Christine Vega
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Assistant Professor Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies
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Current Research Activities
How are we engaging with community partners and elevating the voices of activists to address needs in their communities? How can academics and partners engage in humanistic and practical research to benefit larger communities, particularly, communities of color? I am currently working on beginning my research about Tía Chucha's Centro Cultural in the Northeast San Fernando Valley. I aim to conduct listening tours with assigned time to learn about the current needs. Additionally, I will look at their archives since the cultural center opened its doors in 2001. Lastly, I will interview and work with/for the community who have been active in the establishment of programming and activism in the community space. What I am to learn and argue, is to recenter cultural spaces as locations of transformative resistance and are the heart and spirit of Ethnic Studies in Education.
Research Connections to Current Events
Ethnic Studies is under scrutiny at the local, state, and national levels. Banning people of color histories is dangerous and problematic. Therefore, my current RSCA work provides locations of hope through my activities in research and engagement with community. Not only is my research crucial in leading discussions on and about Ethnic Studies Education, I am also supporting the next generation of students/scholars at SJSU be the leading force to engage in transformative work in the academy and in the community.
Personal Connections to Research
My personal journey towards higher education motivates me to pursue work with the community emphasizing on Ethnic Studies Education research. I am inspired by San Jose Activist Scholars such as Josie Mendez-Negrete's book "Activist Leaders of San Jose: En sus propias voces" (2020). Additionally, the work of Chicana/o Studies professor and LA Poet Laureate , Luis J. Rodriguez's edited book, "Rushing Waters, Rising Dreams: How the Arts Are Transforming a community" (2012) is inspiring for me to return back to my community and conduct research of my youth activist consciousness awareness and oral histories project with the community. Lastly, the powerful work of Dolores Delgado Bernal who engaged her dissertation on the 1968 East LA Blowouts and historicizing the narrative of Chicana/o Movement is important for me to set a foundation in conducting important research. It is a personal goal to do important work for and by my community with the skills gained as a scholar-activist and center my community as part of the larger canon on Ethnic Studies Education.
