New books in June: Race Topics; Updates Octavio Solis

Not much to post this Saturday, but as I'm too tired to sleep, here are some links on "Pastured of Heaven" the recent theatrical release which is based on Steinbeck's writings and written by El Pasoan Octavio Solis. The first link, includes an interview:

Steinbeck's 'Pastures' makes for good grazing

"The world premiere of "John Steinbeck's The Pastures of Heaven," by nationally known San Francisco playwright (and Texas transplant) Octavio Solis, kicks off the new Cal Shakes season and coincides with the opening of the new Patron and Artists Center at the Bruns Amphitheater in Orinda. The play, which previews tonight and Friday and opens Saturday, is adapted from the little-known John Steinbeck novel "The Pastures of Heaven," composed of linked stories about a farming community in the Salinas Valley. Cal Shakes developed the play as part of its New Works/New Communities program in collaboration with San Francisco's unique Word for Word Performing Arts Company, which stages works of fiction verbatim." Read More.

 

A Journey into The Pastures of Heaven

"This is where El Paso-born San Francisco resident Octavio Solis, one of the most in-demand playwrights working in America today, comes in. Solis has a deep connection to the land, and a wonderfully flexible and humorous imagination. He signed on, and the project, gestated over many months, was finally born. Read MoreThis is where El Paso-born San Francisco resident Octavio Solis, one of the most in-demand playwrights working in America today, comes in. Solis has a deep connection to the land, and a wonderfully flexible and humorous imagination. He signed on, and the project, gestated over many months, was finally born." READ MORE.



'La Posada Magica' Returns to South Coast Rep Dec 7-23
Playwright Solis based La Posada Mágica on the traditional Latin American Christmas observance in which community members make a procession through their neighborhood to commemorate Mary and Joseph's search for lodging.  Jazz musician/composer Loya will perform his songs and music live at every performance. READ MORE.
 

 NEW BOOK IN JUNE 2010

RACE TOPICS

Legal Construction of a Latino Identity 

(Carolina Academic Pr June 30, 2010 ISBN-10: 1594601003), Reynaldo Valencia
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Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity 

(City Lights Open Media)(City Lights Publishers June 2010 ISBN-10: 0872865088)

Tim Wise. 

In this powerful follow-up to Between Barack and a Hard Place, Tim Wise argues against “colorblindness” and for a deeper color-consciousness in both public and private practice. We can only begin to move toward authentic social and economic equity through what Wise calls "illuminated individualism"—acknowledging the diverse identities that have shaped our perceptions, and the role that race continues to play in the maintenance of disparities between whites and people of color in the United States today. This is the first book to discuss the pitfalls of “colorblindness” in the Obama era.

Interdisciplinarity and Social Justice: Revisioning Academic Accountability 

(Suny Series, Praxie Theory in Action)(State University of New York Press June 2010 ISBN-10: 143843135X), Joe Parker (Editor), Ranu Samantrai (Editor), Mary Romero (Editor)

In the 1960s and 1970s, activists who focused on the academy as a key site for fostering social change began by querying the assumptions of the traditional disciplines and transforming their curricula, putting into place women's and ethnic studies programs that changed both the subject and methods of scholarship. 

The pattern of scholars and activists joining forces to open fields of research and teaching continued in subsequent decades, and recent additions, including critical race studies, queer studies, cultural studies, and postcolonial studies, take as their epistemological foundation the inherently political nature of all knowledge production. 

Interdisciplinarity and Social Justice seizes this opportune moment in the history of interdisciplinary fields to review their effects on our intellectual and political landscape, to evaluate their ability to deliver promised social benefits, and to consider their futures. 

The essays collected in this volume examine how effectively interdisciplinary fields have achieved their goals of intellectual and social change, and consider the challenges they now face inside and outside the academy.

Multiracial Americans and Social Class: The Influence of Social Class on Racial Identity 

(Routledge ISBN-10: 0415483999 June 22, 2010), Kathleen Odell Korgen (Editor). 

As the racial hierarchy shifts and inequality between Americans widens, it is important to understand the impact of social class on the rapidly growing multiracial population. Multiracial Americans and Social Class is the first book on multiracial Americans to do so and fills a noticeable void in a growing market. 

In this book, noted scholars examine the impact of social class on the racial identity of multiracial Americans, in highly readable essays, from a range of sociological perspectives. In doing so, they answer the following questions: Who is multiracial? How does class influence racial identity? How does social class status vary among multiracial populations? Do you need to be middle class in order to be an "honorary white"? What is the relationship between social class, culture, and race? How does the influence of social class compare across multiracial backgrounds? What are multiracial Americans' explanations for racial inequality in the United States? 

Multiracial Americans and Social Class is a key text for undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers, and academics in the fields of sociology, race and ethnic studies, social stratification, race relations, and cultural studies.