Cecilia Peña-Govea Wins Dean's Award for Thesis

May 06, 2016

Congratulations to Cecilia Peña-Govea, class of 2015, for winning a Dean's award for her thesis, "An Illustration of Converging Placekeeping Strategies in the Face of the Cultural and Economic Violence of 'Columbusing' in San Francisco’s Mission District." As this image (one of many) shows and as CC argues, what outsiders pathologize as vandalism, insiders recognize as "public mourning and resistance" to the forced transition from placemaking -- an older Latinx generation's beautiful murals -- to the younger generation's often pained strategies of placekeeping -- outsiders keep out -- in the face of "economic and cultural genocide." This astute analysis by an indigenous cultural activist pays homage to varied expressions of place, home, politics and art even as it condemns academics whose interpretations shrink or mis-read Latinx lived experience in the Mission District. Cecilia will be recognized by the Dean and Social Sciences Board of Councilors at a luncheon on May 26th.