By Michael Rosen-Molina
Daily Bruin Staff
Beginning today, the UCLA Conference on Mexican Literature and
Culture for the Millennium aims to explore the diverse art and
heritage of Mexico and the border United States.
“We decided to celebrate the millennium by focusing on
contemporary aspects of Mexican culture,” said John Skirius,
UCLA associate professor of Spanish. “We worked hard to bring
together scholars and artists in many different fields.”
Speakers will comment on various aspects of Chicano arts,
including literature, film, music and dance. With experts from both
Mexico and the United States, the affair will be presented with
segments in both Spanish and English.
“The whole idea is to discuss Mexican culture today and
where it’s going,” said Randal Johnson, chairman of the
UCLA Department of Spanish and Portuguese. “We place a major
emphasis on forming closer ties with Mexico. As Californians,
it’s important to better understand Mexico because
we’re in such close proximity, both in terms of distance and
culture.”
Skirius will play moderator for the first panel, a discussion on
music, dance, publishing and photography. Composer Daniel Catan
will discuss Mexican composers at the end of the century, while
John Mraz, research professor at the Autonomous University of
Puebla, will examine the role of photojournalism in forging a
Mexican national identity.
Ballet Director of the National Autonomous University of Mexico,
Gloria Contrereas, looks back over her dance career and reads from
her recent autobiography, “Diary of a Ballerina.”
The conference includes two panels on literature, one dealing
with established Mexican writers while the other is concerned with
up-and-coming authors. Hosted by Efrain Kristal, UCLA professor of
Spanish and comparative literature, the discussion “Mexican
Literature Today” asks if Mexican literature has left behind
regional themes to appeal to a universal audience.
On the “Mexican Film” panel, film critic Carlos
Bonfi will deliver a lecture titled “Beyond Optimism: Mexican
Cinema, the Challenge of Political Change and New Media.”
“Bonfi gives an honest appraisal of problems in cultural
production; it’s a mix of optimism and pessimism. He suggests
that the Mexican film industry may be in crisis, but that new media
expressions like video and television may compensate,”
Skirius said.
UCLA Film and Television Vice Chair Chon Noriega will look at a
sequence of films on the Mexican revolution, showing the
development of the revolutionary melodrama genre.
David Maciel, director of Chicano Studies at Cal State
University, Dominguez Hills, will discuss the newspaper campaign to
oppose government censorship.
“For example, the official state party disliked Luis
Estrada’s “˜The Law of Herod,’ a film noir style
parody of Orson Welles’ “˜A Touch of Evil.’ The
movie dealt with corruption in Mexican politics,” Skirius
said.
“Border Culture and Mexican Identity” explores the
issues involved in living on the border between two countries.
“This panel looks at how proximity to a border affects
national identity,” Johnson said. “Factors like that
affect the way that people in different cultures see each other.
Sometimes a border can be an artificial construct.”
To illustrate the point, Johnson cited the example of certain
Native American tribes that lived along the Arizona-Mexican
border.
“They were used to crossing back and forth, living on both
sides of the border, and this arbitrary line has caused them some
problems. Things like this can have a major impact on a
culture.”
The final panel, “Mexican and Chicano Art” includes
Chicana muralist Judith Baca.
“Baca is a well-known muralist who puts an emphasis on
realism,” Adriana Pergero said. “Not only is she a
professor at the César Chávez Center for Chicano Studies,
she is was also a pioneer of the Chicano wall mural movement in Los
Angeles.”
The UCLA Conference on the Mexican Literature and Culture for
the Millennium is unusual in that it does not concentrate on any
particular art form, but unites experts from a variety of
fields.
“These are all the top people in their areas,”
Skirius said. “It’s very unusual to have so many
different disciplines come together. These conferences rarely have
such a broad scope, but this fact gives this one a wider
appeal.”
CONFERENCE: The Conference on the Mexican Literature and Culture
for the Millennium will be held today and Friday from 9 a.m. to 6
p.m. in the Hacienda Room of the UCLA Faculty Center. Admission is
free to the public.