Maria Gracia and I were involved in a project with AHAA over the summer. Over the course of about 5 months, we developed what is now being called the "Latino Identity Project." In a recent chat, we discussed our involvement and excitement in the project.
maria gracia says:
hola joli, let's start the post about our story about the AHAA project
hollina says:
sounds like a plan. I remember you were in Venezuela when Dr. Korzenny called me about the project. I must have sent you 5 emails, saying "Call me asap! I need to know if you want to do this project!" So I was glad when you came back and DID want to do it. I think we're a good team, even though I didn't really know what the project was about.
maria gracia says:
yes, I remember, I couldn't get back to you sooner because I was in the road in wild Venezuela. I remember that when I saw the first draft explaining what the project was about and who was going to be involved I got excited. I remember that I had seen the account planner in an AHAA conference and that they were fascinating people and then I say their names there...I thought, great what an opportunity. I also saw the names of Arlene Avila and Padilla. And working with you is always good, we make a good team
hollina says:
I was just doing it for the money. (jejeje) You're right. When they explained that they wanted us to scour the academic literature, and use it to define the "pillars" of Latino identity, I got very excited. It's nice to know that everything we were doing at the University wasn't in vain. We had already started something like that with the annotated bibliography.
maria gracia says:
Yes, I always enjoy that part of a project, the preliminary research. Just exploring what is out there, where to find materials that are relevant in the less obvious sources like researching health, psychology, sociology, education journals and finding new perspectives about issues. I also remember that it took us a while to understand what the famous "pillars" or "points of engagement" were.
hollina says:
well, granted we did have Dr. Korzenny's book to guide us as well. How many of the now infamous "pillars" did we originally have? It was something like 15, right?
maria gracia says:
yes. we explored the basic and classical cultural dimensions like time perception, gender, individualism/collectivism and also what Dr. Korzenny developed as the cultural archetypes
and also aspects of acculturation stress, body image, self-esteem...even rasquachismo.
Collectivism Familismo External attribution Decision-making Interpersonal Orientation Time Uncertainty Avoidance Ethnic identity and self-esteem Health Machismo Marianismo Immigration stress Education
hollina says:
yes....when we went to Chicago for the first meeting with the planners, we had anticipated, what? an hour-long presentation? but there was so much conversation going on about everything...it must have lasted a couple of hours. In the end, though it was good to know that we were all on the same page.
maria gracia says:
the conversation was so dynamic, everybody was very into it, I really felt we had done a good job when one of the planners (which by the way are so cool) said..mmm interesting , I've never thought about that in that perspective..his face really showed that we had tapped into important insights in a sharp way...that was energizing
hollina says:
definitely. you know, sometimes I think it's about taking a step back and looking at things from a different perspective. I think we had to do the same thing when they asked us to narrow the "pillars" down to four and to come up with a visualization!
maria gracia says:
yes, but it is amazing, it was like going to the beginning, having to reduce the concept and coming up with a model was like going back to the basics , in other worlds, going back to the simple minimalist concepts...time, gender, individual vs. social perception, and spirituality vs. rationality
hollina says:
The visualization was what took the longest. We had to find something that had basic structural characteristics, with the ability to change and mutate according to the surroundings, and something that also came in different shapes and sizes....and so we happened upon the VIRUS. Maria Gracia, we should have known....
maria gracia says:
jajaja, we were all proud of our model. actually I still think it is a very good way to visualize what was needed. We never thought that using that cellular-virus like organism was going to be controversial among the planners in AHAA. We didn’t consider that the negative connotations of a virus (spreading in a destructive way) was going to be activated in their minds. We tried to emphasize the features you just mentioned...basically the organic nature of that "entity" that was the Latino cultural entity in a microscopic metaphor (over)
hollina says:
I still think that objectively it was the best way to visually represent what we were trying to say, but I understand their hesitation. Can you imagine what the AHAA program would have looked like? I was a little disappointed, but not shocked, when they asked us for another representation. You had the heart idea in your back pocket, thank God.
maria gracia says:
yes, actually we sent them 3 different visualizations (insert here link to visualizations) and Gary Bonilla suggested that the HEART was a good one...I don't remember exactly how the idea was finally crystallized (it was a brainstorm and ideas become collective) I also remember that they also said that using a heart was good because of the emotional metaphor -- el corazon del consumidor, el corazon latino, emotions, feelings, deep, etc
hollina says:
well, it had the same basic characteristics we were trying to promote with the virus...the four chambers, the blood, the core, the interaction with other parts of the body, etc. All in all, I think that we did a pretty fantastic job. It's still odd to me to get emails alerting me to this "groundbreaking" new study...which I then see is ours. That feels good, huh?
maria gracia says:
absolutely, It felt so good to see the actual impact that our research and visualization had into the final product.
hollina says:
I agree. Collaborating with the account planners and bouncing ideas off each other was very stimulating too. (Must have been, now I'm working for one of them!)
maria gracia says:
jajaja sure, I hope I can work with you guys someday too. I was also remembering that the first metaphors we used was a full body X-ray with a heart...we image was the combination of medical invention with I don’t know what
maria gracia says:
hey, let's post both power point presentations…or do you think they have copyrights on that research? (ahaa, I mean)
hollina says:
I can't imagine so. Let's be fatalistic and post them and if we get sued then.....we'll figure it out. We always do, right?
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