Over two days, academics, community members, local organizations and university students gathered to discuss racial-mixing around food. 

People shared recipes and meals. They sat together around tables eating cracklin’ bread, brisket and pork adobo tacos, Mexican rice and beans. And they shared stories of food, justice and cultural heritage.

“Tucson itself is a very interesting city around foodways, food justice and gastronomy,” said Michelle Tellez, a University of Arizona professor in Mexican American Studies and lead organizer of Culinary Mestizaje, a two-day community celebration that highlighted food justice, solidarity and foodways in Tucson.

Read more here.

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In the News

The Luminaries Outstanding Faculty Awards showcase the extraordinary talent shaping the future of science, arts, innovation, and education. From groundbreaking discoveries to transformative teaching, these faculty members represent the pinnacle of intellectual achievement. Their work illuminates classrooms, labs, and communities alike, embodying the Wildcat spirit of curiosity, creativity, and commitment to student success.

More info. can be found here. Summary of event here.

La académica Michelle Téllez presentó su libro “Mujeres fronterizas y la comunidad de Maclovio Rojas. Autonomía en los espacios de la negligencia laboral” (Interpec, 2022), este miércoles 25 de junio en el Antiguo Palacio Municipal de Tijuana.

Read more here.

Summary: We investigate how Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead,  rituals strengthen family ties and cultural identity, and learn about its evolution from a 3,000 year old practice to a global celebration. We look at key elements like the ofrenda and explore how commercialization—like Mattel’s Day of the Dead Barbie—raises questions about balancing tradition with modern influences.

with guests: Michelle Téllez and Mathew Sandoval

Listen here.

“We hope the presence of young people, 1990s student activists and others will create bridges of dialogue that will outlast the exhibit itself….”

Read more here.

San Diego, Ca. 29 de septiembre del 2023.- En la década de 1990, estudiantes chicanos en todo California se organizaron en torno a cuestiones de la época: legislación estatal que afectaba a las comunidades de color, la lucha por la representación en el sistema educativo y la lucha por revelar los legados del colonialismo en la región.

Organizadores: Adolfo Guzmán-López, escritor y periodista de Los Ángeles (LAist 89.3), Michelle Téllez, profesora de Estudios Mexicano-Americanos (Universidad de Arizona), y María Figueroa, profesora de Inglés, Literatura y Humanidades (Mira Costa Community College). Curada por Katie Ruiz, artista chicana y activista, y creadora de “The Pompom Project”.

Read more here.

Memorias en Movimiento: The Forgotten Revolutionaries of the 1990s San Diego Chicana/o Student Movement, will center on collective memory. Focusing on San Diego, this project will host an intergenerational symposium to bring together Chicano/a students from the 1990s who organized around issues of the time: state legislation that impacted communities of color, the struggle for representation in the educational system, and a fight to reveal the legacies of colonialism in the region. Alongside the panel of speakers will be an exhibit of photos and other memorabilia of this generation’s movement work and contributions. Programming will run October through December 2023.     

Read more here.

This year’s honorary women include Dr. Michelle Téllez, who is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Mexican American Studies at the University of Arizona.

Read more here.

The National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS) presented their book award to Michelle Téllez, for her book Border Women and the Community of Maclovio Rojas.

Read more here: https://uapress.arizona.edu/2023/04/michelle-tellez-wins-naccs-book-award

Dr. Michelle Téllez, author of Border Women and the Community of Maclovio Rojas, Autonomy in the Spaces of Neoliberal Neglect, will give a talk at 7 p.m. September 26, 2022 in Schroeder Hall, room 238 on the campus of Illinois State University. 

The talk is free and open to the public. Téllez’s visit is part of the celebration of Latinx Heritage Month, which runs from September 15-October 15, 2022, and is sponsored by Illinois State’s Latin American and Latino/a Studies (LALS) program, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development and the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program.

“We are delighted to open Latinx Heritage Month welcoming to campus Dr. Michelle Tellez, educator and scholar of border communities, in particular women’s border activism,” said Dr. Maura Toro-Morn, director of LALS. “This year the U.S./Mexico border frames many of the lectures, events, and conversations to take place throughout the more than one-month long events.” 

Read more here.

We are thrilled to announce that six University of Arizona Press authors received honorable mentions for the 2022 International Latino Book Awards! These selections are a salute to the wide variety of quality books being created by and about Latinx people, both inside and outside the USA.

Border Women and the Community of Maclovio Rojas by Michelle Téllez and The Sound of Exclusion by Christopher Chávez both received honorable mentions for the Victor Villaseñor Best Latino Focused Nonfiction Book Award!

A $3 million grant competition from the Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Initiative will support Latino humanities research projects across the U.S. The projects range from art, literature and history to the emerging subfields of climate change and sound studies, as well as cutting-edge areas such as Afrolatinidades and archival studies.

Two projects:

Afro-Chicanx Digital Humanities Project

Principal investigators: Doris Careaga-Coleman, University of New Mexico; Michelle Tellez, University of Arizona; Micaela Díaz-Sanchez, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Mapping Everyday Mexicana/Chicana Political Organization

Principal investigators: Cristina Salinas, University of Texas at Arlington; Jennifer Nájera, University of California, Riverside; Michelle Tellez, University of Arizona.

Read more here.

Mother’s Day is an annual celebration of motherhood’s immense value. In honor of this holiday, Hopkins Press has compiled a list of journal articles encompassing the many facets of motherhood: historical accounts of motherhood, poets’ commemorations of their mothers, discussions of the impacts of political circumstances on motherhood, motherhood in the academy, and more. The scholarship below has been made freely available through the month of May. Read more here.

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — We see the All Souls Procession every year and among the excitement, we see altars honoring loved ones that have passed on.

Lots of the traditions you’ll see at the procession are related to Dia de los Muertos. It’s a tradition that originated thousands of years ago, according to Michelle Tellez, University of Arizona Mexican American Studies Department.

One tradition you'll see is the ofrenda or an altar. To read more and watch video click here.

Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead, is an ancient tradition that started with indigenous people in the Americas, morphed when Catholics arrived, and has seen a resurgence in recent decades in California. This year, the Los Angeles Times set up a virtual Día de Los Muertos altar to create a community space to honor loved ones who have passed. The virtual altar is a reflection of the pandemic, which pushed many traditions online, and an example of  how the Latin American tradition of honoring the dead has evolved over time.  We discuss the practice of honoring the dead as well as cultural and personal connections to Día de los Muertos. And, we want to hear from you: tell us about someone who you are honoring this year. Leave us a voicemail at 415-553-3300 or email us at Forum@kqed.org.

Guests:

Michelle Téllez, associate professor, University of Arizona's Department of Mexican American Studies

Fidel Martinez, audience engagement editor, Los Angeles Times and a co-creator of the LA Times' digital Día de Muertos altar

To listen click here.

But what exactly is Día de los Muertos? #ThisIsTucson chatted with Michelle Téllez, Ph.D., an associate professor and director of graduate studies for the Mexican American Studies department at the University of Arizona. This explainer will cover the origins of the holidays, its traditions and what it means to the Tucson community.

Read more here.

People eat the bread with their families, but it is also an essential offering on home altars, or ofrendas. The sweet-smelling bread sits alongside photos of the dead, and an array of their favorite foods and drinks, attracting and nourishing the souls who visit, said Michelle Téllez, a professor of Mexican American Studies at the University of Arizona.

Read more here.

Mexican American studies scholar Michelle Téllez gives an overview of the autumn holiday of mourning that originated in Mexico and is now celebrated around the world.

Read more here.

October 12, 2021

Hortensia Hernández never got a chance to hold the book, Border Women and the Community of Maclovio Rojas: Autonomy in the Spaces of Neoliberal Neglect, but she knew the book on the community she helped lead and organize would be published in October. In August, Hernández died after a short battle with cancer, and despite her absence she was everywhere during the book celebration on Wednesday, October 8 at EXO Roast Co. in Tucson.

Read more here.

Dr. Michelle Téllez spoke about her groundbreaking work on reimagining borderlands, work which is also available on her visually rich website. Afterward, my students remarked on her expert insights earned from many years of ethnographic research and relationship-building, but also her humility as she makes evident that she continues to think, explore, learn, and test ideas. For example, Dr. Téllez said after she answered one audience member’s question, “That’s my best answer for now.” That’s a sentence to remember and use.

Read more here.