Introducing Regeneración Tlacuilolli: UCLA Raza Studies Journal

Serrano Najera, Gonzalez Cardenas, and Santos Introducing Regeneracion Tlacuilolli: UCLA Raza Studies Journal Jose Luis Serrano Najera, Elizabeth Gonzalez Cardenas, and Moises Santos Take care and do not forget that ideas are also weapons. —Subcomandante Marcos— T he editorial staff takes great pride, joy, and honor in welcoming readers to the inaugural issue of Regeneracion Tlacuilolli: UCLA Raza Studies Journal. Our aim for this journal is to foster revolutionary ideas about freedom, choice, love, spirit, and justice that permeate the human experience across time and space. We look at the Americas to strive to envision them as, Turtle Island and Abyala Yala without borders so that we have the freedom to move across these lands like butterflies in the wind. We focus on transborder Chicana/o communities for the beautiful potential they demonstrate in their rasquache ways. But with visions of beauty, we must also critically look into the particular pain of colonialism that has dominated this land for five centuries, which has given birth to a modernity plagued by its violent logics and drive for domination. 1 We must look at the forces of oppression to not only challenge them, but to challenge how they have twisted our logics, imprisoned our creativ- ity, corrupted our thoughts, and damaged our ability to love. Our aim at critical historic consciousness will thus help us envision a liberated future where we move beyond the dominance and towards self-determination. In doing so, we must remember that our ideas are weapons, and they have the most potential to change our society. To exert our humble contribution to societal change, our journal will provide a space for ideological regeneration through writing. Our journal’s name refers to some intellectual, cultural, and historic influences on the Chicana/o Community that have inspired ideas of regenera- tion. Regeneracion is Spanish for regeneration, but is also the title for the newspaper published by the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) during the Mexican Revolution. The PLM was in many ways the ideological impetus for much of the radically progressive factions of the Mexican © 2014 Jose Luis Serrano Najera, Elizabeth Gonzalez Cardenas, and Moises Santos