Alfred Arteaga
by
Richard T. Rodriguez, Ph.D.

Alfred Arteaga’s passing has generated a deep sadness among those who were touched by his intellect, his creativity, and his human spirit.  While I count myself as one of those touched and now saddened, I also find myself reflecting on the profound impact he has had on my life. 

I was introduced to Alfred in 1990, my first year as an undergraduate and his first year as a faculty member at UC Berkeley.   From the moment we met he took interest in both me and my scholarly passions.  A week after our initial meeting he took me out to lunch at which point he asked about my post-undergraduate plans.  Although I began contemplating an advanced degree after early exposure to a stellar group of faculty of color teaching at Berkeley at that time, it was Alfred who first mentioned the curiously titled graduate program at UC Santa Cruz in which I would eventually enroll.  Alfred had worked with faculty in the program while pursuing his Ph.D. in Literature (for which he wrote a dissertation on Shakespeare and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz) and believed—at a moment when he knew me better as a person than a scholar—that it was my ideal space.  During that time at Berkeley, Alfred championed my ideas (even when they weren’t fully developed) and encouraged my forays into writing poetry, analyzing Chicano cultural production, and grappling with high theory—even as others were downright dumbfounded by a sophomore doing an independent study on Derrida and Spivak.  Knowing very well how effective, rigorous, and socially committed thinking functions, he taught me that breaking disciplinary rules was just as crucial as elegant prose and persuasive argumentation.  Were it not for Alfred’s steadfast mentorship and unflagging support, I would not have been admitted to graduate school or obtained my doctorate in History of Consciousness. 

Yet Alfred’s influence did not stop there.  His breathtaking ability to navigate an array of seemingly disparate spaces inspires me to no end and thus provides the impetus for my life’s work.  Equally important, his personal investment in the lives of others continues to make its indelible mark on my life in academia.  Like Alfred, my role as a mentor is just as important as my role as a scholar/writer.  I have made it a habit to take my students to lunch and encourage their specific interests even if they don’t always correlate with mine. 

Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to tell Alfred the news of my tenure at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  I wish I had had that chance for I would have told him that he had everything to do with it.  He set me on this path and saw me this far.  I have no doubt that he’ll continue to be by my side in everything I do.

Richard T. Rodríguez, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
of English & Latina/LatinoStudies
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
510 E. Chalmers, MC-495,
Champaign, IL 61820

http://www.english.uiuc.edu/-people-/faculty/rodriguez.html

http://www.lls.uiuc.edu/faculty_staff/Richard_Rodriguez.html

Alfred Arteaga
http://www.alfredarteaga.com

Frøzen Accident
by
Alfred Arteaga
ISBN 1-882688-32-5
http://www.alfredarteaga.com/fatitle.html

Chicano Poetics
Heterotexts and Hybridities
by
Alfred Arteaga
SBN 0-521-57370-x (cl)
ISBN 0-521-57492-7 (pa)
http://www.alfredarteaga.com/cptitle.html

Descanza en paz, Alfred Artreaga
by
Daniel Hernandez
09 July 2008
http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez

Poet Alfred Arteaga, professor of Chicano and ethnic studies, dies at 58
by
Rachel Tompa
UC Berkeley News
11 July 2008
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/07/11_arteaga.shtml

My Visit To a Parallel Chicano/Latino Universe - San Francisco
April 5- 6, 2005
by
Mark Guerrero
http://www.markguerrero.net/misc_38.php