Public & Applied Humanities (PAH) 200 Introduction to Applied Humanities “El Pueblo Urban Humanities Studio” S2023: students deployed urban humanities methods to co-create photo-essays narrating the past, present and future of El Pueblo.
This pilot course focused instruction about the public and applied humanities methodologies and signature case studies using the framework of an experiential urban humanities field studio. With a core community partner (“client”), the Sunnyside Foundation, whose mission centers on service to Tucson’s Southside and with support from a campus arts partner, the Center for Creative Photography, the Experiential Learning Design Accelerator Program, and excitingly, an artist-in-residence sponsored by the HSI—Initiatives Seed Grant Program, Dr. Leigh-Anna Hidalgo, students applied a suite of urban humanities methods to produce photo-based projects about the El Pueblo Center, a site established within the historical context of the Chicano movement of Tucson in the 1960s and 70s, that serves as a hub to this day for social and metropolitan services and cultural empowerment in a predominantly Latinx Southside community.
Beginning with photography modules led by the CCP team (inspired by the CCP’s upcoming exhibition on Linda McCartney and her teacher —Hazel Larsen Archer’s groundbreaking approach to photo education), students will begin a semester-long investigation of El Pueblo through examining case studies, going on site visits, conducting class interviews and designing photo-shoots with community storytellers, culminating in final projects that will be featured in public-facing events open to Southside and campus communities, a double-exhibition to be held at El Pueblo and the CCP.
Selected “mini digital exhibitions” produced by student teams from PAH 200 Spring 2023: “The El Pueblo Urban Humanities Studio.” Guided by stories community members shared, and the philosophies of artists they studied, students created images about themes that intrigued and inspired them, from intergenerational celebrations held at the patio to traces of a lifetime of public service at the Congressman’s office, from pride in bilingual culture at the Frank de La Cruz - El Pueblo Library, to the dynamic flows of public transit through the Laos Transit Center.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
We would like to acknowledge funding for this project from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA); the Marshall Foundation; the UArizona Experiential Learning Design Accelerator; UArizona Hispanic Serving Institute (HSI) Faculty Seed Grant, which supported sessions with Latinx digital humanist scholar and course artist-in-resident, Dr. Leigh-Anna Hidalgo; Arts|Humanities|Resilience Grant from UArizona College of Fine Arts (CFA) Research, Innovation & Impact (RII) and the Arizona Institute for Resilience (AIR), which is providing support for our newly inducted community documentarians and artists-in-residence, Luis Gonzalez and Jessica Wolff. We want to thank community and teaching partners, collaborators and storytellers from Sunnyside Foundation; the Office of Congressman Raúl Grijalva; Nuestras Raíces Pima County Public Library (PCPL) and Frank de la Cruz-El Pueblo Public Library; Raúl Council Member Lane Santa Cruz and Ward 1; Council Member Richard Fimbres and Ward 5; Supervisor Adelita S. Grijalva - Pima County Board of Supervisors, District 5; City of Tucson Parks and Recreation, UArizona, especially the College of Humanities (COH) and the Department of Public and Applied Humanities (PAH), College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (CAPLA), Center for Creative Photography (CCP), UArizona Libraries Special Collections. None of this would be possible without members of our communities who participated in our Community Reinvestment Days, site visits, storytelling panels, community photo-shoots, workshops, pin-ups and reviews, who took the time to help us learn and share the story of El Pueblo.
Public & Applied Humanities (PAH) 200 Introduction to Applied Humanities “El Pueblo Urban Humanities Studio” S2023: students deployed urban humanities methods to co-create photo-essays narrating the past, present and future of El Pueblo.
Brief: This course equipped students with the skills to use the humanities’ intellectual and analytical traditions to identify and pursue strategic responses to opportunities for innovation in the human condition. In collaboration with a community partner, the Sunnyside Foundation (SF), whose mission centers on service to Tucson’s Southside, this course will focus on SF’s efforts to revitalize and reactivate El Pueblo Neighborhood Center, a hub for recreational and public services, neighborly exchange and community place-keeping in the area and beyond. A key El Pueblo project SF is directing is the restoration of El Pueblo’s historic murals. These cultural treasures are visual expressions of the legacy of the site, especially its spatial identity as a node of Latine/Indigenous/mixed heritage cultural and political empowerment-- contextualized such forces as the historic Chicano movement the 60s and 70s, the vigorous environmental justice advocacy sparked in 80s that continues to this day, and the center’s dynamic leadership in spearheading intergenerational services for a diverse Southside community. Along with additional community and campus partners, we will apply a suite of applied and public humanities engagement strategies to co-produce prototypes for well-researched (visual, spatial and collaborative, archival), multi-sensory and immersive activation ideas, with a focus on digital or print publication (i.e. zines and fotonovelas etc) and mapping (counter-tours, thickmaps, StoryMaps etc), to connect the public to the rich languages and visions contained and inspired by the murals of El Pueblo Center. A program of the final course review can be accessed here.
Acknowledgements:
Fall 2023 Liz Soltero & Selina Barajas (Sunnyside Foundation); Cassandra Becerra & Netza Aguirre (Office of Congressman Raul Grijlava); Brianna Velador, Martha Diaz & John
Munoz (Frank de la Cruz Library), Nicholas McCullough, Keith Bagwell and Elvira Suarez Din (Office of Supervisor Adelita Grijalva, District 5); Adriana Gallego, Abby Christensen, Wylwyn Reyes (Arts Foundation of Southern Arizona); Jessica Wolff (Artist, Los Niños Elementary); Alfonso Chávez (Flowers and Bullets); Denisse Britto (CCP); Brittney Crawford, Stephanie Springer, Suzanne Panferov, Giulia Negretto (PAH); Alba Fernandez-Keys (Special Collections); Jennifer Nichols, Niko Sanchez, Mona Nakamura (CATalyst Studios).
Spring 2024 Veronica Mercado, Laura Corrales & Selina Barajas (Sunnyside Foundation); Cassandra Becerra & Netza Aguirre (Office of Congressman Raul Grijlava); Nicholas McCullough (Office of Supervisor Adelita Grijalva, District 5); Jasmine Chan (and Mila) (City of Tucson, Parks and Rec), Jessica Wolff (Los Niños Elementary); Anna Sanchez; Brianna Velador & Martha Diaz (Frank De La Cruz Library, Marcos & Nicky Cardenas (El Pueblo Senior Center); Gia del Pino, Lizzy Gueverra (CCP); Judd Ruggill, Brittney Crawford, Stephanie Springer, Lily Reese, Giulia Negretto, Chase Crehan, Jasmin Lopez (PAH); Lisa, Duncan, Michelle Boyer Nicole, Bob Diaz, Alba Fernandez-Keys (Special Collections); Jennifer Nichols, Rachel Castro, Gerald Zivic, Niko Sanchez (CATalyst Studios); Abby Christensen (Arts Foundation of Southern Arizona); Aika Adamson & Rebecca Ballinger (World of Words); Heather Froehlich (UArizona Libraries); Kathryn Yahner (Western National Parks Association); Feng-Feng Yeh (Chinese Chorizo Project); Alisha Vazquez (Mexican-American Museum-Sosa Carillo
House)