Professors will bring Michoacan culture to CWU

ELLENSBURG -- There's Cinco de Mayo, then there's Nov. 20. Back in Mexico, there is no question which date is more important.

In November, uniformed school children march down the streets and families gather in central plazas to mark the outbreak of their country's revolution, a 10-year uprising against longtime ruler Porfirio Díaz.

"It's something that stays recorded in your memory, something that will never get erased," said Ruben Muniz, general manager of KeBuena radio station in Yakima. "When I talk to people here about the two dates, I just don't understand the hype about Cinco de Mayo. It's pure commercialism."

He hopes that begins to change with a new project now under way through Central Washington University and Mexican cultural officials.

Starting in January, six college professors from Michoacán will speak at Central about life, literature, festivities, music and paintings related to the 1910 outbreak of the Mexican Revolution and the country's independence 100 years earlier.

On Thursday, Michoacán's secretary of culture will sign an agreement to foster the academic exchanges among students, immigrants and others interested in the issue. Secretary Jaime Hernández Díaz will also speak at Yakima Valley Community College on Friday -- the 99th anniversary of the revolution's outbreak.

"What better way to celebrate the Michoacano experience than through culture?" said Michael Erwin, an associate history professor who heads CWU's Latino and Latin American Studies program. "I think honoring the Mexican history and the Mexican past as a part of our own is a sure sign of respect for the culture, for the heritage that is becoming every day more and more our own."

Michoacán sends more immigrants to the United States than any other state in Mexico -- and a high concentration of Michoacanos lives in the Yakima Valley. Its capital, Morelia, is Yakima's sister city.

Stefanie Wickstrom, a political scientist who studies indigenous rights movements in Latin America, serves as the liaison between the Michoacán secretary of culture and CWU, where she has taught in the past.

"The secretary of culture has an interest in establishing relationships with people from Michoacán, whether they be immigrants or migrants who don't necessarily have a formal education and haven't necessarily been exposed to the culture and arts in a way that gives them an appreciation for their cultural heritage," she said.

Erwin said he doesn't expect immigrants to flock to Central's events right away.

"Honestly one of the first steps we have to take as a newly formed center is to earn the trust of the community, to communicate with them that we don't have the answers," he said. "But we want to spread the word that we want to learn from them, would like a positive role in telling their stories."

Muniz, whose station has regularly promoted the events, wants to encourage the immigrants who work in agriculture and listen to his station to think about attending college.

"So many poor Mexicans view universities as these untouchable places," he said. "I hope that by having these events at Central, at YVCC, that people will get excited and maybe think about studying something."

* Melissa Sánchez can be reached at 509-577-7675 or msanchez@yakimaherald.com.

This week's events

WHAT: "Images of Valladolid (Morelia) through Traveler's Eyes," a presentation by Michoacán's Secretary of Culture Jaime Hernández Díaz.

WHEN: 7 p.m. Thursday.

WHERE: Dean Hall lobby at Central Washington University, Ellensburg.

WHAT: Music and dancing, in celebration of the 99th anniversary of the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution. Following will be a presentation from Hernández Diaz.

WHEN: 4 p.m. Friday.

WHERE: Hopf Student Union, Yakima Valley Community College.

2010 Speaker series (Thursday and Fridays)

Jan. 21-22: "Conjugal Wars amidst Revolution," by Cintya Berenice Vargas Toledo, of the Mexican Center for Documentation and Research in the Arts under the Michoacán Secretariat of Culture of the State of Michoacán.

Feb. 19-19: "Civil Festivities and Political Power in Morelia on the Eve of the Mexican Revolution," by Juana Martínez Villa, of the Institute for Historical Research at the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo (UMSNH).

March 11-12: "Literature and Everyday Life at Independence and during the Mexican Revolution," by Raúl Eduardo González, of the Faculty of Hispanic Languages and Literature, UMSNH

April 15-16: "The Music of Valladolid-Morelia: 1810-1910," by Alejandro Mercado Villalobos, of the Council of Programming in Santa Ana Maya, Michoacán

May 13-14: "¡Corridos! Expressions of Revolution in Mexico," by Álvaro Ochoa, of Institute for Historical Research, UMSNH

June 9-10: "Independence and the Revolution as Portrayed by the Escuela Mexicana de Pintura," by Sofia Irene Velarde Cruz, of the Center for Documentation and Research in the Arts