El Centro seeks submissions for a journal to celebrate 10 years

El Centro Académico Cultural de  Humboldt, a cultural center on campus, is  in the process of creating a journal called  Decade of El Centro. This journal will  have documentation of the past 10 years of  the center’s history for future generations.  

The journal will highlight the origins of  Latine presence in Humboldt County and Cal  Poly Humboldt. The project also celebrates  the first 10 years of advocacy and creating an  open space for the Latine community.  

The center will be accepting  submissions starting Feb. 2 and will close  March 1. Questions and ideas can be sent  to lcae@humboldt.edu, where they are  also seeking participants, who will be  interviewed about their experiences with  El Centro. 

“The thought of getting to pass this on  to somebody else after us is really exciting, because history is always changing,” Melissa  Torres Escalante, graduate researcher, said. “They’re always trying to change history,  and it’s really important that we document  that. And a really exciting part is that we get  to run our own research.” 

El Centro plans to create an archive full  of photos, stories, videos and memorabilia,  to honor the cultural space, reinforce  identity and uplift a sense of belonging.

“I feel like most of the time we don’t  really, at least in my experience, talk about  our history, or don’t talk about our culture  or where we come from,” Ernie Iniquez, a  graduate researcher, said. “And I think it  could be important when we’re so far up  North, and isolated from where we come  from. You know, just trying to figure out.  And I think this project would help students  feel more like they belong, because they’ve  realized that we’ve been here.” 

This project is sponsored by The  Research and Creative Projects for  Equity and Justice and was accepted  near the end of 2024. This will allow El  Centro to explore off-campus and bridge  communities with institutions.  

“El Centro has been, not only 10 years  ago, but before then, a space of advocacy,  for all rights,” said El Centro Coordinator,  Brenda Perez. “I believe one of our rights  is representation, representation of our  diversity in multiple languages, in multiple  identities and having a space for students to  feel like a home away from home, to foster  those relationships that are valued, and strong  in connections that are going to be the largest  support network throughout their student life  here in this rural area, I think that’s El Centro  for me, home, but also a space that now wants to be the platform for their knowledge.”

El Centro will provide accommodations  for people who want to stay anonymous. 

“With regard to issues around safety  and accessibility to this research. I think,  given the political climate and even before  this most current iteration of what’s  going on, community safety will always  be important for us, those who are most  vulnerable members who participate in  this project know that we’re safeguarding  identities at any stage of the project,” said  Marcos Hernández, El Centro academic  advisor. “It’s Latina-led research, right?  It was very important for Brenda and me  to enlist the support of Latina students  to lead this project, to lead this effort, it’s  research, it’s history.”