xicanisma

Chola Culture on MadTV

2010-01-27T19:59:00.000-08:00

Debra Wilson and Nicole Sullivan as Lida & Melina on MadTV.
This goes way back to the '90's but they were pretty on point!
I wasn't very critical of this skit back then, and watching it now, I still think it's pretty funny. But maybe that's because I understand the culture... I wonder what other people who have never met real cholas thought... hmmmm.
Objectification or simple entertainment?
I wonder what an episode of Lina and Melina meet the cast of Jersey Shore would be like! Would they think Snookie was a skanky hoe like Lina's cousin Rosa? lol... Ah...

Book Review: Barrio Rhythm: Mexican American Music in Los Angeles

2009-12-15T00:42:00.001-08:00

USC_AMST 554
Readings in Chicano/Latino History
w/ USC Professor George Sanchez

Barrio Rhythm: Mexican American Music in Los Angeles. By Steven Loza. (University of Illinois Press, 1993.)

December 14, 2009

Published in 1993, "Barrio Rhythm: Mexican American Music" in Los Angeles was and continues to be a much needed analysis and documentation of music from a population of people. As a volume in the series “Music in American Life” Steven Loza adds a plethora of information from oral histories, primary resources, songs, and personal narratives on the historical and contemporary styles and genres of what is considered Mexican American music. Drawing from the origin and power of early California history, Loza explains the influence of the Spanish crown, the Mexican revolutionary era, the use of radio and the rise of popularity of radio stars like Pedro J. Gonzalez and Los Madrugadores. Clearly, throughout the history of California, “Mexican-American” music has been front and center to the many changes that have occurred throughout the state.

Loza outlines the business side of the music industry as he showcases the development of radio, both English and in Spanish and the role of the recording industries – some of which, if not most, took advantage and underpaid its talent. From early Boleros, to Corridos in the Spanish era, to Swing in Pocho Spanish by artists like Lalo Guerrero, to Salsa, to Mariachi, to Mainstream Rock and Roll, to what he calls “The Eastside Sounds” of the melodies of bands like The Midnighters, and El Chicano, to the new wave of the punk band scenes of the 80’s, "Barrio Rhythm" smoothly transitions from each period, showcasing its mass appeal to the general audiences and significantly showcasing the vast array of talent and musical ability of the Mexican American Chicano community of Los Angeles. The Eastide Renaissance and the legacy of Chicano music, in murals, literature, theater and politics was a large part of the identity of Chicano music in East Los Angeles – a framework that is clearly outlined in Loza’s work.

With photographs, song lyrics, sheet music and more, Loza covers a span of over 300 years of music history in California specific to Los Angeles and the Mexican American community. Most urgently he points, Mexican American music is not solely music created by Mexican Americans, but music that defines an experience, such as the birth of sounds and scences from East Los Angeles. In contemporary terms, as Loza points out, many of the artists, like Willie Heron and Los Lobos were inspired by European music, soul, funk, and even son jarocho. The creation of new and hybrid sounds and towards the early 90’s sets the tone for continued work in the future chronology of “Chicano Music” in Los Angeles and the many ways in which it may change and evolve. The book is an incredibility entertaining, luring and poetic way of attempting to answer the question “What is Chicano music?” With the evidence presented, Loza alludes that Chicano music has a history, is not synonymous with a time, space or style, but instead, is a hybrid of many elements fused together to create a sound from a loud and booming perspective.

South Park & Jaime Escalante

2009-12-08T21:55:00.000-08:00

Eric Cartman as Jaime Escalante!
Props to South Park for doing the Stand and Deliver parody, Eric has the comb-over, the glasses, the plain shirt and the accent down pretty good.
Honorary Xicanisma mention.
via: Hot Air

Chicano as Political Idenity:

2009-12-08T20:42:00.000-08:00

The below is a thread from a Twitter/Facebook post that I wrote late Sept. '09. Check out the discussion on how interpretations, ideas, concepts, and education play a role in identifying what "to be Chicano" really means:

Wendy Carrillo In todays society its very small minded to think "chicanismo" will solely continue to be a mexican identity, its more a Political identity

Cindy Mosqueda

MEChA has been saying this for years. Well, officially since 1999.

Angela Rodriguez

Yeah I agree. I'm not Mexican or Mexican American but my husband is Mexican from Mexico who came to this counrty at the age of 29! He is very political but because of the age he immigrated does not identify withe the traditional Chicano movement. There are many like him who are very involved but do not identify with the Chicano movement.

Carlos Aguilar

uh...historically, i'ts the political identity of mexican-americans. while some might think the movement should move beyond its history, others think its history is what gives it shape. i couldn't imagine puerto ricans identifying themselves as Chicano, no more than I can imagine a Mexican-American identifying herself as Boricua.

Gerard Meraz

Chicano/a writers/artists like Ana Castillo, Cherie Moraga, Guillermo Gomez Peña, n many others have been saying this since the early 90's especially with the 500th anniversary of the gran encuentro n two years later the Zapatista movement. There are a lot of people who already know this whose roots go bk to countries other than Mex but still proudly claim Chicano. Chicano is a borderless identity. Nit of here nor there but anywhere we choose to be n celebrate our mix.

Wendy Carrillo

@cindylu sometimes MEChA can be its own worst enemy. Not progressive, stuck in 1960's. The equivlant of Jerermiah Wright

Wendy Carrillo

@carlos I assume you are well aware of the NewYorikan civil right movement rightt? Seems like our national identities have to much in common to squabble over who is who. Heritage and political identity are not mutually exclusive.

@GMeraz agreed! There is an sort of violence commited against those NOT of Mex-American heritage who strongly support... See More Xicano identity. Its a lack of respect towards a shared political/social identity. You would think that history would teach the inclusion of "otherness" within "the other".

@me: We have a long ways to go.

Gerard Meraz

@ Carlos but Chicano studies has been doing that for a lot of people. One yr at a NACCS conference an Armenian presented on how she found her voice n place via chicana writers. Chicanos have been exploring this liminal existance for decades so we have a body of works that voice the needs of others who find themselves not recognized by their ... See Moreancestral lands nor a part of the United Statetian fabric.
We are beyond our history yet still a part of it. N yes there are salvis, chapines n maybe a boricua or more claiming Chicano. It is vast n open.
Turkish youth in Germany who r the kids of Turkish immigrants to Germany are doing and having the same experience Chicanos have n had here. Wait til they read Castillo, then it's on!

Carlos Aguilar

i don't know that it helps to claim that 'everybody' can be chicano. you can attempt to redefine chicanismo to be inclusive of everybody but by that same reasoning anybody can claim a black political identity. there needs to be broader, more inclusive identity that covers the range of brown experience in the US...hence, a 'brown consciousness.'

Wendy Carrillo

Hmmm, the thing is Brown is only one shade. What about the Jewish blonde cubana who reads castillo and claims xicana? With an x? What then?
** loving the dialogue!

Carlos Aguilar

there's a real difference between empathizing with the struggle of other marginalized peoples (those living in borderlands, if you will) and claiming membership of that group. I can say, 'I am every woman' and empathize with the plight of gender discrimination, but that doesn't make me a woman! If by saying, we can all be chicanos you really mean... See More, we can all empathize with the plight of chicanos, that might be right.

Chicanismo limitations are grounded in its history. Arguably, the movement ran its course because it grew from nationalistic fervor. Today, more and more BROWN PEOPLE are less tied to their countries of origin and are more bound by experience. That experience isn't definitively chicano...it's something else....a BROWN IDENTITY.

Gerard Meraz

Why reinvent the wheel? Chicano is maleable. They got a kind Chicano studies at UNAM since the mid 90s. Border theory has also opened ip the discourse to see how we can exist in the middle.
We need to remember we got generations of gente here that need to re-member, re-claim their rights as distinct people connected to this land. It's not about color. It's consciousness. Its struge for justice. It's having values that sometimes agree but often disagree with mainstream values.

Gerard Meraz

We r saying the same thing but I think u are the one tied to old models. If we don't change or add to it who will?
History is all myths at the end of the day. Make new myths, bring ignored myths to the foreground. We got work to do. This thinking thing is fun though

Carlos Aguilar

the danger of claiming chicanismo as maleable is that it loses its distinctive identity over time. if what it means to be chicano today is different from what it meant 20 years ago, then it what way is it the same thing?!

I understand it to be essentially a mexican-american movement, in the same way that black nationalism is essentially an african-american movement...even if Jews, Asians and others get down.

Gerard Meraz

Idk who u r rolling with but where i roll all peeps who claim n fight as Chicanos are included. Find new peeps.
Chicanos faced the same thing when fighting alongside of AIM at Wounded Knee. Some small minds didn't Chicanos as part of the family others did. Just stick to those whose minds are open.

Carlos Aguilar

i don't know that i'm identifying with old models as much as I'm considering historical contexts. i think chicanismo ran its course and that any attempts to revive it under a broader rubric runs into the problem of continuity over time.

Tonantzin Castro

The word Chicano was a term blending Chihuahua and Tejano. Chi + ano = Chicano. Historically, this culture has been the largest Latino group in the Southwest U.S. But in 2009, we have integrated a larger variety of Latinos into this country, and the same should be accounted for in our history books and ethnic studies programs. Let it not be said ... See Morethat we allowed anyone to label our people with terms which negate our indigenous ancestry, i.e. Nixon's coining the word "Hispanic." We must decide our future or it will be decided for us.

Carlos Aguilar

In summary =), chicanismo is dead and any attempts to revive it under a broader 'non-national' umbrella ignores the role of history in shaping its identity. Even more, a new 'brown identity' is emerging, based not on nationalism but on a shared experience of being the 'brown' other in the US.

Gerard Meraz

We know very well history can be revisited n in some cases needs to be turned upside down. Historical contexts are static n dead. We are talking about a continous struggle by the same people against the same forces that is alive today n growing n changing. It's how u decide to see life. Is it something that happens n happened or is happening n we have a role in it today for the sake of tomorrow.

Wendy Carrillo

Carlos is the Naz of Chicanismo ;)

Comedian Cisco

Chicanismo is dead, but it shouldn't be. It began with a purpose and an all-out sacrifice for rights, politically and civically. No one really cares about that anymore and everyone is out for themself. Chicanismo has become just like the old countries, from where immigrants flee.

Cindy Mosqueda

to be succinct: chicanismo is not dead. the term has evolved and taken new shape, just as many other terms and labels evolve. those who take on the term these days are not stuck in the 60s. (and neither is MEChA.)

Carlos Aguilar

@ cindy
your comment gets at the thrust of my point: if chicanismo, 'evolved into a new shape' how is it the same? to say it has evolved is to concede that it is different.

Wendy Carrillo

I hope MEChA has changed since my days at ELAC, when MEChA was all about exclusion if you didn... See More’t wear a Che shirt or joined some sort of Aztec dance group. Not to mention called you a sell-out if you had highlights in your hair, had a job, or aspirations to buy a home (chale! I aint buying a house, land doesn’t belong to no one ey!) (rolling eyes). I have heard that other MEChA groups were far more progressive and realistic with the times, but for ELAC to be that way, was I think in my humble opinion, just as oppressive as “the white man” which they often blamed for everything. That’s what I meant about being stuck in the 1960’s like Jeremiah Wright.

Cindy Mosqueda

one MEChA chapter /= all MEChA chapters. it's quite the limited view to extrapolate your experience with a few MEChistas at ELAC to all MEChA chapters. i think the only ones who truly felt excluded by MEChA at UCLA were lazy people who didn't want to do any work with the various community service/high school outreach programs.

Wendy Carrillo

Ive heard UCLA is WAY more progressive. I went to a meeting...oooh... back in 2002? UCSB Mecha was also way better. Just saying, I was sadden by ELAC's limited view point on what MEChA should be, but there is some truth in that one chapter can ruin it for many. Especially young kids wanting to get involved and not being privi to going to a UC right... See More off high school. most kids do end up at community colleges. especially in this economy.
SO, what can be done to better improve community college chapters is really the next step for MEChA.

Carlos Aguilar

i don't see why being progressive means being more inclusive?
why couldn't/shouldn't groups have criteria for what counts as authentic membership? i thought that mecha/chicanismo groups got their strength by drawing such lines a la other ethic identity groups.

Gerard Meraz

@ carlos so u are saying if something evolves it no longer is is valid as it was before?? I don't get your logic. The constitution has changed, it was amended. As individuals we grow and evolve. Groups and ideologies do too. I don't undrstand your pov and what I think u r saying is quite unrealistic n limited at best.
@ Wendy it's about their advisor. Having a good advisor will help any youth group develop into more realistic modes of operation.

Carlos Aguilar

my logic is very clear. i think the problem is your confusing and equivocating your terms. when a thing evolves it is no longer the thing it once was. humans evolved from apes. humans are not apes. when you use evolve you really mean adapt. humans adapt but retain their identity over time. a thing ceases to be the thing it is when it loses an ... See Moreessential part of its identity. (sorry, for the phil 101 but it's clearly needed)

My claim is that Chicanismo is 'essentially' nationalistic. I base this on the movement's concrete history. (As an aside, your claim that 'all history is myth needs to be fleshed out.' What you probably mean is that interpretations of historical facts are often debated...but that is different from saying, 'there are no historical facts, only myths.) When Chicanismo loses an essential component of its identity (namely, its nationalism) it has EVOLVED not adapted. When it has evolved it is no longer the thing it once was (remember the ape?).

Carlos Aguilar

And you don't really have fault with my logic (btw, which logical fallacy did I commit?), you have a problem with one of my premises: that 'chicanismo is essentially nationalistic.' My conclusion follows from my premises, so no problem with logic on my end.

Gerard Meraz

Yes but it still serves it's purpose n new purposes.

Carlos Aguilar

yeah but your response doesn't address my argument.

1) Do you agree that when a thing loses something essential to its identity it is no longer that thing?
2) Has chicanismo historically been essentially construed in nationalistic terms?
3) If the 'new' chicanismo does not essentially construct itself in nationalistic terms, in what way 'other than by name' is it the same movement?

Carlos Aguilar

oh yeah, Hip Hop > Chicanismo

Gerard Meraz

1) dont agree at all. We are still apes. Less hair. Watch wwf u will see what i mean
2) it had a nationalistic element that wasn't the whole basis. Aztlan as a nation is conceptual. It wasn't about mexico. It's about Aztlan. Aztlan is now bigger with raza all over the world.
3) again u r looking at chicanismo as simply nationalistic it has ... See Morespirituality, art, food, lamguage it's a full culture. It's the things that bind us. It makes George lopez funny n keeps us nodding our heads when he describes us. The tortilla w butter. The weenie in a tortilla. It's jacketa n parkiar. It's calveras for sale at a gallery on day of the dead. Come on we are more than a nation we are a people

Wendy Carrillo

its pupusa restaurants on cesar chavez and soto!

Gerard Meraz

1) a car was made for travel we made it into an art in lowriders. Can you still drive it? Is it still a car?
3) chicanismo was not a movement. There were movements by chicanos who believed in chicanismo. Some wanted better conditions in the fields, others in the schools, others wanted us out if vietnam, others a stop to police brutality, others ... See Morewanted land n to respect the treaty of Guadalupe hidalgo, others wanted access to the mainstream. They were all movement by Chicano. Chicanismo it self was not a movement.

Carlos Aguilar

Re: 1) funny but untrue.
Re: 2) I never said it was its 'whole basis,' only that it was an essential element to its identity. (btw, claiming I said something I didn't IS a logical fallacy).
Re: 3) ditto 2
Re: 1b) the question is, when is a 'car' no longer a 'car?' When it loses an essential element of its identity...whatever it might be. In the case of chicanismo my claim is that nationalism is essential. With a car maybe its something like..3 or more wheels, combustible engine, navigable, etc. Whatever the case is with the car it had no relevance with my point.
Re: 3b) i thought we were using 'chicanismo' to cover the RANGE of civil rights actions taken by self-identified chicanos starting in the late 60's. we can use whatever term you like as long as it means something like the 'range of civil rights actions taken by self identified chicanos.' I don't see how this point helps your argument. ... See More

I hate to say it, Gerry, but your view has serious logical problems.

Felicia Montes

Don't wanna get caught up but I thought I'd share really quickly....Its a lot of things according to who's speaking. No one's an authority and can say who is or is not Chican@. In my opinion, it can even be a white girl who grew up in East los or Southside Phoenix all her life and therefore has all the customs/traditions and class/gender ... See Moreexperiences who eats tortillas w/ peanut butter (not just butter G) on her way to the marcha or to community college trying to better her life and get an education so she can NOT move up and out,but GIVE BACK to her community and family. What I hope it is not is those border patrol workers you mentioned..unless of course they joined to let us all pass through so we could have the hook ups... and they never catch anyone. BTW, that was a specific era of ELAC MEChA... not a good example of MEChA....plus there are phases or stages of chicanism@ and the angry/hateful one is usually the beginning...hopefully people change/transform. Its always evolving.

Gerard Meraz

My point is that not all Chicanos wrk with nationlistic ideas. Ur claim that us essential is not true. U can believe in chicanismo n not operate as a natoonalist.

Gerard Meraz

We r apes.

Gerard Meraz

At least I am

Carlos Aguilar

again, i never claimed that 'all chicanos' work with nationalistic ideas. I claimed, 'chicano' (and related terms) have their grounding (i.e., history) in a (real or imagined) nationalistic identity. I'm assuming everybody agrees. Gerry is suggesting that 'chicanismo' has moved beyond this to be more inclusive so that whites, jews, etc. can stake... See More claim to the movement. I see that.
But my point is that once 'chicanismo' moves from nationalistic identity (grounded in Aztlan, the Southwest or Mexico proper) to something non-nationalistic it loses its essential nature. Its evolved into something DIFFERENT. And if that's the case, why use the same 'term?'

Dionne Espinoza

Wendy wanted me to get in the mix and give my two cents. I feel very conflicted about this. Chicanismo means cultural pride, assertion of identity as Chicano....I have all kinds of issues with how it played out in terms of gender, but there were positive things, like collective empowerment that were asserted as well. There were non-Mexicans who ... See Moreclaimed Chicana/o identity back then (Chilenos, Salvadorenos, ) and there are now. It's not my job to police identities, but embrace those who seek a space for personal and political action/empowerment within it. Chicana/o as a term has a specific referent (Mexican descent living in/growing up in US) and a specific political identity (those who ally with/identify with the political project of the Chicana/o movemement, e.g. comunidad, civil rights). My hope is that some of the positive ideals emerging from the movimiento are carried forward while narrow nationalisms that are sexist, homophobic, racist, are left behind.

Dionne Espinoza

So in short, I agree with Wendy. And if you read old movement newspapers of the late 1970s you begin to see how Chicana/o moves in the direction of Third world solidarities and becomes less solely cultural (although this is still very important, and yes, it is Mexican culture). It's also important to note that Chicana/o also comes about in response to a historical displacement and is always a hybrid identity.

Carlos Aguilar

I'm making three types of arguments: 1) historical 2) philosophical and 3) practical.
My historical claim is that Chicanismo has its roots in nationalistic identity (e.g., Mexican, Mexican-American, etc.) even if at its edges there were non-Mexican-American's involved. The fact that there were Jews involved in starting the NAACP doesn't make the ... See MoreNAACP a non-black organization. The fact that there were chicano supporters of the black panthers doesn't make the black panther movement non-essentially black. 2) My philosophical point is that once a thing loses that which is essential to its identity it is no longer that thing. 3) Practically, then, I see little value in forcing new meaning into old terms that the younger generations view as old hat. Jesus was onto this problem thousands of years ago when he asked why someone would put 'new wine' into 'old wineskins?'

Carlos Aguilar

by the way, i want a wineskin for christmas.

Gerard Meraz

Carlos, I understand your points, but don't agree.
Others here have also voiced that Chicanismo has evolved out of nationalism and it is still Chicanismo.

Your point about no longer being the same thing as it was in the past (yes thank god it isn't the same thing) of course it is not the same, but it still works in some of the same ways, but also in new ways for new times.
... See More
It seems you are looking at this very linear where we have to progress into something new and discard the old, come up with new terms etc.

This is more like a snake that sheds its old skin and gains new skin for now. Its more circular thinking.

Again nationalism was just ONE of many elements of
Chicanismo and it has been tempered down in recent years, but it is still Chicanismo. It has matured and accepted that it must evolve.

Carlos Aguilar

Cool. But I'm not sure you understand my points because none of your responses address them clearly. I think my historical, philosophical and practical points still hold. You seem to agree with 1 (chicanismo historically grounded in nationalism, even if blurred at edges). I don't think you follow my second, philosophical, point about the ... See Moreessential properties of things. Re: 3, at times you seem to agree with that new terms are needed, and at other times you want to pour new meaning into old terms. Your circular vs linear dichotomy, on my view, is empty ballyhoo. In fact, circular reasoning is an logical fallacy. Example, 'I believe the Bible is the Word of God because the Bible say's its the word of God."
That's circular and fallacious thinking. I don't want to think circularly.

Wendy Carrillo

Looks like what we have here is a difference of opinion based on schools of academic thought. Hmmm.
My philosophical training would have me say, “there is no chair, there is no Chicanismo”
Yet my realist training would have me say, “the chair was made by an undocumented worker, and Chicanismo has evolved”

Carlos Aguilar

wendy, i'd get a refund on that philosophical training =)

A Salvadoran Chicana Identity Part I

2009-11-24T16:36:00.000-08:00

The below is a draft of a larger paper I'm writing on a historiography of identity.

By: Wendy Carrillo
USC_AMST 554
READINGS IN CHICANO/LATINO HISTORY

November 20, 2009

When I was in high school in the mid 90’s, I wanted to join the MEChA group at Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles. I went to a meeting where everyone said where they were born, some students mentioned cities in Mexico while others said they were born in the U.S., but validated their presence by saying that their parents were Mexican. When it was my turn, I said I was born in El Salvador. The room was quiet for a minute and then the next person went. At the end of the meeting, a few members approached me and asked why I wanted to be in the group, I wasn’t really Mexican.

I was made to feel like an outsider that day, I wasn’t really Mexican and I didn’t really belong. At 15, I couldn’t really explain how I landed in East Los Angeles as a young girl after escaping a civil war back home, how I had lost my biological father to that war, or how my mom came to America and remarried a man from Zacatecas; a man I have known as my father since I was six years old. In exploring the concepts of identity as a social construction, as identity is not a nationality, ethnicity or race, notions of identity seem fluid, and even more so are notions of self-identification. In “Coloring Class: Racial Constructions in Twentieth-Century Chicana/o Historiography,” Vicky Ruiz explains concepts of identity with people of Mexican birth or decent. She writes, “Self-identification speaks volumes about regional, generational, and even political orientations…multiple identities even surface within individual families.” In my case, my mother was Salvadoran, my (step) father was Mexican, my younger sisters, all born in the U.S. were Mexican-Salvadoran-Americans, and I was strongly identifying as a Chicana, in large part due to my uncles work with Chicano identity in East Los Angeles.

In “Chicana Lesbians: Fear and Loathing in the Chicano Community,” Carla Trujillo writes that much of the identity of Chicanas derives from the “parasitic” identification from a man, as we grow up “defined in a male context: daddy’s girl, some guy’s girlfriend, wife or mother.” While Trujillo is writing about the sexual identity of a woman through the historical “ownership” of a man, can it be possible to associate these notions of ownership through familial identity politics? Trujillo explains that heterosexual Chicanas “need not be passive victims of the cultural onslaught of social control,” if anything she goes on, “Chicanas are usually the backbone of every familia.” As my affiliation with Chicansimo grew from the teachings of my uncle, who very early on described old lands of green jungles and a connection to the earth, my connection to the indigenous teachings were also cultivated. Because my uncle was a Chicano, I also identified as one.

More urgently, the desire to learn more about Chicanismo grew as the desire to learn about Salvadoran history lessened. Within my own subconscious, my Salvadoran identity was present, but not immediate. In many ways, I first identified as a young woman of color, and most urgently, as non-white. In “La Conciencia de la Mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness,” Gloria Anzaldua clearly notes that a mestiza learns to deal with identity struggles by “developing a tolerance for contradictions, a tolerance for ambiguity.” While Anzaldua is strictly writing in terms of identifying as indigenous in a Mexican culture and Mexican in an Anglo society, she also states that a mestiza “learns to juggle cultures.” Probably one of the most important written works in identity, Anzaldua argues that attacks on identity such as “commonly held beliefs of the white culture attack commonly held beliefs of the Mexican culture, and both attack commonly held beliefs of the indigenous culture,” can also be applied in attacks on national border crossing identity, or as she terms “a consciousness of the Borderlands.”

In her poem “A Struggle of Borders,” Anzaludua writes that “because I, a mestiza, continually walk out of one culture and into another… me zumba la cabeza con lo contradictorio” [my head zooms with contradiction]. The perplexity of identity is daunting in a society that often exacerbates discussions on immigration and labels. Where does one begin to associate notions of transnational, multicultural, and multilingual identity? Writer Carlos Gallego infers that Chicana/o poetry “continuously aims to redefine what it means to be Chicana/o and how to best position this subject for a more equitable sociopolitical recognition.” In his work “From Identity to Situatedness: Rodrigo Toscano and the New Chicana/o Poetics,” Gallego examines the work of identity in popular Chicano poetry and argues that the work of border poet, Rodrigo Toscano is not often seen as “Chicano” because of his critique on identity thinking. He states that “rather than reinforce conventional notions of what is understood as the Chicana/o experience, he questions the ideological necessity for such identity reinforcement.” While the poetry of Anzaldua and others like Corky Gonzalez’ “I am Joaquin,” are vetted in the discourse of Chicano identity, thereby reinforcing and legitimizing a history, Gallego argues that simplistic readings of Chicano poetry don’t engage the reader in critical identity thought.

While the works are powerful and subject driven, he writes that “in today’s multicultural America, the identity politics of Chicana/o nationalism seems antiquated and misdirected.” Gallego’s work on understanding poetic themes is important within the study of Chicana/o identity because so much of what it praised in the field is based on poetic interpretation of social injustice, struggle, marginalization, oppression and concepts of “the other.” Gallego’s divorce from traditional viewpoints in Chicana/o identity is not a first. Chicana women of the 1960’s found themselves in a similar situation when it came to understanding their identity within the Chicano Movement and within Anglo feminist discourse. Through the writings of Beatriz M. Pesquera and Denise A. Segura in “There is no Going Back: Chicanas and Feminism,” hegemony and cultural nationalism played a role in “the frustration over patriarchy in the Chicano Movement and a ‘maternal chauvinism’ in the women’s movement.” Freedom of sexual oppression on the grounds of class, race and ethnicity was critical in the development of a Chicana perspective. Since then, the writings of many Chicana scholars on identity have dealt with understanding sexual identity, many of whom have written about the subjugation of lesbian Chicanas.

Ending female subordination was key in understanding Chicana feminist perspectives through a survey questionnaire that was mailed in 1988 to the 178 women of MALCS (Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social) by Pesquera and Segura; 101 of which were returned completed. Twenty-one years later, ending identity subordination within national boundaries could be the next step in Chicana/o identity. Demography and census numbers demonstrate that there are growing numbers of other national identities within the United States. These new multinational identities could be a new frontier within the study of Chicana/o identity. The Pew Hispanic Center reported that in 1980, Los Angeles alone had a population of 2,065,503 Hispanics, and 4,677,411 in 2007, representing the highest growth from any other American city. A 2007 report, also by the Pew Hispanic Center reports that Salvadorans are the 4th largest ethnic Latino group in the U.S. following Puerto Ricans and Cubans, reflecting that four-in-ten (38.5%) living in California and one-in-seven (13.95) living in Texas, major states in the discourse of Chicana/o identity. In the population meter, Mexican-Americans constitute 20.9 million (64.2%) of the Hispanic population in the United States, largely living side by side with Salvadorans in the Southwest.

As the Pew reports that the highest point of immigration of Salvadoran’s to the U.S. occurred in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and that the average age is 29, (coincidently just like me), it is enough time to create a generation of American raised Salvadorans, living and creating spaces of expressions alongside a Mexican-American/ Chicana/o community. As the origin of the Chicana/o experience and identity is based on radical views of society and politics, it’s not surprising to understand the correlation of young Salvadoran’s identifying with concepts of Chicana/o consciousness or Chicanismo. Moraga writes that “to be a Chicana is not merely to name one’s racial/cultural identity, but also to name a politic, a politic that refuses assimilation into the U.S. mainstream… [and] acknowledges out mestizaje-Indian, Spanish and Africano.” By refusing this assimilation to mainstream, Chicana/o identity, be it self-imposed or culturally awarded, is fluid and non monolithic, with a constant rebirth towards a new consciousness, a new raza cosmica.

Bibiliography

Anzaldua, Gloria, “La Conciencia de la Mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness”
Gallego, Carlos, “From Identity to Situatedness: Rodrigo Toscano and the New Chicana/o Poetics”
Pesquera, Beatriz M., and Segura, Denise A., “There is no Going Back: Chicanas and Feminism”
Pew Hispanic Center, September 2009, “Hispanics of Salvadoran Origin in the United States, 2007”
Ruiz, Vicky, “Coloring Class: Racial Constructions in Twentieth-Century Chicana/o Historiography,”
Trujillo, Carla, “Chicana Lesbians: Fear and Loathing in the Chicano Community”

Book Review: Negotiating Conquest: Gender and Power in California

2009-11-18T16:25:00.000-08:00

USC_AMST 554
Readings in Chicano/Latino History
w/ USC Professor George Sanchez

Negotiating Conquest: Gender and Power in California, 1770s to 1880s. By Miroslava Chávez-García. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2004. xxvii + 240 pp. Illustration, map, tables, glossary, notes, bibliography, index. $39.95.)

November 18, 2009

The study of women’s history has been a topic of much discussion in academia, but the study of Mexican-American, Indigenous, African, and mixed raced women in the history of California is a new frontier. In her book, Negotiating Conquest, Miroslava Chávez-García has found a way to bring forward the often dismissed history of women in the West. By using a legal framework in which court documents tell the story of how women negotiated power and conquest from their husbands, their families, the legal system, the government and each other, Chávez-García paints a picture in which the status of women in society played a huge role in her ability to move ahead. Most urgently, for students and scholars unfamiliar with intersectional identity, Chávez-García describes in great detail the various descriptions of mulatas/mulatos – men or women of Spanish African descent, indio/india – Native man or woman or member of an North American indigenous people, indegenas – indigenous people, neofita/neofito – Christianized native men or women, espanoles/espanolas – Spanish men and women, gentiles – Non-Christian pagan people, casta – a racially mixed individual, and gente de razon – Spanish speaking colonists as distinguished from the native peoples of California.

These identification markers are important as they are part of the fabric of history in which Chávez-García sets her narrative as to who was able to seek assistance from the courts when it came to land, power, abuse and the Americanized trend of divorce. Using legal court documents, Chávez-García sets out to argue that gender played a role in early California throughout the Spanish and Mexican eras and the American West. Negotiating Conquest is not only referring to colonial conquest, but also refers to the negotiation that women made in order to achieve personal upward mobility. Part of negotiation power for women also including the negotiation of power by men. Although most of the court documents used by Chávez-García are set in the 1840’s and some are incomplete, the documents show that women were able to take to court husbands who illegally took possession of their lands and/or were not responsible bread winners or fathers. Because gender roles played a big role in the household, expectations of female roles also deemed for the expectations of male roles. This shift in power and the degree in which women knew how to maneuver within the system allowed them to seek independence from otherwise uncomfortable situations that dealt with physical abuse, infidelity, and lack of financial care.

This power however, was limited. Chávez-García demonstrates in her book that it was women who were gente de razon and espanolas that securely moved through the system. Neofitas, indias, indegenas, castas, and mulatas, had little resources or means. This class system amongst women adds to the many layers of patriarchy, gender, and the position of power in which Mexican California originated from and how it changed with the development of the American West. Chávez-García adds a new and exciting narrative to the history of women, women of color and the often overlooked history of a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and three times colonized California.

USC Graduation Speech 2009

2009-10-11T00:58:00.001-07:00

On May 14th 2009, I was fortunate to give the graduation speech at the 29th Annual Latino/Chicano USC Graduation Celebration hosted by El Centro Chicano. As a graduate student, it was a great honor. I hope the students that were present took something important from it, and if you are reading it now, I hope you do as well. :)
Fight On!

W.C.

Good evening parents, faculty, staff, distinguished guests and fellow graduates.

It is with great pride and humility that I stand before you today as your graduation speaker for the 29th Annual Chicano/Latino Graduate Celebration for the University of Southern California’s Class of 2009.

Bienvenidos a todos ustedes que celebran con nosotros el dia de hoy, a los papas, mamas, abuelitos, abuelitas, hermanos, hermanas, tias, tios, primos y amistadas, y hasta los vecinos que decidieron venir, les agradecemos sus precensias y apoyo.

El honor de estar frente de ustudes como representante de la clase universitaria 2009 de la Universidad del Sur de California es completamente mio.

Look at us.

We stand tall and proud on this beautiful day, our Raza sashes hanging proudly around our necks. What a sight we must be.

Only we know the sacrifices we made to me here, to have completed, finished a grueling academic career at one of the best Universities in the nation.

No one said being a Trojan was an easy task.

Being a Trojan is hard work.

But we know hard work, don’t we?

Some of us come from families that have immigrated to this country with blood, sweat and tears as down payments for a better tomorrow.

We have parents that work two or three jobs to make ends meet.

As students, some of us have had to work two or three jobs to pay tuition and buy books.

Some of us have left family behind in other countries to fulfill the dreams of our ancestors.

Some of us have dealt with the beautiful complications of being the firsts in our families to graduate American high schools, and pursue a higher education in the form of a Bachelor’s, a Masters or a PhD.

Some of us have younger brothers and sisters who look up to us and whose view of college is no longer, IF but WHEN.

Some of us have been lucky and have followed the academic footprints of someone close to us that has led the way.

We have pledged to Greek Associations that have made everlasting impressions in the true meaning of brotherhoods and sisterhoods.

We have played sports or joined organizations that enriched our experiences as students and members of the Trojan family.

Some of us are single mothers, single fathers, or simply single, bilingual, ready to mingle – doing it on our own.

Some of us, have experienced the trauma and courage of fighting in out nations military, while others have had to battle health issues far greater than any of us could ever comprehend.

Our commonality lies in the foundation that regardless of where we come from, or what we look like, we share a deep understanding that we are here, in the present, living our own truths, representing not just ourselves, but our friends and family whose without support, we would not be here today.

In the spirit of that struggle, Malcolm X once said “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today”

In 2008, 16,608 Freshmen were accepted to USC. Of that, only 2,003 were Latino. That same year, 17,139 Graduate students were accepted, only 1,326 were Latino.

We know the heavy burden and awesome responsibility of what it is to be Latino within these Trojan grounds.

And when we leave this campus to pursue jobs in a market that is crumbling, we leave with the knowledge and imagination to shape our destiny, not to be controlled by it.

We take our legacy with us and we do with it our own will, because that is what Trojans do.

A wise man once said “Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.”

That something larger, is our familia, our USC familia.

That wise man, is now President of the United States of America.

And while President Obama may not be a Trojan, he may as well be, because he dared to dream big, and he invited us to join him.

Many of us who were inspired by the movement of his campaign had never felt any inkling to become civically engaged.

We have read and perhaps been moved by the Chicano movement of the 60’s, but for many of us, regardless of party affiliations, for the 1st time, saw a leader within our own generation that inspired us to believe that we could change the course of our nation.

And we did.

Pundits who said that Brown and Black tensions would overpower this election, had a strong awakening.

Latinos won the election for Obama. We came out heavily in swing states like New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and even Florida.

We proved the power of our vote could change the direction and face of this country, a face that looks just a little bit more like ours.

Each month, 50,000 Latinos turn 18. How many of them register their voices to vote?

The US Census reported that just four years ago, more than half the children under age five in California were Latino.

That same year, more than half the babies born in this state were born to Latina mothers.

The question we have to ask ourselves is, eighteen years from now, how many of those children would have graduated high school?

How many of those children will pursue higher education?

The answer is that unfortunately, the numbers won’t reflect the majority, and if WE don’t do anything about it, we will continue to be under represented, under educated and under counted.

We hold in hearts and in our hands, the opportunity to change our destiny, and for many of us, just like for many of those children, education is our only ticket out of poverty.

I was only 13 when I learned I was undocumented.

I was fortunate to have become a resident and later a citizen.

Others have not been as lucky, and there may be some of you here today, wondering what you will do with your degree and no valid means of working and contributing to our society.

I know that the road has been hard and sometimes getting through it is a test of self endurance and determination.

Sometimes, our own self doubt has been the barrier of our achievement, questioning our right to belong here, questioning our ability to understand and comprehend the magnitude of our own voices.

And this issue, this lack of access to higher education is the civil rights movement of our time.

We, Latinos are the largest growing demographic in the nation, and yet, we lack the most in resources.

And as we prepare to go out into the real world, we must remember that our affiliation with USC is not over.

And while we may be leaving the institution as students, we must continue our commitment to El Centro Chicano. Our responsibility as alumni is just beginning, and we take with us all we learned.

1. In return, each of us, must make a pledge that we will improve those entry numbers by recruiting, engaging and motivating other young Latinos to pursue higher education at this university.

Inscribed in the seal our degree will bear, lie the words Palmam qui meruit ferat – Let whoever earns the palm bear it.

Graduates, we have earned that seal!

Today, is not the end of our academic careers, for education is a lifelong journey,

Today, is the beginning of when we become responsible to someone other than ourselves

**

En el 2004, por primera ves en la historia de California, lo mayoria de niños menos de 5 años fueron Latinos y en ese mismo año, mas de la mitad de bebes nacidos en el estado, nacieron de mamas Latinas.

La pregunta que nos tenemos que hacer es, 18 años después, cuantos de esos bebes habran terminado la preparatoria? Cuantos de ellos seguirán sus estudios en la universidad?

Tristemente, la respuesta es que muchos de ellos no alcanzaran esas metas y quizá hagan decisiones seriamente graves.

Será nuestra responsabilidad de hacer algo para sacar a nuestra gente adelante.

El año pasado, 16,608 estudiantes fueron aceptados a la Universidad como estudiantes de primer año. Solo 2,003 eran Latinos. Ese mismo año, 17,139 estudiantes fueron aceptados en programas de maestrias, solo 1,326 eran Latinos.

El hecho mero de que estemos aquí habla volúmenes de la fortaleza de nuestra gente, y de la igualdad de la mujer al hombre.

Dan luz a las palabras de el poeta revolucionario Cubano Jose Marti, que dijo, “las cualidades morales suben de precio cuando son realzadas por las cualidades inteligentes” y en búsqueda de la construcción de una sociedad perfecta, Marti dice, que la solución “esta en educar a la mujer de modo que pueda vivir de si con honor” y si, “la educación de los hombres es la forma futura de los pueblos, la educación de la mujer garantiza y anuncia los hombres que de ella han de surgir”

Hoy, no se acaba nuestra carrera estudiantil, la educación se aprende por toda la vida

Pero hoy, hoy nos hacemos responsables de algo más grande que nosotros.

My name is Wendy Maria Carrillo Doño.

I stand before you today, as a product of my East LA community, as an immigrant from El Salvador, as the oldest of five girls, as a proud daughter, granddaughter, sister, and friend, as a graduate of Roosevelt High School, East LA College, Cal State Los Angeles, and now, a Graduate from the University of Southern California with a Masters degree.

I stand before you today, as a representation of who we all are.

In the words of the lesbian Chicana feminist poet, Gloria Anzaldua, “They’d like to think I have melted in the pot. But I haven’t… WE haven’t.”

Congratulations class of 2009! FIGHT ON! Y que vivan los Latino Trojans!

Xicanisma Origins

2009-10-01T00:37:00.000-07:00

I wanted to start this blog because I was looking for a space to write my thoughts about everyday self expression. Subjects like history, identity, culture, class, sexuality, gender, family and everything in between. One of my favorite Chicana feminist authors, Ana Castillo, coined "Xicanisma" in her writings on racism, identity and classism. Xicanisma, is a state of being, a consciousness that exists beyond our borders. This blog, is my attempt to unpack my own cultural knowledge, applied and institutionalized acculturation, colonization and known reality. I hope to re-discover myself.

W.C.