Xicana Tiahui Podcast

Xicanacimiento: Chicanx Studies as a Life-Giving Force

How do we know in Chicanx Studies? In this episode, we are joined by Dra. Irene Vasquez, Chair of the Department of Chicana/o Studies at the University of New Mexico (UNM), to discuss Chicana/o/x Studies. The Xicana Tiahui crew learns about Irene’s educational journey and the origins of her commitment to Chicana/o Studies. From UCLA’s Hunger Strike to the departmentalization of Chicana/o Studies at UNM, Dr. Vasquez has been on the frontlines of the struggle for Chicana/o Studies and reflects on the lessons learned on this path, the hard realities of navigating academic institutions, and the beauty of working with communities seeking justice and knowledge. As a collective, we dialogue about the values and ethics that have emerged throughout the development of the field and meditate on the future directions of Chicanx Studies in the academy and most importantly within our communities. 

Heart to Heart: Third Cinema, Postcolonial Theory, and Critical Inquiry

In this episode, we are joined by compa Targol Mesbah, current Anthropology and Social Change professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies and activist-organizer. Targol reflects on the influences and experiences that guided her interest in photography, Third World Cinema, Post-Colonial Theory, and Critical Inquiry. We learn about Targol’s intellectual trajectory and its critical intervention in theories of representation and visual culture. As a collective, we explore our relationships to learning and academia and discuss the possibilities of spaces of learning for transformation and the meaning of creating community collectives and nourishing spaces. 

México Negro: La Lucha Por Historia, Cultura, y Comunidad

En este episodio, la Dra. Doris Careaga-Coleman de la Universidad de Nuevo México (UNM), nos acompaña para platicar sobre el movimiento de los pueblos Afro-Mejicanos. Brevemente exploramos la presencia histórica y la fundación de la cultura Negra en la tela de la Mexicanidad. Doris nos comparte sobre los esfuerzos contemporáneos que se han manifestado en varias partes de México. Nos cuenta sobre su experiencia como Afro-Mexicana y las costumbres de su comunidad en Tamiahua, Veracruz que ha reforzado su orgullo de ser mujer Negra. Al concluso de la plática, la Dra. comparta la necesidad de los Estudios Chicanas y Chicanos en promover los Estudios Afro-Mejicanos y Afro-Chicana/os y visualizar futuros Negra/o/xs.

White Supremacy Strikes Back!

After the white supremacist seizure of the capital in January, the Xicana Tiahui crew alongside the compa NM, reflect on the bubbling white supremacist actions erupting around us. We take a deep dive into the various organizations that promote white supremacy and who have taken a stance that is rooted in politics “from below and to the right”. We ponder on what it means for subversive white supremacy organizations to take anti-capitalist and anti-modern stances. What does it mean for our communities when white supremacist organizations co-op language of the left? What does it mean when white supremacists challenge structures that have been inherently created to benefit them? Music feature credit: Jag Arreola, "Fuerza Guerrera II" (Prod. Accosta the Man).

Cumfessions del Corazón from a Butch Chicana

In this steamy episode, the Xicana Tiahui crew “chap it up” with Claudia Rodriguez as she returns on this special Valentine's Day episode. Sharing her erotic poetry, Claudia creates the space for us to explore the need for pleasure and vulnerability in our sexual encounters and the importance of creating sex-positivity dialogues in our homes and community. Check out more of Claudia’s writing at: http://rodriguezwriter.blogspot.com/

Remembering Butchlalis: Chicanas Queering La Panocha

In this episode the Xicana Tiahui crew hangouts with Claudia Rodriguez, scholar, writer, and teatrista. Claudia reflects on her journey as a Queer Chicana writer and her role in creating Butchalis de Panochtitlan, which functioned as space for Chicanas to own, claim, and celebrate their Butch identities. We talk about why theater and Queer theater specifically is overlooked in the field of Chicana/o/x studies and the critical role artists make in producing knowledge for La Chicanada.

The Mixed Race Damnés: Existentialism, Coloniality, and People-of-Color Organizing

In this episode, Xicana Tiahui sits down with Dr. Daphne V. Taylor-Garcia, professor of Ethnic Studies at UC San Diego, to discuss her book, The Existence of the Mixed Race Damnes: Decolonialism, Class, Gender, Race (2018). Centering her mixed background as critical to informing her work, Dr. Taylor-Garcia shares with us her familial background, growing up in Toronto, Canada, and the experiences she faced transplanting to California. We contextualize her work and the impact her book has made on the field of Chicana/o Studies, Ethnic Studies, and coalitional organizing.

Queer Xicana Indígena Root Work

In this episode, the compas of Xicana Tiahui are in conversation with Chicanx Studies professor Susy J. Zepeda from UC Davis. We engage various topics, ideas, and directions that start from the intellectual and activist thrust of Dr. Zepeda's journey through academia that leads us to questions of worldmaking as La Xicanada in the United States.

[Entre Nos] Our Reflections on Chicanx World-Making

In this episode, the compas of Xicana Tiahui foster a space of reflection to discuss our personal growths and understandings of Chicanx World-Making. Engaging in a cyclical discussion, the crew checks in and offers their takes on the possibilities of meaning infused in world-making and the ways a Chicanx world-making can take place in our everyday life.

Civilization of Death: Coloniality of Power and the Decolonial Imperative

In this episode, the Xicana Tiahui crew hangs out with Profe Roberto D. Hernandez from the Department of Chicana/o Studies at San Diego State University. Roberto delves into his intellectual origins and inspirations that grew from his experiences along the U.S./Mexico border in San Ysidro. Discussing his current work and projects, Roberto highlights the Zapatista engagement of the civilization of death as a framework to help us understand the systems/institutions of destruction that are rampant in our communities and lives. Profe Roberto however reminds us of the power of world-making and the need for a decolonial imperative as a mechanism to obtain a dignified life. #decolonialimperative 

Music: Subsistencia, "Ehécatl," from Nuestra Tierra Anahuac (1998)