Volumen XV, No. 1 (spring) - Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños

Newsletter of the Centro De Estudios Puertoriquefios * Spring 2010 * Volume I * Number 1
About Us
Centro Welcomes Dr. Iris Zavala Martinez
Distinguished Lecturer and new faculty member Dr.
Iris Zavala Martinez brings to Centro a wealth of
experience in Puerto Rican psychosocial health,
including involvement in the clinical, academic and
programmatic aspects of her field, both on the island
and the mainland. Dr. Zavala Martinez's major areas of
interest are: subjectivity, trauma (situational,
colonial), melancholia; community psychosocial health
and program development; critical psychology and
psychoanalysis; and writing as a therapeutic tool.
Acclaimed in her field, Dr. Zavala Martinez also is
committed to a vision of social justice & participating
in advocacy groups on breast cancer, producing a
video on Vieques and another against the mining of
Puerto Rican lands (Los Barrios se Oponen),
participating in a women's NGO (Taller Salud), and
serving as mentor, facilitator and consultant to various
community and professional activities.
Dr.In Zaval. Martinez.
In 2008, Dr. Zavala Martinez was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Puerto Rico
Psychological Association, and in 1992 she won the American Psychological Association Minority
Fellowship Program Achievement Award for Mental Health Public Service and the Puerto Rican Senate
Public Mental Health Service Recognition Award,
Read More ...
Outreach
Reaching Out to You
If you haven't attended one of Centro's imaginative events, projects or activities, you're missing out on
enlightening, exciting, sometimes controversial, and always satisfying cultural experiences related to
the Puerto Rican experience,
What exactly are you missing?
How about our Film Corner, forums on Puerto Rican films , introducing new works, artists, and
producers? There is Meet the Authors, celebrating their book releases or recent publications that
contribute to Puerto Rican studies, may be up your alley. Or, if you prefer, Exhibits of graphic art,
photos, and historical documents telling the story of our emigration , beautifully displayed in Centro's
library. Or do our exciting Forums, focusing on history, new research , and Puerto Rican cultural trends,
stimulate your interest?
Whatever your tastes, Centro is reaching out to you. And all of the events are free, open to the general
public , and conveniently held in the Centro Library ft Archives, on the 3rd floor of Hunter College East
Building.
Attending a Centro event offers more than knowledge and entertainment. They're a chance for you to
mingle and meet others interested in the Puerto Rican experience, to introduce your friends to Centro,
and even participate in projects, such as The Legacy Series: Those Who Made a Difference, audio·videos
that celebrate and preserve the contributions of notable Puerto Rican pioneros. The Barrios Series
focuses on the neighborhoods that are home to most mainland Puerto Ricans.
One more way to stay involved with our heritage is through this website . Schedules for all the
participatory events are posted right here on www.centropr.org - along with the latest news, requests
for proposals, job information, new research , and more.
Coming soon - Voices our virtual town square featuring works of literary and graphic art, poetry, prose,
and lots of commentary from folks like you.
Check us out, and check in at one of our Centro events!
Click Here for Spring 2010 Events ...
Research
$30,000 Allocated for Public-Policy Research
The Center for Puerto Rican Studies will use an allocation of $30,000 to support 10 much·needed
research studies focusing on the social conditions the Puerto Rican community faces in the States, and
on the public· policy implications advanced by these studies. This research , under the auspices of the
Puerto Rican Research and Policy Initiative, will support research projects addressing the social safety
net, criminal justice, neighborhood change, health, and education and economic opportunity. These
projects will be presented at the Public Policy Forum, which will be held by Centro in the fall of 2010
and will coincide with a special issue of the Centro Journal. That issue will highlight the policy issues
raised at the conference . For more information about the initiative please visit the Centro web site.
Centro Library & Archives
An addition to our Collections
The Centro Library & Archives continues to grow, this time with the donation of the papers of Ruperto
Ruiz, a commissioner on the New York State Commission for Human Rights under Gov. Nelson A.
Rockefeller. A portion of the materials, donated by his granddaughter Laura Casinelli Ruiz, has already
been received at the archives. When the entire collection arrives, it will include 10 bound volumes of
correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, and speeches, all of which serve to document
Ruiz's activities and prominent role in the community.
Ruiz , a lifelong Republican, emigrated from Puerto Rico to New York City in 1923. He was active in New
York City and federal political circles from the 1950s through the 1970s. Rockefeller appointed him to
the commission in 1962. In 1983, Ruiz retired to Puerto Rico and died in 1989.
Centro wishes to thank Ms. Casinelli Ruiz for her thoughtful donation.
Centro Exhibit Travels to Newark
The Mission: Gilberto Concepcion de Gracia
and His New York Years originally on view in
the Centro Gallery from July through
September in 2009 will re-open at the Newark
Public Library on April 29. The exhibit was
curated by Centro Senior Archivist Pedro Juan
Hernendez and Concepcion de Gracia's
daughter, Alma. Concepcion was a lawyer,
journalist, author, politician and founder of
the Puerto Rican Independence Party.
Celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of
his birth, the exhibition highlights Concepcion
de Gracia's years in New York City, 1936-1939,
and his legal, political and civic activities and
contributions.
This is the first of our archival exhibitions to
travel to another institution, and we hope it
will be one of many. As other venues display
Centro's exhibits, it spreads the word about
our institution in general and our archival
holdings in particular, as well as raising the
profile of the story of the Puerto Rican migration.
Education
Centro to Hold Cultural Competence Stakeholders Conference
Centro is planning to hold a Stakeholders Conference on May 6, 2010 as part of our Cultural Competence
Curriculum Initiative (CCCI). We expect to bring together between 60-80 Hunter College faculty
members, administrators, and graduate students. We are also inviting field-based professionals and
community partners serving Puerto Rican/Latino communities in the areas of public health, social work
and education. The Centro CCCI is funded through a 1-year grant from the U.S. Department of
Education ' s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) .
Past Events
Joe Conzo Photo Exhibit:
Black and White and Puerto
Rican All Over
While the media was focused on
the desolation and difficulties of
the South Bronx in the ' 70s and
'80s, young photographer Joe
Conzo was focusing - literally on its vitality, sense of
community and activism. His
dynamic black and white photos
of that turbulent era were on
display recently in a successful
show, "The Bronx: Mi Barrio, Mi
Orgullo," which opened March
11 in the Centro Library.
Although best known for
Celebra ling with .Joe Conzo lIre photogrllpher Madis Mom her
'v.itb. (clock\~ '&e) Ed'win Me]tilldc:<., Centro Dil"cctOl', and
Pe-.dl"O Juan Hernande-z, SenIor Archly] L
documenting the Hip Hop era,
Conzo expressed particular pride in his early work at a joyful opening night party. Conzo has
contributed five of his works to Centro .
Click here for a sideshow of the event!
Art Meets
Politics at
Centro Forum
Art and politics,
their intersection
and separation,
was the subject of
a lively forum
March 17 sponsored
by the Center for
Puerto Rican
Studies and 58
Gallery, Jersey
City. The event,
Art Against the
Grid , held in the
Hunter College faculty dining room, was moderated by Centro researcher Yasmin Ramirez . Works of
renowned political artists Juan Sanchez, representing East Coast artists, and Favianna Rodriguez ,
representing the West Coast, were on display and were the center of the panel discussion.
Among the topics discussed were the divergences and overlaps between East Coast! West Coast
contemporary artistic strategies in social activism, and how global issues of mobility, immigration and
dislocation were represented in their work and used to update analysis and further new critical
frameworks. The event was preceded and followed by a delicious repast and time for meeting and
greeting.
Click here for a sideshow of the event!
Hearing and Deaf,
They Meet the
Author
More than 100
visitors, both hearing
and deaf, filled the
faculty dining room
recently to enjoy
Centro researcher Dr.
Andres Torres talk
about his insightful,
honest, yet warm
memOir, Signing in
Puerto Rican: A
Hunter Prmost, Dr. Vita RabinOl.v1tz at the mi interpreter
Hearing Son and His
Soon Hemlq1!.lez and seated are Researcher and au tho . Al1dre
Deaf Parents. Hunter
To IT'S panelists Mary Bacheller, SeyIl1olll'.J oseph Institute for
AmenC81 Sign Language CASL); Maryann Dfaz, c rtified
interpret 't,;Lisa Santiago, Hunter CoUegc student.
Provost, Dr. Vita
Rabinowitz,
introduced Dr.
Torres, at the Meet the Author event, which was signed for the audience, many of whom were members
of the CUNY Coalition for Students with Disabilities. The reading was followed by a panel discussing
deafness today that included Maryann Diaz, certified interpreter, Lisa Santiago, Hunter College student
and Mary Bacheller, Seymour Joseph Institute for American Sign Language (ASL).
The only child of deaf Puerto Rican migrants, Dr. Torres grew up in New York City in a large, extended
family that included several deaf aunts and uncles. He told loving stories, as his dad's sign -language TV
sports announcer, and stories of difficulties, such as being an adolescent and the embarrassment of
accompanying his father to his doctors' visits. Excerpts from the book, published by the Gallaudet.
University Press, are available online: http://gupress. gallaudet. edu / excerpts/SIPR. html.
Click here for a sideshow of the event!