When New Mexico State University welcomed the “Chicana/Latina Studies Journal: The Journal of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social” (MALCS) to campus last year, a complementary tool for disseminating research also reached out to the community – a podcast on MALCS Radio!.
The podcast began in 2018 and was led by Daimys Ester García for five years. Over the past few months, she has trained NMSU counseling psychology doctoral student Sophia Daley to take over the podcast. The podcast invites each issue’s contributors to pláticas to speak about the work they created.
“So, we just had our fall 2022 issue come out in January,” Daley said. “For the podcast, we invite every contributor to talk about their writing experience, what it was like to submit to our journal, how the process went and what the piece has meant to them. So, it's a chance to hear more about them and the significance of their scholarship to C/LS Studies and their intentions behind the piece.”
“The Journal of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social” is an organization of Chicana, Latina, Arabyya, and Indigenous women and gender non-conforming students, scholars and activists. The organization was founded in 1982 at the University of California at Davis by a group of Chicana/Latina scholars who felt isolated and eager to extend their knowledge to other women and wanted to change society’s perception of them as Chicanas/Latinas.
The journal itself was first published in 1991 also at UC Davis. It is housed at a new university every five years when it changes editorship. The journal aims to curate inclusive and diverse scholarly pieces such as art, essays, creative writing and book reviews.
Most recently the journal was at the University of Texas San Antonio under the editorship of Sonya M. Alemán before being housed at NMSU in Spring 2022, with the first issue released in Fall 2022. The Chicano/Latina Studies Journal will reside at NMSU until 2027. It is published twice a year and is open to authors and artists whose work reflects the mission and values of the journal.
“The journal encourages young scholars, who haven't had their writing published before, to give it a try,” Daley said. “Even if their manuscripts need revisions the first time around, they get constructive feedback and ‘femtoring’ on their writing that uplifts them and doesn't discourage them.”
The podcast is a direct extension of the journal, giving readers another perspective directly from the author and giving listeners a behind-the-scenes look.
“Something I've already heard a lot from the interviews that happened last semester is how the MALCS community has been a home for a lot of our contributors and been a place where they have felt heard and felt their works were appreciated in the way that they wanted them to be,” Daley said. “So, maintaining that culture and being able to showcase the artist and scholar behind the writing is a cool thing to continue doing through the podcast.”
As the graduate assistant working for both the journal and the podcast, Daley said she has learned not only by interviewing contributors, but also through being femtored by journal editors and NMSU faculty Judith Flores Carmona, Manal Hamzeh, and Georgina Badoni, who have shared their wisdom with her and “demystified the editorial process through a decolonial feminist perspective” and encouraging her to begin writing and publishing her work as a young scholar. Daley hopes to see the podcast reach the community of Las Cruces through partnerships with local radio stations.
You can listen to the newest episode of the podcast with Odilka Santiago and listen to all previous episodes on the MALCS radio archive.
Watch for upcoming episodes on their Facebook, Instagram and Soundcloud.
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