Entering a New Era of Multimedia - Lehman College

ookshelf
Guadalupe in New York: Devotion and the
Struggle for Citizenship Rights Among
Mexican Immigrants
(New York University Press, 2009). Alyshia Gálvez.
Dressed in the robes and sandals of the First Century C.E., devout
Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans from the New York
area descend on Wall Street every Good Friday. There, in a centuries-old
ritual, they act out the prayer service known as the Stations
of the Cross. A man is dressed as Jesus, a cross is carried—and
then a twist: As the actor portraying Jesus is flogged and booed,
he suffers that most modern of insults—“Illegal!”—screamed at him,
not by bankers and brokers, but by his fellow pilgrims.
It is their way of drawing attention to the plight of many Mexican
immigrants in this country, and it’s that combination of the devotional
and the political that inspired Guadalupe in New York:
Devotion and the Struggle for Citizenship Rights Among Mexican
Immigrants, written by Dr. Alyshia Gálvez, assistant professor of
Latin American and Puerto Rican studies at Lehman College.
Guadalupe, available in both hardcover ($70) and paperback ($23),
examines the way New York’s Mexican immigrants combine devotion
to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico’s patron saint, with political
activism aimed at immigration reform. “I grew up in California, and
to work on Mexican migration in New York takes full circle my
lifelong interest in Latin America, Latin American migration—and
human rights,” says Dr. Gálvez. The book started out as research
Lehman Mourns Founding
Administrator Dr. Glen T. Nygreen
The campus paid tribute in a memorial service on May 6
to Senior Vice President and Professor Emeritus Glen T.
Nygreen, who died on February 16 at the age of 91. He
was one of Lehman’s founding administrators.
A frequent welcomed guest at campus events for many
years after his retirement in 1988, Dr. Nygreen was
instrumental in establishing policies and approaches that
still guide the College in its work with students. He saw his goal as
one of helping students achieve their goals, rather than simply enforcing
the rules, and he was untiring in his commitment. “Being the first
in my family to go to college helps me understand the problems that
confront Lehman students,” he explained.
In March 2008, at a Founders Recognition Luncheon, Lehman alumnus
and former CASA President Paco Padín-San Martín (B.A., ‘73)
presented his personal recollections of Dr. Nygreen. He reminded the
audience that during those particular years, the campus was active
politically in resisting the Vietnam War.
for her doctoral dissertation in cultural anthropology
from NYU. She finished it after
beginning to teach at Lehman in 2007.
As part of that research, she worked with
two Bronx parish-based Guadalupan
Committees and with Asociación Tepeyac,
the umbrella organization that links them
with similar groups around the city. Along
the way, she discovered devotional/political
practices hidden to many New Yorkers.
For instance, she says, “Because so many illegal immigrants are
unable to attend meetings or become involved in the process—
sometimes because they’re just working too hard to take the time—
paintings of the Virgin are taken from house to house in a parish.
It’s a way of recruiting new members and of carrying news.”
In addition to the Good Friday devotions, a large Mass is held in
St. Patrick’s Cathedral every December 12, the feast day for the
Virgin of Guadalupe. Thousands of immigrants show up, but even
here, the message is a dual one: The worshippers kiss images of
the Virgin and kneel for a blessing, but they also carry signs
supporting immigration reform.
This duality, Dr. Gálvez believes, is at the heart of the immigrants’
case for reform. “Whatever the economic arguments may be,” she
says, “the Guadalupans make a different argument—that people,
regardless of which side of the border they come from, deserve to
be treated properly because they are all God’s creations, that God
grants us special status as human beings, and the Virgin vouchsafes
that. Immigration reform is a human issue.”
At Lehman we had had a couple of building takeovers, not very
serious, but handled with minimal police intervention. I think this
was so, in great part, thanks to the prevailing cool head of our
Dean of Students. There was a depth of understanding that Glen
brought to most situations. This wisdom arose from being able
to take a long view of things, and not giving in to the impulse to
react immediately or to overreact....
Dean Nygreen ... was the ultimate diplomat. He knew not to push
too far. His approach was not the “zero sum game.” He made sure
there was always a win/win in the midst of all the posturing and
speechifying. He managed to give people the feeling that their
actions had somehow paid off. We might not have gotten everything
we set out to get, but we got enough to make our efforts
seem worthwhile. And in the process, if we were willing, we could
also discover and learn from a master of the art of dialogue.
Lehman Today/Spring 2010 7