To Chicago-area Latino and Latin American Studies Specialists:

What follows is a series of announcements related to the activities of the Chicago Latino/Latin American Cultural Studies Area (LACASA Chicago), especially with regard to the congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), Sept. 24-26, and our planned post-LASA Conference, Mapping Latino/Latin American Chicago (MLAC), Sept. 27-29. 

There will be a whole sequence of sessions on Latin American Chicago (see the forthcoming list) at LASA, 9/25, and our MLAC conference will most specifically focus on Chicago Tuesday, 9/29.  These programs will help launch UIC's Latin American Studies Program graduate concentration (see the brochure at the LACASA LASA booth). 

We urge you to VOLUNTEER for LASA and/or for LACASA's table, to visit the table, to attend and bring students and friends to LACASA's post-LASA MLAC Conference.  If you're able to provide housing for any post-LASA visitors (students, etc.) or wish further information, please communicate with us as indicated below (see addresses below).

We hope you will take special interest in our plans and will attend one or more of the activities to be mentioned.  Take a  look at our ever-improving web page, now with its first visuals (see address below). 

1.  MAPPING LATINO/LATIN AMERICAN CHICAGO (MLAC): THEORETICAL  AND CULTURAL DIMENSIONS  IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION

A UIC Campus/Community Post- LASA Conference, Sept. 27-29

Sponsored by UIC's Latin American Studies Program and Great Cities Institute, and LACASA Chicago Co-Sponsored by UIC's Nuveen Center of International Relations, Department of Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese, the Institute for the Humanities, the UIC Globalization Study Group, the CCSL and the Rafael Cintron Ortiz Latino Cultural Center

The Chicago Latin American/Latino Activities and Studies Arena (LACASA CHICAGO),  along with the Latin American Studies Program, and the Great Cities Institute of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) announces its  post-Latin American Studies Association (LASA) meeting, Mapping Latino/Latin American Chicago (MLAC), to be held at UIC September 28-29.Attendance at the conference is free of charge, with minimal fees for receptions, lunches and our day-long bustrip to Chicago's Latino neighborhoods, 9/27.  See below for further information.

MLAC  will involve key Latin American and Latino Cultural Studies specialists already present in the city to participate in LASA, for the purpose of meeting with Chicago and Midwest Latin Americanist and Latino Studies scholars and cultural workers and activists to explore  the history, present state and future implications of Chicago's Latino emergence, and to theorizie the parameters for the study of Chicago as a hybrid but signicantly Latin Americanized city for the twenty-first Century.     Framing presentations will be given by Professors Arjun Appadurai of the Universidad de Chicago and Nestor Garcia Canclini of the Universidad Metropolitana de Mexico, speaking on urban, ethnic and Latin American matters germane to the conference topics.  A lineup of distinguished speakers is joining the fray as presenters or conferees. 

A few slots are still available for participation in the conference; and local interested parties might be especially attracted to the Tuedsday afternoon program.  LACASA Chicago will seek housing with colleagues and to join us let us know if you want to provide housing!  The program is not yet official, but it will be available soon in draft, even as final changes are made.  If you are interested in participating and/or attending, please notify us at our email address.  For further information about LACASA and MLAC please consult our quickly-developing web page as indicated.

The Latino/Latin American Cultural Activities and Studies Arena of Chicago (LACASA CHICAGO) of the Movimiento Artstico Chicano (MARCH) announces its new book:

NEW WORLD [DIS]ORDERS AND PERIPHERAL STRAINS: Specifying Cultural Dimensions in Latin American and Latino Cultural Studies

Michael Piazza and Marc Zimmerman, Editors. Hugo Achugar, Arturo Arias, Elizam Escobar, Ileana Rodrguez and others on

globalization, transnational patterns, postmodernity, hybridity, subalternity.

MARCH/Abrazo Press.  P.O. Box 2890.  Chicago, IL 60690.  ISBN 1-877636-16-9.   Price:  $15.95.   $2.00p/h first book and $1.00 for additional.  Fax order: (773) 539-0013.; email: marczim@uic.edu.  Website: http://www.uic.edu/~marczim. 

Visit the LACASA Chicago Booth #734 in the LASA Book Exhibit:  

• Cultural Studies & Chicago/U.S. Latino books, Latin Am. Lit. by LASA presentersfeaturing New World [Dis]Orders &  new Ta Chucha Press Chicago Latino poetry collection, Shards of Light/Astillas de Luz. 
• Masks, ex-votos, silkscreens, jewelry, provided by COLLAGE de las Amricas-Chicago's Latin American/Caribbean handicraft center.  1520 N. Milwaukee Ave. Chicago, IL 60622 (tel. 773-252-2562).
• Info. about Mapping Latino/Latin American Chicago (MLAC) Conf., UIC (Sept. 27-29); the Chicago Latinos Paint their City Art Exhibit & UIC's new Latin American Studies Graduate  concentration.
• Reduced-price tickets for Adios LASA/Hola Post-LASA Reception. Chicago Latino Writers, Sones de Mxico (music).  HotHouse, 31 E. Balbo (a few blocks south of Palmer House), Sat., Sept. 26, 6 p.m.
• Attend LASA Reading by Achy Obejas, Carlos Cumpin, David Hernndez & Luis Rodrguez: Chicago Latino Writers/ Write their World.  Session Lit78.  9/25,  12:30-2 p.m. LACASA Booth Book signing., 3-5 p.m.

LACASA's LASA-related activities supported by the Rockefeller Foundation & UIC's Great Cities Institute.

3.  During LASA, you should attend our Latino Writers Write Their World session (Lit. 78--see above) and of course visit our LASA booth 734---10 percent discount on selected books, materials, mentioning your LACASA affiliation (see below for our invitation to have your book at our table).

4.  You are cordially invited to visit our booth and attend LACASA's Adios LASA/Hola Post-LASA reception as announced in 2.  Come to the LASA booth for further information and  tickets (we believe it'll be $5.00 advanced entrance, $3.00 for LACASA members and friends).  Also find out info. about UIC's Latino programs, including Latin American Studies new graduate concentration.

DAY I (Sunday, Sept. 27)

8:30-10:00: TRIP TO BE REVISED.  9 AM--Brief orientation and coffee at FIELD MUSEUM, Coffee and.  Projected map of city and key Latino areas and sites.  Video on Mexican Chicago.

10:00-7:30 Bus Tour of Latino Chicago. Including art exhibits, etc. Morning. CRUISE TO SOUTH SIDE AND HYDE PARK, Back north to Lincoln Park (Pointing to Guatemalan, Ecuadoran, gay etc.) enclaves, ending up in the Puerto Rican neighborhoods.  Logan Square Cuban and PR venues, over to Humbodt Park,  Puerto Rican Museum (stop for Puerto Rican exhibit), to Clemente High School, going past Puerto Rican galleries, Ruiz Belvis Center,  Collage.  Mural art along the way. 

12-12:45: Collage: Arte Chicago-Latino del North Side.  Presentation/reception: Chicago Latino Art & Da de los Muertos hbrida.  Presentation on Puerto Rican community and the arts.  Meeting with Latino artists, art promoters.

1-2:30  Lunch, Rest. Isabela'sChicago Ave.  Meeting with Director, Latino Institute, Congressman Luis Gutirrez,  and/or other community figures from Puerto Rican/Cuban/Dominican communities.

2:30:-6:00    Afternoon: Trip to La Villita, (passing Haymarket, Jane Adams Hull House Taylor St. targeted South Expansion areas, then down Cermack to Pilsenpast Churches, Benito Juarez School, Presentation: Mestizarte (Gabriel Villa, El Paso Texas artist), Jumping Bean (student retablos), Prospectus Gallery, Calles y Sueos (Elizam Escobar, revolutionary Puerto

Rican artist), Casa Atzlan, Lozano Library.  Includes guided walking tour

6:00-7:30 pm.   Cocktail and buffet at Mexican Fine Arts Museum; tour of Day of the Dead Exhibit; a meeting with Latino  artists and arts/media organizers/directors/"movers".  Meeting with Pilsen cultural producers/artists.

8:00 pm.  Return to Hotel--or optional: Visit to Velvet Lounge, Buddy Guys: jazz/blues, etc.

This trip will probably cost $50, including coffee, appetizers, lunch and the Mexican Fine Arts reception (there will also be those who may only wish to join us for lunch and/or the Mexican Fine Arts Reception, for $20 each).  The Saturday LASA trip will cost $20 plus dinner.  We need to know what you want to do to make arrangements.  Please email us as soon as possible about these matters, because seating capacity is limited for all venues.. 

6.  Latin American/ Latino Cultural Studies and Chicago Latino/Latin American books will be on sale at our LASA booth, the Saturday Hothouse reception and our MLAC conference.  We welcome  LACASA list-servers to bring materials for our table (conference announcements, etc.) and to put their books on sale at our table along with New World [Dis]Orders and other publications.  We also welcome you to reserve a time to be at our booth, to discuss your book(s) and sign copies.  We would ask that you price your books so that we can sell them at a standard markup (our LASA booth is EXPENSIVE and we have other expenses!) and can cover return mailing costs of any books we can't sell (we'll try to retain at least some for future sales as our budget allows).

7. The latest Art exhibit promoted by/ La última exhibición promovida por LACASA Chicago:

COLLAGE DE LAS AMERICAS.  1520 N. Milwaukee Ave.  (773)-252-2562.   18 de julio-23 de agosto. "Presencia Mujer".  Pinturas, dibujos y serigrafías de Carolina Kerlow, Gerardo de la Barrera, Enrique Flores y Nicolás de Jesús (México),  Dafne Elvira, Ana María Cotto, Ramón Mojica y Angel Neri (Puerto Rico) mas fotos de indígenas guatemaltecas por Kelly itzsimmons (Chicago), las Fridas, Evas y otras de la familia Aguilar; las dominicanas de Lim; las mujeres de San Marteen, Haiti y Africa.  COLLAGE abre martes-viernes, 12-8 p.m.; sb.-domingo 11-6 p.m.