life before colonialism by Europeans, final freedom from colonialism as the serpent-phoenix rises, then corruption of governments and revolutionary mass movements aimed at correcting those wrongs.

“Either we get a department of Chicano Studies or you will see us die before your eyes.” – Jorge Mancilas, 1993.

Justice has been served for the aforementioned ethnic groups. But we all could certainly use more helpings.

One floor above the art exhibit, festival attendees enjoyed live entertainment.

1:00 pm performance: Ozomatli’s Raul Pacheco and the Immaculate Conception.

3:00 pm performance: Jazz Guitarist Kenny Burrell & impromptu tap dancer Chester Whitmore.

4:00 pm performance: Grammy-nominated members of Hiroshima.

Thank you to the Fowler Museum for putting on this eye-opening exhibit.

It’s clearer why Los Angeles is a “melting pot” — because the UCLA community lit a fire, stirred things up, and  made sure their needs were on everyone’s plates.

The secret ingredient(s) to diversity?

a) Self-recognition

b) Willpower

c) Grassroots mobilization

d) All of the above

That’s my final answer.

—

Photos are the author’s own.