Department of Chicana/o Studies at San Diego Mesa College

09/13/2026

Big announcement! 🔥🔥🔥 Un Trip: raúlrsalinas and the Poetry of Liberation, a film by Anne Lewis and Laura Varela, premieres nationally on PBS.org, the PBS App, and participating public television stations beginning Tuesday, September 15, 2026, during National Hispanic Heritage Month. The film is distributed nationally through Austin PBS, its presenting station, via the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA).

Inspired by the poem “Un Trip through the Mind Jail,” written by Texas Xicano poet and activist raúlrsalinas in 1969 while incarcerated at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, the 25-minute split-screen jazz and liberation documentary explores incarceration, community erasure, the power of cultural memory, and the possibility of social transformation.

Un Trip traces Salinas’s transformation from a young man who spent much of his adolescence and early adulthood incarcerated to a poet, community organizer, and advocate for social change. Through his words and legacy, the film examines how political education, creativity, community, and cultural expression can become tools for liberation.

The film has been selected for the WORLD Channel and has already achieved nearly 70% carriage. Bethiael Alemayoh, Director of Content and Distribution at Austin PBS, called this “an incredible and deserved success for a thought-provoking and wonderful film.”

Un Trip will air on public television beginning September 15. Viewers should check local listings for broadcast times or watch on PBS.org and the PBS App. https://www.pbs.org/show/un-trip-raul salinas-and-the-poetry-of-liberation/ Un Trip will air on Austin PBS on Friday, October 9th at 3:30 pm.

Read more here

https://raulrsalinasdocumentary.com/un-trip-available-on-public-television-sept-15-2026/

09/13/2026

Join Centro volunteers (in-person or online) for a book presentation, plática, and Q&A, as we honor Maestra Norma Alarcón on the occasion of the release of her new book, Forced by Circumstance: Chicana Feminist Essays (1981-2024). We will also be joined by two of the book’s co-editors, Norma E. Cantú and Marisa Belausteguigoitia, Maestra Cherrie Moraga, Marcelle Maese, and a closing message from Sandra Cisneros. HYBRID Event: In-person and livestreamed on Centro’s FB Centro Cultural de la Raza and Centro’s Youtube
Doors open at 1030am for cafe y pan... Program starts at 11am.
Flyer by -ymoat /o/x

09/12/2026

This is a presentation of the Chicano/a/e Art class celebrated the Latino/a/e Bienvenida at San Diego Mesa College 2026. They shared poetry, zines, mad libs, and an art display. Gaby dj'd (DJ Niayuku). The other photo is Professor Luis Avilés dancing a regional dance from Chihuahua, Mexico. Department of Chicana/o Studies at San Diego Mesa College San Diego Mesa CollegeSan Diego Community College District

09/11/2026

This week, the Chicana/o Studies Department celebrated the Latino/a/e Bienvenida at San Diego Mesa College! 🎉
We enjoyed music from DJ/Professor Kovats Sanchez and shared information about Chicana/o Studies courses that fulfill Ethnic Studies requirements with Professors Escamilla, López, Ceballos, and Moreno. Thank you to everyone who stopped by, connected with us.
*And, we have an exciting announcement coming very soon!!!

Department of Chicana/o Studies at San Diego Mesa College San Diego Mesa College San Diego Community College District

09/07/2026

Educational Cultural Forum organized by members of the Arts Advisory committee, AAC. Tune in! Hybrid.

Iranian revolutionaries draw on a century-long legacy of regional anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, and revolutionary thought, yet the specific ways they have reformulated these ideas for their own context remain critically under-examined. Even less explored is the transnational circulation of cultural and political influences from Mexican and Latin American revolutions across West Asia. This forum takes up these themes by asking: How is the Mexican revolution reconfigured, remembered, and reimagined by Iranians today? And from our position here on Turtle Island/Abya Yala—entangled in colonial resurgence, frontier expansion, and the overt recruitment of Black and Brown people for wars against the Global South—how do we approach the Islamic Revolution’s republican project? Our aim is not simply to identify overlaps with struggles, but to hold meaningful space for contemporary interconnected resistance to imperialism.

Part of the panel discussion: Dr. Raffaele Mauriello, Dr. Roberto D. Hernández, Marce M. Prado is a University of Tehran PhD.

Dr. Raffaele Mauriello is an academic specializing in the political and cultural intersections between Iran, the Islamicate world, and Ibero-America. A faculty member at both Allameh Tabataba’i University (Tehran) and Sapienza University of Rome (Master’s in Geopolitics), his research focuses on South–South relations, revolutionary imaginaries, and trans-regional circulation. He is a series co-editor for Brill, co-founder of Co-IRIS, and a recipient of Iran’s 2013 International Book of the Year Award. He holds a PhD in Islamic Civilisation from Sapienza and is proficient in six languages.

Dr. Roberto D. Hernández (Xicano) is a Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at San Diego State University and a community-engaged scholar whose work is rooted in the U.S.–Mexico border. Born in Mexico and raised in San Ysidro, he holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley, where he also researched at the Center for Latino Policy Research. He has taught in both Chicana/o and Black Studies at UC Santa Barbara and coordinates international institutes for junior scholars in Barcelona, Granada, and Mexico City on decolonial, critical Muslim, and feminist thought.

Marce M. Prado is a University of Tehran PhD researcher in Iranian Affairs whose anthropological work focuses on counter-hegemonic youth collectives and the Islamic Revolutionary bloc. A former participant in Birzeit University's PAS program, he founded the SJP chapter at Cal State San Marcos (2010) and holds degrees in Interdisciplinary and Women's Studies.

08/29/2026

Fifty-six years later, the Chicano Moratorium is still remembered. We honor the movement, the struggle, and the legacy of those who fought for justice. San Diego Mesa College San Diego Community College District

08/28/2026

08/28/2026

AGARRA LA ONDA!
Selections from Centro’s Collection

ON VIEW SEPTEMBER 5 – OCTOBER 4, 2026
Centro Cultural de la Raza

In commemoration of the Chicano artists who have contributed to the cultural, political, and community life of the Centro and its archives, Agarra la Onda honors the legacy of Chicano art as a practice of cultural memory, resistance, spirituality, and political consciousness.

The title draws inspiration from David Avalos’ Ofrenda exhibition at Galería Posada in Sacramento, California (1985). At the center of Avalos’ altar is the image of a woman holding a sign announcing a “National Protest March Against the Militarization of the Border.” The work reminds us that the struggles represented through Chicano art remain connected to the political realities our communities continue to confront today.

This selected collection from the Centro’s private collection offers a glimpse into the vast range of work held within our collection, from photography and prints to paintings and other forms of visual expression. Together, these works reflect how Chicana/o artists have used cultura, politics, and spirituality to document our histories, challenge oppression, and imagine different possibilities for our communities.

Agarra la Onda is a call to understand, to know our history, our identity, and the political reality and material conditions in which we live in the so-called United States. As this art goes up on our walls, federal authorities are actively invading unceded Kumeyaay and Tohono O’odham lands to build more border walls, while ICE continues to terrorize and kidnap folks from our communities. To agarrar la onda, to “get it,” to understand what is happening around us, is also to awaken to the realities of a white supremacist and capitalist system that has historically treated our communities as a threat. Moreover is a call to take action and confront such realities.

It is through cultural remembering and praxis that we can reawaken political consciousness and recognize the need to create, protect, and strengthen community. Art becomes part of that remembering: an archive of struggle, resistance, spirituality, and collective imagination.

The Centro is our community home, a living archive and a pillar of our ofrenda de conciencia.

Curated by the Arts Advisory Committee (AAC)
Israel “Izzy” Carranza • Ymoat Luna • Marce M. Prado

¡AGARRA LA ONDA!
Selecciones de la Colección del Centro

EN EXHIBICIÓN DEL 5 DE SEPTIEMBRE AL 4 DE OCTUBRE DE 2026
Centro Cultural de la Raza

En conmemoración de les artistas chicanxs que han contribuido a la vida cultural, política y comunitaria del Centro, Agarra la Onda honra el arte chicano/a como una práctica de memoria cultural, resistencia, espiritualidad y conciencia política.

Inspirada por la exposición Ofrenda de David Avalos en Galería Posada, Sacramento (1985), esta exhibición presenta una selección de la colección privada del Centro, incluyendo fotografía, grabados, pinturas y otras formas de expresión visual.

Agarra la Onda es un llamado a conocer nuestra historia, identidad y las realidades políticas que afectan a nuestras comunidades. A través del arte, recordamos, resistimos e imaginamos posibilidades para nuestro futuro colectivo.

El Centro es nuestro hogar comunitario, un archivo vivo y un pilar de nuestra ofrenda de conciencia.

Curada por el Comité Asesor de Arte (AAC)
Israel “Izzy” Carranza • Ymoat Luna • Marce M. Prado

08/19/2026

Welcome to the Fall 2026 semester at San Diego Mesa College! 🎉
The Chicana/o Studies Department is ready to serve, support, and be there for our students. Almost all of our classes are full for Fall 2026, and we are excited and ready for another great semester and year!
Cesar Lopez Jenn Frost Moreno Gabriela Kovats Sanchez · Rosi Escamilla - Christina Acosta - Diego Ceballos San Diego Mesa College San Diego Community College District

05/02/2026

It has been eight years since the inaugural Raza Grad Celebration at San Diego Mesa College—here we are in 2026, reflecting on photos from that first celebration and today. This year’s event was a powerful gathering of students, families, faculty, staff, administrators, and community members, all coming together to honor student achievements and the next steps in their journeys.

The Chicana/o Studies Department has been involved since before the very first Raza Grad Celebration, working alongside counselors and faculty to help make these accomplishments visible, meaningful, and rooted in community. We proudly support the Raza Grad Celebration and remain dedicated to uplifting our students for years to come. ¡Que viva la Raza!

San Diego Mesa College Department of Chicana/o Studies at San Diego Mesa College MEChA SD Mesa College M.E.Ch.A San Diego City College SDSU Chicana and Chicano Studies San Diego Miramar College Chicano Park Steering Committee Centro Cultural de la Raza San Diego Community College District