Judith Huacuja
Associate Professor; Chair
- Phone: 937-229-3238
- Email: Contact
Profile
Judith L. Huacuja is a Chicana scholar researching Chicano, Latino and Latin American art activism in the Americas. With a Ph.D. in art history from the University of California, Santa Barbara (2000), she holds a tenure-track assistant professorship of contemporary and Latin American art history at the University of Dayton and is currently the department chair. Dr. Huacuja teaches and researches across the disciplines of ethnic studies, women's studies and visual culture. She brings expertise in Chicano and borderlands cultural history as well as a secondary emphasis in non-Western art history, including ancient Mesoamerican, contemporary Latin America and American Indian art. Dr. Huacuja's current research demonstrates a strong commitment to understanding the pluralisms of the art of this century by striving to locate points of hybridity and cultural mixing in American art. Her research and teaching methods analyze aesthetics and philosophies in relation to minority issues of resistance and integration. In addition to receiving Research Council Seed Grants and a Women's Center Programs Grant, Dr. Huacuja has garnered support for research through a College Art Association Cummings Fellowship, a Chicana Studies Dissertation Fellowship (UCSB), a UC MEXUS Dissertation Research Grant (University of California System) and Rice University Graduate Fellowships.
Dr. Huacuja's recent curatorial projects include "Three Generations of Chicana Art," an exhibit of paintings, video, and installation work of Yolanda Lopez, Celia Herrera Rodriguez and Margaret Alarcon. Rike Gallery, Roesch Library 1st floor Gallery and Marian Institute Gallery, Jan. 7- Feb. 15, 2002. She wrote a gallery brochure and organized a series of workshops for these visiting artists. Students interviewed the artists, assisted with the art installations and wrote textual analysis. Presently, Judith Huacuja is curating "Latina Art of the Midwest," an exhibition of artists working in a multi-state region whose work references Hispanic, Latino and Chicano social issues. This project results from two years of research across seven Midwestern states. Exhibit and catalog are scheduled for April 2004 at Rike Gallery, UD.
The Faculty Perspective
Committed to the principle that intercultural understanding must be based upon a combination of personal experience, critical inquiry, and comparative knowledge, I offer courses that examine the cultural, political, and gendered aspects of multi-ethnic artistic production. My hope is to interest students in conducting cross-cultural research in the visual arts, to introduce them to ethnographic and art historical research methods, and to provide students with the conceptual tools to examine and interpret art. My teaching style strives to introduce students to historical analysis, critical thinking and visual skills. I give equal weight to the history and the practice of art, as my first undergraduate degree was in painting. Especially I want to encourage art students to consider their art as engendering multiple and nuanced discourses for varied audiences.
My research, publications and conference presentations examine the expansion of multi-ethnic feminism and activism in the arts of the United States. My focused areas of research concentrate on Chicana and Latina cultures, feminism in the arts, and post-colonial activism in the arts. This research gets integrated into my other academic projects, especially as I organize cross-cultural events, exhibitions, and programs designed to support cultural diversity on campuses. The University of Dayton has been very strong in supporting this kind of programming. One example is the exhibition titled "Three Generations of Chicana Art" (2002) which served as the foundation from which numerous teaching and research events emerged. Along with curating the art, I organized ancillary speaker events and workshops that brought Chicana artists to lecture about strengthening communities through art outreach and social justice efforts. A wide range of students from across the campus participated in art installation workshops, working with professional artists in production as well as research, activism, and analysis.
A major objective of the art events I organize is to provide students access to diverse cultural traditions and to stimulate thoughtful discussion about the power of art to represent identity, to critique social conditions, and to motivate various audiences. These kinds of projects advance the centrality of the humanities by bringing together - through the visual arts - issues relevant to ethnic studies, political science, women's studies, the social sciences, and ethics. The art and the dialogue engendered between the artists, the students, and the faculty often address concepts such as stereotyping, ethnic identity, labor justice and women's rights.
Courses Taught
- Chicana Art: The Politics of Gender, Race, Class & Self Representation
- Modern Art History 1900-1945
- Contemporary Art Histories 1945-present
- Chicano Art History
- Latin American Art History
- Art History & Methodologies
- Feminism & the Arts
- Survey of Art History III: 19th & 20th Centuries
- Introduction to the Visual Arts for the Non-Major
- Site as Text: Mexico (part of UD's International Study Abroad Program)
Degrees
- Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, 2000
Research Interests
- Chicana feminism and the arts
- Chicano and Latino art history
- Multi-ethnic cultural production in America
- Social & cultural activism in the arts
- First nations/first people contemporary art
Selected Publications
"Chicana Critical Pedagogies: Chicana Art as Critique and Intervention," in Proceedings on The Interpretation and Representation of Latino Cultures, Research, and Museums, Washington, D.C.:Smithsonian Institution Press, forthcoming 2003.
"Borderlands Critical Subjectivity in Recent Chicana Art," in Frontiers: Journal of Women's Studies, Omaha: University of Nebraska Press, forthcoming 2003.
"Yolanda Lopez, Print Media Artist," in St. James Guide to Hispanic Artists: Profiles of Latino and Latin American Artists, Farmington Hills, MI: St. James Press, 2002.
"Amalia Mesa-Bains, Multi-media Installation Artist," in St. James Guide to Hispanic Artists: Profiles of Latino and Latin American Artists, Farmington, MI: St. James Press, 2002.
