Chican@ Artivistas (artist/activists) in East Los Angeles neighborhoods utiize art and creative expression to deconstruct power, challenge multiple patriarchal systems, and build community. From renewed hope, imaginaries erupt as Chican@ artivistas channel the power and practice of music, art and culture as tools of “convivencia.” In dialogue with translocal Mexican communities, Chican@ artivistas have developed techniques to harness artistic and creative power to transform and rebuild various sectors of their communities. Drawing from Gonzalez’s first book manuscript, Chican@ Artivistas: Music, Community, and Transborder Tactics in East Los Angeles (2000), Gonzalez will give a multimedia lecture presentation where she will discuss the roots that give way to “artivista” identity and the transformative pedagogies that have developed as a result.
Lecturer
Martha Gonzalez
Associate Professor of Chicanx-Latinx Studies at Scripps College and Director of the Scripps College Humanities Institute