AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.

"Ongoing missionary labor": building, maintaining, and expanding Chicana studies/history: an interview with Vicki L. Ruiz.(Interview)

Feminist Studies

| March 22, 2008 | Meyer, Leisa D. | COPYRIGHT 2008 Feminist Studies, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)Copyright

Vicki L. Ruiz is the dean of the School of Humanities and a professor of Chicano/Latino studies and history at the University of California, Irvine. Ruiz is one of the most prolific scholars of and fiercest advocates for Chicana/Latina studies and history. While at Florida State University as an undergraduate she envisioned a postgraduate path in teaching, but when she was encouraged by one of her mentors, Jean Gould-Bryant, to think about graduate school she decided to apply--"on a whim," she says in the interview that follows. In graduate school at Stanford University, working with Albert Camarillo and Estelle Freedman, she sought ways to both uncover the lives and tell the stories of Chicanas and Mexican American women. Through graduate school and several decades in the historical profession she has continued these journeys--as a teacher fighting to incorporate Chicana, Mexicana, and Latina narratives and historical contexts into the mainstream U.S. historical and American studies canons; as a mentor to students struggling to find a past that helps them better situate themselves and their experiences and a voice in fields that continue to be marginal within the academy; as a scholar documenting the lives of Chicanas and Latinas and always contesting the canons that frame such inquiries. As she explains,

 
  When I was a child, I learned two types of history--the one at home 
  and the one. at school. My mother and grandmother would regale me 
  with stories about their Colorado girlhoods, stories of village life, 
  coal mines, strikes, discrimination, and family lore. At school, 
  scattered references were made to Coronado, Ponce de Leon, the 
  Alamo, and Pancho Villa. That was the extent of Latino history. 
  Bridging the memories told at the table with printed historical 
  narratives fueled my decision to become a historian. (1) 

From her initial historical monograph documenting the lives of female cannery workers in southern California in the early twentieth century, to her sweeping study of the lives of Chicanas, Mexicanas, and Mexican American women in the United States during the twentieth century, to the groundbreaking anthology Unequal Sisters that she coedited with Ellen DuBois, Ruiz has been tireless in her efforts to bring greater visibility to Chicanas, Mexicanas, and Latinas historically. (2) One indicator of the success of these efforts can be seen by the fact that Unequal Sisters is now a standard text in many U.S. women's history classes and was/is the "first collection that provides for a more inclusive, multicultural women's history, focusing on the experiences of Latinas, African American women, Asian American women, and Native American women." (3) Most recently Ruiz coedited with Virginia Sanchez Korrol the encyclopedia, Latinas in the United States. (4) Of this three-volume publication Ruiz notes, "We didn't want this to be a dry encyclopedia .... We wanted to show these women's lives in their historical moment .... I wanted these women to reveal themselves in their own words and on their own terms, whether through a letter, a court case, diary or interview." (5) This statement exemplifies Vicki Ruiz's approach to the profession; to make history, especially Chicana history, accessible to everyone and to be responsible to the subjects of her studies.

Vicki Ruiz has been one of the critical inspirations for this special issue of Feminist Studies. Seeking to heed her call for greater attention to the Spanish borderlands and to the lives of Chicanas, we hope that this volume continues the path laid out by Ruiz through her own life and work. (6)

--Leisa D. Meyer

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, journals, and more
BINT ARAB: ARAB AND ARAB AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES.
Magazine article from: The Oral History Review Collings, Jane January 1, 1999 700+ words
...ARAB AND ARAB AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES. By Evelyn Shakir...Arab and Arab American women's experience in the United States encompasses a...Arab and Arab American women living in the United States, one that confounds...
Bint Arab: Arab and Arab American Women in the United States.(Review)
Magazine article from: Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) Fayad, Mona September 22, 1999 700+ words
...Bint Arab: Arab and Arab American Women in the United States. Westport, CT: Praeger...peddlers and follows Arab-American women into their homes, their...important contribution to American Women's Studies. As the first...
BINT ARAB: Arab and Arab American Women in the United States.(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: Journal of Comparative Family Studies Abusharaf, Rogaia Mustafa June 22, 1999 700+ words
...provided a detailed analysis of the Arab migration to the United States. The book is divided into three parts. In part one, Shakir...these countries have organized themselves politically in the United States. Bint Arab is a superb historical account of the experiences...
United States: American women most murdered group. (News: North America).(Brief...
Magazine article from: off our backs March 1, 2003 700+ words
...wealthiest countries were killed in the United States. The study did not examine why American women are more likely to be murdered than their...Nearly half of women murdered in the United States are killed by guns. "Guns are often...
DNCC: Securing America's Future - Women of the United States House of...
News wire article from: Targeted News Service August 24, 2008 700+ words
...that the Democratic women of the United States House of Representatives will...put a face to the millions of American women making America work. Following...night's presentation of the United States Senate women's Checklist for...
History and Culture. (New Reference Works in Women's Studies).(American Women:...
Magazine article from: Feminist Collections: A Quarterly of Women's Studies Resources Weisbard, Phyllis Holman Kruse, Carrie Walden, Barbara June 22, 2002 700+ words
...Harvey et al., eds., AMERICAN WOMEN: A LIBRARY OF CONGRESS...AND CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. Washington, DC...researching topics in American women's history? The Library...Native Peoples of the United States). The guide focuses...
African-American women opening more businesses.
Newspaper article from: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) February 20, 2005 700+ words
...Firms owned by African-American women are growing at a rate four...majority-owned by African-American women in the United States employed more than 250,000...is education. "African-American women are taking advantage of educational...
United States: maternal mortality inexcusably high and increasing. (condensed...
Magazine article from: WIN News January 1, 1998 700+ words
...Data from many states in the United States show maternal mortality to be at least four times higher for African American women. This markedly higher maternal...African American women in the United States is because this group has more...
For more facts and information, see all results
©2009 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
About us | FAQs | Contact us | Privacy policy | Terms and conditions
Other Gale sites: Encyclopedia.com | HighBeam Research | Acquire Content | Books & Authors | Goliath | MovieRetriever | Smart QandA