Event Title

Sobreviviendo the Academic Industrial Complex: A Medicinal History of Oberlin College’s La Alianza Latina

Presenter Information

Ana Robelo, Oberlin College

Location

Science Center A254

Start Date

9-26-2014 1:30 PM

End Date

9-26-2014 3:20 PM

Abstract

Utilizing Aurora Levins Morales’s concepts of the organic intellectual and medicinal history, this project will use archival documents to trace and uncover the history of Oberlin College’s La Alianza Latina (LAL), formerly La Union. Breaking away from the notion that legitimate scholarly work must be removed and impartial, medicinal histories seek to uncover power dynamics and declare the author’s relationship to and investment in the object of study, recognizing the importance of knowledge and collective testimonio that reject reliance on academic jargon and embrace organic, homemade theory. I will center the lived experiences of Latin@ students at Oberlin College since 1972 in order to understand better the purpose, potential, strengths, and limitations of cultural/political student organizations within the academic industrial complex. Written materials such as meeting notes, budgets, letters, posters, photos, newspapers, and publications will serve as the basis for building institutional memory. After my initial research, I will collect oral histories from alumni, current students, and faculty members to fill in gaps from the archives. By attempting to collect and share the pieces of La Alianza’s history—as influenced by Third World feminism, Latina feminisms, the Chicano movement, Central American and Puerto Rican solidarity movements, and the Third World Liberation Front—that are by far unavailable to its members, I hope to establish a better foundation for developing a nuanced understanding of the group’s current challenges and how to address them. This will be a step not only toward investigating what power LAL has exercised to influence Oberlin College and its history, but also toward becoming more active participants in the creation of our own histories.

Notes

Session I, Panel 1 - Unequal Educations: Learning, Class, Race

Major

Latin American Studies

Award

Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow (MMUF)

Project Mentor(s)

Steve Volk, History; Latin American Studies

Document Type

Presentation

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Sep 26th, 1:30 PM Sep 26th, 3:20 PM

Sobreviviendo the Academic Industrial Complex: A Medicinal History of Oberlin College’s La Alianza Latina

Science Center A254

Utilizing Aurora Levins Morales’s concepts of the organic intellectual and medicinal history, this project will use archival documents to trace and uncover the history of Oberlin College’s La Alianza Latina (LAL), formerly La Union. Breaking away from the notion that legitimate scholarly work must be removed and impartial, medicinal histories seek to uncover power dynamics and declare the author’s relationship to and investment in the object of study, recognizing the importance of knowledge and collective testimonio that reject reliance on academic jargon and embrace organic, homemade theory. I will center the lived experiences of Latin@ students at Oberlin College since 1972 in order to understand better the purpose, potential, strengths, and limitations of cultural/political student organizations within the academic industrial complex. Written materials such as meeting notes, budgets, letters, posters, photos, newspapers, and publications will serve as the basis for building institutional memory. After my initial research, I will collect oral histories from alumni, current students, and faculty members to fill in gaps from the archives. By attempting to collect and share the pieces of La Alianza’s history—as influenced by Third World feminism, Latina feminisms, the Chicano movement, Central American and Puerto Rican solidarity movements, and the Third World Liberation Front—that are by far unavailable to its members, I hope to establish a better foundation for developing a nuanced understanding of the group’s current challenges and how to address them. This will be a step not only toward investigating what power LAL has exercised to influence Oberlin College and its history, but also toward becoming more active participants in the creation of our own histories.