The Passions of Dr. Anna Sandoval: Chicano and Latino Studies

Dr. Anna Sandoval is passionate about her work as Professor and Chair of the Department of Chicano and Latino Studies at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB).

“…in terms of the work that I do. My scholarship, my arts advocacy work, working with students. I’m very committed to that work and as times get more challenging, my passion is growing stronger and stronger because I guess I feel an urgency.”

The Professor and Department Chair was born and raised in Sacramento, California, the youngest of seven children. While her parents may have had a sixth and eighth-grade education, they, like many Latino families, stressed that they wanted their children to pursue education.

PalacioMagazine.com interviewed Dr. Anna Sandoval in her campus office late last year. She spoke about her own path through education, the important role of Chicano/Latino Studies in today’s America, and how arts and culture are critical to a complete education.

The Education Path

For Dr.Anna Sandoval, the path to college was begun by an older sister.

“When I was ten years old, she took me to one of her college courses and that began my introduction to that environment.”

Years later, the young Anna Sandoval would complete her education at the University of California, Santa Barbara with a B.A. degree in English. Next came a Ph.D. in American Literature from UC Santa Cruz. But she wasn’t done with studying. Anna Sandoval spent a year in Mexico City at La Universidad Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM).  As if that wasn’t enough studying, she was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship In 2004 to teach at the University of Malaga in Southern Spain.

“Those two experiences were definitely two of the highlights of my career in academia.”

In her Mexico study, she found something very special. Even though she was born and raised in Sacramento,

“I felt a sense of a sense of belonging. I was identifiably American…but I just felt that I fit in. And I felt the same way when I went to Malaga.”

Dr. Sandoval contrasts that experience of belonging and acceptance with that of here where she was born, where her family has lived several generations. Those experiences of study abroad had lasting impacts on the professor.

Research and Teaching Interests

Dr. Anna Sandoval has a wide range of scholarly interests including Chicana/o and Latina/o Literature, Feminist and Gender Studies, Ethnic American Literature, Visual Literacy and Cultural Studies. The University of Texas Press published her 2009 volume, Toward a Latina Feminism of the Americas: Repression and Resistance in Chicana and Mexicana Literature, as part of their Chicana Matters Series. Her work has also appeared in Decolonial Voices: Chicana/o Cultural Studies in the 21st Century, Chicana Literary and Artistic Expression: Culture and Society in Dialogue, and Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies.

The Role of Arts and Culture

Promoting the arts and culture within the Chicano and Latino community is an important part of Dr. Sandoval’s mission and work.

“For a long time now, I’ve believed that the writers, the poets, the songwriters, the painters, playwrights, are the prophets. I think we need to listen to their messages.”

She recounts that since high school she’s brought in speakers representing the arts to whatever institution she was studying or teaching.  At CSULB, Dr. Anna Sandoval invited Juan Felipe Herrera, the National Poet Laureate and then California Poet Laureate, for a lecture, writing workshop and performance.  Later, she programmed, as a collaborative effort, an author’s event and student writing workshop with Helena Maria Viramontes as an inauguration to an annual writer’s series.  In our interview, Dr. Sandoval traced her interests in the arts to growing up in a music-filled household and with family members who were artists.

“I think it was just something that I embraced at a very young age…And I always saw the power of the arts and wanted to introduce as many as I could to art in all its forms.”

She believes art has the power to heal, to provoke, to challenge people, and to inspire hope.

Dr. Anna Sandoval speaks about an intersection between the arts and education and how both are important for students who have a passion.

“It’s the arts and culture that are key to creating future leaders. And it’s in our courses that students are going to learn how to turn that passion into not only a career. What is that saying, “Find something you love to do and you’ll never work a day in your life.””

A Vision of a more Diverse America

Spend any time with Dr. Sandoval and you can feel both her passion for scholarship, the arts, and students’ future. We pointed out the conflict in American today between the forces of a more diverse America and those who are struggling to accept that America or even worst, reject it. Just when some might find the scenario pessimistic, Dr. Anna Sandoval says she is optimistic. She speaks proudly of young people giving her hope. This generation, she proclaims, is in many ways braver then hers.

“We are preparing our students to be at the table in the arts, in law, in government, in education. And it’s imperative that we prepare them to be at the table because if you’re not at the table, you are on the menu.”