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Altha Cravey is
author of Women and Work in Mexico’s Maquiladoras
(Rowman and Littlefield Inc., 1998) and is completing
a book project titled: Racializing Spaces: Mexican
Transnational Lives in the United States South
(Under contract with University of North Carolina
Press). Along with Elva E. Bishop, she produced a
video documentary about the 2006 uprising in Oaxaca
titled: People’s Guelaguetza: Oaxacans Take
it to the Streets. An earlier career as a construction
electrician and member of the International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers local # 481 sparked her interest
in understanding how certain jobs become masculinized
and others become feminized. Her academic and activist
work concerns the interconnections among labor geographies,
ethnic and gendered identities, and the pursuit of
social justice.
Elva Bishop's video
projects have focused on traditional North Carolina
musicians and storytellers as well as the peculiar
early days of women's basketball. "Women's Basketball:
The Road to Respect" received a national PBS
satellite feed, was funded by the Southern Educational
Communications Association, and is based on Bishop's
masters thesis research. The documentary features
industrial teams from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s,
as well as professional teams who competed against
men and traveled widely. A more recent project, "Welcome
to Todos Santos: We Pray for the Peace of the World"
celebrates the feria titular in Todos Santos,
Guatemala. It is co-written with Julian Jerónimo
Jerónimo and told from the point of view of
the fair's participants. "Welcome to Todos Santos"
was screened at the First Nations Film and Video Festival
in Chicago, the Native American Film Festival in Columbia,
South Carolina, and at the Native Spirit Festival
in London in October, 2008. A film based in southern
Mexico, "People's Guelaguetza: Oaxacans Take
it to the Streets", co-produced with Altha Cravey,
was screened at the 2006 Latin American Film Festival
in Durham, North Carolina. Bishop recently retired
from 25 years as a video technician at UNC-TV saying
she "ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more."
She looks forward to creating more independent projects.
Javier Garcia Méndez
is a journalist and videographer of cultural, political
and educational issues. His videos include: "The
Days of the Dead"; “Tribute to John Lennon",
featuring leading Mexican artists; "The Mixes
and the Salesians in Totontepec"; "Housing,
Health, Work and Faith"; "Pilgrimage for
Peace and Justice"; and "Abuses in Housing".
In recent years, he has been a community organizer
in Durham and Greensboro, North Carolina. Garcia Méndez
also researched and wrote "Huitzilac, No Official
Version", using biographical testimonies to document
the life and death of the Mexican revolutionary figure
who dares to runs for the presidency against the only
man ever to be reelected as president after the revolution.
His bold action resulted in his own assassination
in 1927. Garcia Méndez’s thesis research
on Huitzilac was mentioned as an “antecendent
of great utility” by Pedro Castro of Universidad
Autonomo de Mexico when writing his book “La
Sombra de un Caudillo”.
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