Committee on Ethnic Studies Invites Filmmaker, Historian

Harvard will be home to a well-known avant-garde filmmaker and a scholar of Asian-American history next year when they arrive as visiting professors, department officials said yesterday.

Trinh Minh-ha, a Vietnamese-American filmmaker and scholar, will teach courses in the Visual and Environmental Studies and Women's Studies departments.

Luis Rafael-Sanchez, a prominent Puerto Rican essayist and novelist, has been invited by the Department of Romance Languages and Literature, and Xiao-huang Yin, a specialist in Chinese-American history, will teach in the History Department.

The three visiting scholars and a fourth, who has not yet accepted, were called to visit next year through the Faculty of Arts and Science's Committee on Ethnic Studies.

Trinh, a San Francisco resident and professor at the University of California at Berkeley, is well-known for experiments with the film medium. Although her topics are not limited to issues of ethnicity, "Surname name Viet, Given Name Nam," she focused on the experience of Vietnamese women both in Vietnam and in America.

"In a way, she's the woman of the hour in avant-garde film," said Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies Alfred F. Guzzetti, who serves as the department's chair. "She's certainly one of the people who is paid attention to in avant-garde film."

Rafael-Sanchez, a professor at the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras, is best known in the U.S. for his 1976 novel La guaracha de Macho Camacho (Macho Camacho's Beat).

Romance Languages and Literatures administrator Robin Oakes said it was not clear if Rafael-Sanchez would be arriving next year, but confirmed the invitation.

Rafael-Sanchez, who has taught at a number of American universities, focuses his writings largely on Puerto Rican culture and cultural history.

"He, more than anyone else, has made the sophistication of Puerto Rican culture available outside of the island," said Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures Doris H. Sommer.

Yin, a specialist in Asian American history at Occidental College, was expected to teach two classes this year in the History Department, but withdrew.

History Department administrator Geraldine W. Maletesta said Yin has pledged to return next fall and will teach the two classes he planned to offer this spring. History 1662. "Sociohistorical Aspects of Asian-American Writing," and History 1680, "Asian Immigrants in American Society."