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New Nebraskans
July 2005 NHC seeks proposals for "New Nebraskans" initiative
History has demonstrated that not all are equally prepared to benefit from rapid, sometimes revolutionary change. The Nebraska Humanities Council believes that citizens and communities that most fully understand the nature of the changes shaping their lives are most likely to respond in positive ways to prepare for their future. The humanities—history and the social sciences, literature and languages, philosophy, ethics and jurisprudence, religious and artistic traditions—are essential to our fuller understanding of change.
The Nebraska Humanities Council (NHC) has adopted a five-year initiative to explore the three most important demographic changes shaping Nebraska’s future: The influx of new immigrants and refugees; a continuing movement of people from rural to urban and suburban communities; and the aging of the state’s population with the exception of the new, young immigrant and refugee families. In 2005, the first year of this initiative, the NHC will focus on "The New Nebraskans," our growing immigrant and refugee population. This focus will continue throughout the next five years. The NHC encourages non-profit organizations to submit grant proposals under this new program emphasis. The NHC especially encourages ethnic organizations and non-profit groups that have not submitted grant proposals to the council. Eligible applicants include schools and colleges, ethnic and cultural organizations, local governments and agencies, and other non-profits. The NHC hopes to fund projects that will encourage productive civic discussion of the issues faced by new immigrants, refugees and their host communities that will, in turn, help shape informed public policy in our state. The Nebraska Humanities Council is particularly interested in proposals that address one or more of the following:
Proposals will be strengthened by:
The NHC funds only public programs such as conferences, exhibits, workshops, films, reading and discussion programs, and humanities-focused seminars for professionals that will have significant public impact. The council does not award grants to individuals nor does it fund courses for academic credit, occupational training, travel to professional meetings, scholarships or fellowships, construction or renovation, creative or performing arts, political advocacy, book publishing, or operating and printing costs unrelated to a public project. The council has two grant categories–mini and major grants. Mini-grants have a ceiling of $1,500. There are six mini-grant deadlines: Jan. 1, March 1, May 1, July 1, Sept. 1, and Nov. 1. Major grants are for more than $1,500 and have two deadlines: March 1 and Aug. 1. Grant proposals for film, radio or television projects are considered as major grants, but have earlier deadlines: Jan. 15 and June 15. Letters of intent are required from organizations at least one month prior to each deadline. The Nebraska Humanities Council is developing materials to help you plan your project. Please ask the council for the following, or consult the NHC website:
For grant policies and applications, click here. The NHC encourages interested non-profit organizations to contact an NHC program officer for advice as you develop your proposal. Organizations submitting their first proposal to the NHC are urged to consult with NHC staff early in planning. Contact them at 402-474-2131.
The following scholars will serve as consultants for potential grantees in "The New Nebraskans" initiative.
Books
Americanos: Latino Life in the United States, by Carlos Fuentes, Edward James Olmos and Lea Ybarra (scholarly nonfiction)
Apple Pie and Enchiladas: Latino Newcomers in the Rural Midwest, by Ann Millard and Jorge Chapa (scholarly nonfiction)
Blessed by Thunder, by Fernandez Barrios (Cuban autobiography)
Broken Hoops and Plains People, by the Nebraska Curriculum Development Center (nonfiction)
The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World (El espejo enterrado), by Carlos Fuentes* (fiction)
Burnt Water (Aqua quemada), by Carlos Fuentes* (fiction)
Burro Genius: A Memoir, by Victor Villasenor (biography)
Canicula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en la Frontera (biography)
“The Cariboo Café” in The Moths and Other Stories, by Viramontes (fiction story about an illegal immigrant from El Salvador to California)
Caring for Patients from Different Cultures: Case Studies from American Hospitals, by Geri Ann Galanti (nonfiction)
Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros (fiction)
A Change of Skin (Cambio de piel), by Carlos Fuentes* (fiction)
Coal Camp Days: A Boy’s Remembrance, by Ricardo L. Garcia (biography)
Colonize This!: Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism, edited by Hernandez and Rehman (nonfiction anthology)
Constancia and Other Stories for Virgins (Constancia y otros novellas para virgenes), by Carlos Fuentes* (fiction)
Crossing the Mangrove, by Maryse Conde (novel about Francophone Caribbean migration in Central America and the U.S.)
The Crystal Frontier: A Novel in Nine Stories (La frontera de crystal), by Carlos Fuentes* (fiction)
The Death of Artemio Cruz (La muerte de Artemio Cruz), by Carlos Fuentes* (fiction)
The Dew Breaker, by Edwidge Danticat (novel about immigrant from Haiti with a tortured past)
Diana: The Goddess Who Hunts Alone (Diana a la cazadora solitaria), by Carlos Fuentes* (fiction)
A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America, by Ronald Takaki (nonfiction)
Dreaming in Cuban, by Cristina Garcia (a dreamlike novel moving back and forth from New York, Miami and Cuba)
Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas after Reconstruction, by Nell Irvin Painter (nonfiction)
Famous All Over Town, by Danny Santiago (fiction)
Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment, by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston (nonfiction)
Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser (nonfiction book with a chapter about workers in the meatpacking industry)
The First Czech Society in America, by Tomas Capek (nonfiction)
The Four Immigrants Manga: A Japanese Experience in San Francisco, 1904-1924, by Henry Kiyama (nonfiction)
Giants in the Earth, by O.E. Rolvaag (historical fiction)
Global Woman: Nannies, Maids and Sex Workers in the New Economy, by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild (nonfiction)
Growing Up Ethnic in America: Contemporary Fiction About Learning to Be American, by Maria Mazziotti Gillan and Jennifer Gillan
Harriet’s Daughter, by Philip (novel about Anglophone Caribbean migration to Canada)
Hispanic/Latino Identity: A Philosophical Perspective, by Jorge J.E. Gracia (scholarly nonfiction)
A History of Czechs (Bohemians) in Nebraska, by Rose Rosicky (nonfiction)
A History of the Japanese in Nebraska, by Hiram Yoshinori Kano (nonfiction)
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, by Julia Alvarez (fiction stories about immigrants from Dominican Republic)
Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, by Richard Rodriguez (autobiography)
The Icon and the Axe: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture, by James Billington (nonfiction)
Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land, by Wesley Brown and Amy Ling (fiction anthology that follows successive waves of migration from various countries, including stories from ethnic groups within the U.S.)
Inez (Instinto de Inez), by Carlos Fuentes* (fiction)
The Interpreter of Maladies, by Lahiri (short stories from India and the U.S.)
The Issei: The World of the First Generation Japanese Immigrants, 1885-1924, by Yuji Ichioka (nonfiction)
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (fiction)
Just Because I’m Latino Doesn’t Mean I Mambo: A Success Guide for Hispanic Americans, by Juan Roberto Job (biography)
The Labyrinth of Solitude (El laberinto de la soledad), by Octavio Paz (philosophical essay examines Mexican psychology from historic and anthropological perspectives)
The Latin Deli: Prose and Poetry, by Judith Ortiz Cofer (essays, fiction and poetry from the Puerto Rican immigrant perspective)
Lucy: A Novel, by Jamaica Kincaid (account of race and class ignorance between East Coast couple and West Indies nanny)
Macho, by Victor Villasenor (fiction)
Major Problems in Mexican American History, edited by Zaragosa Vargas (scholarly nonfiction)
Mexicans in the Midwest, 1900-1932, by Juan R. Garcia (nonfiction)
The Middle of Everywhere, by Mary Pipher (nonfiction)
Mona in the Promised Land by Gish Jen (Gerise Herndon) (more accessible Chinese-American narrative)
Moscow to Main Street: Among the Russian Émigrés, by Victor Ripp (nonfiction)
Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon: Zoot Suits, Race, and Riot in Wartime LA, by Eduardo Obregon Pagan (scholarly nonfiction)
My Antonia, by Willa Cather (fiction)
NTC’s Dictionary of Mexican Cultural Code Words: The Complete Guide to Key Words That Express How the Mexicans Think, Communicate, and Behave, by Boye, Lafayette, De Mente (terms from Mexican Spanish that require extensive cultural and historical explanation in order to be understood)
No-No Boy, by John Okada (fiction)
O Pioneers!, by Willa Cather (fiction)
The Old Gringo (Gringo vieyo), by Carlos Fuentes* (Michael Johnson) (fiction)
Old Jules, by Mari Sandoz (historical fiction)
The Orange Tree (El naranjo o los circulos del tiempo), by Carlos Fuentes * (fiction)
The Outsiders: Living in an Alien Culture, by Richard Kimbrough and Mourtazo Chadyev (nonfiction)
Perilous Voyages: Czech and English Immigrants to Texas in the 1970s, by Lawrence Konecny and Clinton Machann (nonfiction)
Rain of Gold, by Victor Villasenor (biography)
Religious History of the American People, by Sydney E. Ahlstrom (nonfiction)
Restless Wave: My Life in Two Worlds, by Ayako Ishigaki (biographical memoir about Japanese Americans between the world wars)
Rural Voices: Place-Conscious Education and the Teaching of Writing (nonfiction)
Russian America: The Great Alaska Adventure, 1741-1867, by Hector Chevigny (nonfiction)
This I Believe: An A to Z of a Life (En esto creo), by Carlos Fuentes* (fiction)
Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry, by Maria Mazziotti Gillan and Jennifer Gillan (poetry anthology)
Veils, by Rachlin (short stories of Iran)
Voices of Diversity: Real People Talk About Problems and Solutions in a Workplace Where Everyone Is Not Alike, by Renee Blank and Sandra Slipp (nonfiction)
When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, by Hayslip (memoir set in Vietnam and U.S.)
A White Bird Flying, by Bess Streeter Aldrich (fiction)
Why There Is No Heaven on Earth, by Efraim Sevela (novel of Jewish boyhood)
Without a Language, by V. Korolenko (fiction)
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, by Maxine Hong Kingston (memoir of Chinese family in California)
* Michael Johnson recommended any and all novels by Carlos Fuentes, Mexico’s leading contemporary author, which can be purchased in the original Spanish, in English, or in both. Titles listed here were pulled from the Barnes and Noble website, and are neither an exhaustive list nor selected by Johnson.
Amerika, Amerika Early Czech Immigration and Settlements
A Day Without a Mexican, directed by Sergio Arau (DVD)
Daughters of the Dust (film about Africans in the Sea Islands of Gullah)
Inspiracion (romantic comedy filmed in Monterrey, Mexico. Spanish with English subtitles.)
La Vida: A Journey of Latinos Throughout Nebraska
Lost Boys of Sudan
Mi Familia (My Family)
Mississippi Masala (film about immigration from India to the southern U.S.)
Monsoon Wedding (addresses issues of migration from India to the U.S.)
The Motorcycle Diaries (directed by Robert Redford, the protagonist’s role is played by Gael Garcia Bernal, currently Mexico’s leading actor. Spanish with English subtitles.)
Samia and Chaos, (film about Algerian girls in France)
Sari Red (Indian film)
A Tale of Love (a film about Vietnam)
When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (film set in Vietnam and U.S.)
Without a Trace (Sin Dejar Huella) (a road movie about two women and a baby on the run from narcotics traffickers and corrupt police, directed by Maria Navarro, one of Mexico’s leading directors and someone who always inserts social commentary into her films. Spanish with English subtitles.)
Hispanos Unidos (bi-weekly Spanish language edition of The Lincoln Journal Star)
Nebraska History (The Czech American Experience) (Fall/Winter 1993, Vol. 74 No. 3 & 4)
The Julian Samora Research Institute http://www.jsri.msu.edu/
Modern Language Association’s Interactive Language Map http://www.mla.org/census_main
NET http://net.unl.edu/swi/pers/refugee_stories.html
Pew Hispanic Center http://pewhispanic.org
Buena Vista Social Club, traditional Cuban artists gathered together and presented by producer-musician Ry Cooder, also featured in popular film of the same title
Café Tacuba, Mexican, generally bleak existential lyrics
Alejandro Fernandez, Mexican crooner of romantic ballads
Enrique Iglesias, Spanish purveyor of saccharine ballads, but quite popular with teenage females
Juanes, Colombian, lyrics that are both personal and political
Kinky, Mexican group, cleverly ironic lyrics and a wonderful percussionist
Kusi Taki, group based in Lincoln, Nebraska, that presents Andean folk music and cultural traditions of South America
Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the most popular vocal group to come out of South Africa, they were prominently featured on Paul Simon's "Graceland" release of 1986
Youssou N'Dour, African vocalist who is rooted in traditional Senegalese music but has collaborated with pop singers Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, and Neneh Cherry
Paulina Rubio, Mexican, provocatively sexy in both lyrics and appearance
Shakira, Colombian, a skillful manipulator of traditional and contemporary iconography
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on Immigration and Ethnicity
1. “From Every Land,” by Richard Kimbrough
2. “Immigration and the Constitution: A History of Altering American Expectations,” by Philip Jordan
3. “Chinese Immigrants in America,” by Janet Lu
4. “Czech-Americans in Nebraska,” by Bruce Garver
5. “Germans from Russia,” by John Schleicher
6. “Growing Up Czech in Nebraska,” by Lorraine Duggin
7. “Ho for America: Northern European Immigrants to the Midwest in the 19th Century,” by Jeff Kappeler
8. “Stories of the Irish in Nebraska,” by Thomas Kuhlman
9. “Swedish Pioneers in Nebraska,” by Laureen Riedesel
10. “Voices From the New Land: Danish Immigration to Nebraska,” by John Mark Nielsen and Dawn Nielsen
11. “Latinos: Searching for the Good Life in Nebraska,” by Ben Salazar
12. “From Mexico to Nebraska,” by Jan Wahl
13. “The Hispanic Roots of Cowboy Cultures,” by Ricardo Garcia
14. “Pride in the Mexican Culture,” by Olga Olivares
15. “Mexican Sayings (Dichos),” by Olga Olivares
16. “The Irish in Nebraska, 1850-2000,” by James Cavanaugh
17. “The Irish in Omaha, 1854-2004,” by James Cavanaugh
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U.S History and Culture
1. "America: A Personal History of the United States," Volume 9: "The Huddled Masses," 52 minutes
2. "Vaquero: The Forgotten Cowboy," 60 minutes
Ethnic History and Culture
Asian American
1. "Blue Collar and Buddha," 57 minutes
2. "Freckled Rice," 48 minutes
3. "Talking History," 30 minutes
Hispanic American
1. "Chicano Park," 59 minutes
2. "Los Trabajadores (The Dayworkers)," 48 minutes
3. "The Trail North," 28 minutes
Nebraska/Great Plains History and Culture
1. "The New Americans: Folk and Traditional Arts in Lincoln," 1 DVD, 50 minutes, 5 CITY-TV 2007. Features four 10- to 17-minute segments on the traditional arts of Lincoln’s new immigrants and refugees from Sudan, Vietnam, northern Iran and Russia.
2. "Un Tesoro de Nebraska (A Nebraska Treasure): Discovery Our Mexican Legacy," 60 minutes
The Humanities and Contemporary Issues
Ethics, Law and Democracy
1. "The Constitution: The Delicate Balance," Volume 7: "Immigration Reform"
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1. "Places of Origin: Cities and Towns European Immigrants Left Behind 1845-1914," at the Beatrice Public Library. Contact Laureen Riedesel at 402-223-3584.
2. "Voyages to Freedom: 500 Years of Jewish Life in Latin America and the Caribbean," at the Nebraska Humanities Council.
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1. "Giants in the Earth," by O.E. Rolvaag
2. "Braided Lives: An Anthology of Multicultural American Writing," edited by the Minnesota Humanities Council
3. "Canicula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en la Frontera," by Norma Elia Cantu
4. "Lost In Translation," by Eva Huffman
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Change
is a constant. American culture, in particular, has embraced the idea of
change. Our founding beliefs in democratic institutions and the optimism that
was a legacy of our expanding frontier encouraged us to welcome change. But
change can also be disruptive. Phone 402-474-2131 or e-mail nhc@nebraskahumanities.org |
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