Blog Spot: Special Collections Student Assistant Stephany Bravo

"Statewide Conference at California State University, Los Angeles" 
 (1988)
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán at Cal State LA Collection
John F. Kennedy Mmeorial Library,
California State University, Los Angeles 

Since my placement as an Archival Student Assistant, I have independently and/or in a collective processed material for the Perry R. Long Memorial Collection and the InnerCity Struggle Collection. I continue to process and archive material for The Compton Communicative Arts Academy, which still continues to grow since there is always new material being found during the renovation of Special Collections and Archives. 

Some of the new projects that I am currently working on are the processing and archiving of material for the John Burgess Glass Collection and the Moviemiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) at Cal State LA Collection. The John Burgess Glass Collection will be the largest collection that I have been given in a topic that is not in my field of expertise. However, the collection has definitely diversified the extent of my knowledge by allowing me to work with film and journals. Another project that I am working with “on and off” is the California State Los Angeles Collection. Even though I am simply replacing rusted staples with archival paper clips, this collection proves to have a lot of scattered articles about CSULA’s Black Student Union, the Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies Department, general student activism, and buildings on campus that should be further investigated by whoever officially archives this collection.

"Seize the Time" and "Photographers depict essence of urban life"
(1970 and 1982)
California State Los Angeles Collection
John F. Kennedy Memorial Library
California State University, Los Angeles 

Overall, I continue to be satisfied with my choice to apply as an intern at CSULA Special Collections and Archives. I have learned to digitize thesis, curate exhibits, create finding aids, archive, and preserve materials. I believe that working in Special Collections and Archives has granted me multiple opportunities such as; co-curating “Lxs de abajo” Latinx Performative Text from Below in the Los Angeles Area,” presenting “Ethnic Simplicity: Painting Black and Latinx Visual Narratives” at Sonoma State University through Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social, being named a Sally Casanova Scholar for the 2017-2018 academic year, and finally being clear about my career path as both a professor of Ethnic Studies and a curator of all things relating to Chicanx and Latinx popular culture.

Photograph by Karina Cardenas (2017)

Staphany Bravo García
B.A. Chicana/o Studies, and Latin American Studies, 2015

University of California, Santa Barbara

M.A. Mexican American Studies, 2018 California State University, Los Angeles

A second year Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies M.A. student, Staphany Bravo García is interested in the production of “counter”-narratives specifically as they apply to people of color. She is currently analyzing the creative ways Compton’s “un-recorded” Latinx residents resist symbolic and material erasure within mainstream narratives through murals, music, poetry, and physical place.


Research Interests: Decolonial Methods and Theory, Comparative Race and Ethnicity, Chicanx Literature, Art: Murals, Graffiti, Tagging, and Spoken Word, Chicana/o and Latina/o Popular Culture, Configurations of Space and Place, Community Autonomy, Archiving and Curating