Event Title
Sobreviviendo the Academic Industrial Complex: A Medicinal History of Oberlin College’s La Alianza Latina
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.
Recommended Citation
Robelo, Ana, "Sobreviviendo the Academic Industrial Complex: A Medicinal History of Oberlin College’s La Alianza Latina" (2014). Celebration of Undergraduate Research. 3.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/cour/2014/panel_01/3
Major
Latin American Studies
Award
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow (MMUF)
Project Mentor(s)
Steve Volk, History; Latin American Studies
Document Type
Presentation
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.
Notes
Session I, Panel 1 - Unequal Educations: Learning, Class, Race