Week 1: Unit 1

chapter 1 textbook: foundations and concepts

1.1 introduction to Chicanx and Latinx studies

core concepts in Chicanx and Latinx studies

  • Chicanx and Latinx studies is about representing self-identity, stories of community, systems of oppression, social movements, solidarity, with the goal of improving conditions for Chicanx and Latinx communities and creating greater opportunities for leadership and self-determination.

  • to understand the lived experience of chinanxz and latinx, we must consider in this order the complexity of self identity

    • (one’s personal story of their racialized intersectional identity)

    • stories of ancestral community (counternarratives in the first person, understanding systems of oppression and domination, social movements of resistence, and solidarity between racialized ethnic groups and allies

    • when systems of oppression have negatively impacted our status (labor strikes, revolutions, and civil right marches)

  • the purpose of social movements and solidarity has been to move toward liberation for our communities, to generate a sense of empowerment, and rehumanization, and to participate in a democratic multicultural society

  • chicanx and latinx studies teaches that some of our familial and community hxstories have been shaped by four major historical eras including:

    • indigenous or pre-colonial

    • european colonialism

    • cultural nationalisms

    • contemporary era

  • since the turn of the twenty-first century, chicanx and latinx studies scholars have observes a turn toward a hemispheric approach, which emphasizes the overlapping histories and experiences of people in North America, Central America, the caribbean, and South America

  • while chicanx and latinx studies directly studies complex realities, which include oppression, violence, and inequity, the purpose is to present a clear and accurate understadning of the potential solutions and interventions that will advance equity, self determination, and justice

  • chicanx and latinx studies teaches the importance of decolonization our minds and recognizing the many generations of resilient and powerful ancestors and relatives who have supported us on our journey to becoming educated persons

  • being educated means acknowledging that our families and communities hold valuable cultural knowledge of self and community, referred to as cultural funds of knowledge and cultural wealth, or nuestra herencia

  • through chicanx and latinx studies, we observe that the purpose of education is for social change, personal, and social transformation and community service

  • chicanx and latinx studies is the intellectual arm of chicanx and latinx social movements, providing the intellectual tools for liberation and freedom for our communities, emphasizing the importance of knowledge generated in our communities

1.2 struggle and protest for Chicanx and Latinx studies

historical roots of ethnic studies

  • while many chicanx and latinx studies intellectuals have worked as activist scholars with formal training, others have developed their scholarship as organic intellectuals, a concept that refers to individuals who gain advanced expertise through hands-on experience, working directly with community members

  • latinx studies emerged from the struggles and long histories of communities of color and indigenous peoples who value education for its potential to transform lives, inspire change, raise awareness, and disrupt systems of power and exploitation

  • decolonization refers to the various struggles led by indigeous people for land, sovereignty, self determination, and a transformation of the ongoing conditions of colonial power

  • traditional knowledge that has been sustained and carried foward in the face of settler colonialism provides vital insight into the importance of activism and strategies of resistence against oppresive systems

  • settler colonialism refers to the specific forms of colonialism in which outside powers attempt to eradicate and replace the living societies of native people to establish and maintain settler societies.

  • settler colonialism is a structure, not an event. this means that it is an ongoing system like racism and sexism, not a historical moment that is relegated to the past

  • introduction of colonial education led to the attempted erasure and genocide of indigenous lifeways

    • for example, the missions in california, which were first established in 1769, served as central institutions of enslavement and labour for catholic priests to coerce indigenous peoples to adopt christianized belief systems, traditions, and language. missions disrupted native american families and prevented family dormation and transmission of cultural knowledge

    • the seperation of students by race helped to reinforce the existing racial hierarchy in the broader society, providing legitimacy and justification for prevailing dominant ideologies

early days: ethnic studies, Chicano studies, and Chicana studies

  • Panther party and the student nonviolent coordinating committee (SNCC), which included chicanx students. SNCC was a youth led movement in support of racial justice and civial rights that regularly collaborated with other major leaders and groups working for civil rights and human rights

  • SNCC arrived on campus to mobilize and organize black students. the earlier freedom riders in 1961 and the 1968 east LA walkouts inspired many individuals to join these movements, as they both emphasized the importance of access to education in the larger context of racial justice and civil rights

  • at SFSC, some of the administration allowed students to teach each other courses not included in the traditional curriculum through the experimental college

  • the culture and operations of the experimental college attracted radicalized black students, especially leaders in the black student union, used the experimental college to build the black studies curriculum

  • third world liberation front (TWLF) was a multi-ethnic coalition of students that were awoken to the fact that they were being taught in ways that were dominating and irrelevant to themselves

  • penny nakatsu was one of the strikes leaders at SFSC. her speechs emphasized the importance of connecting student oppression with US imperialism and militarism that creates adverse conditions third world countries

  • although the protestors were met with hostility, resistance, arrests, and violence, they countered this strategy call the “war of the flea”, which focused on disruptive tactics that would pressure the administration to take action.

    • for example, protestors checked out massive amounts of books from the library, disrupted classes to encourage students to join the strikes, and staged massive public demonstrations with music and chanting

outcomes of the strike

  • in the end, the strikers won nearly all of their demands, including the creation of a black studies department, the funding of 11.3 new full time equivalent faculty positions, a new associate director of financial aid, the creation of economic opportunity program (eop) with 108 students admitted for spring 1969 in this program, as well as 500 seats committed for non-white students in the fall of 1969 with 400 additional slots for eop students, and commitment to creating the school of ehtnic studies

  • throughout the country, racial justice and student activism were front and center, leading to a cascade of activism for ethnic studies programs, including core disciplines of black studies, chicano studies, asian american studies, and american indian this momentum was built through grassroots movements, such as those created by the united farm workers of america, ethnic studies, and chicano youth conference

  • el plan de santa barbara, a document that united diverse activists from around the state of california and laid out a roadmap for chicana/chicano studies. of equal importance to new areas of academic scholarship were programs to increase the retention, engagement, and success of students from minoritized backgrounds

  • movimiento estudiantil chicano de aztlan(MEChA, now movimiento estuduantil chicanx de aztlan) advocated for equity and justice in higher education, such as the protestors

scholarly associations and research

  • scholarly asssociations are voluntary organizations of professional researchers who organize the exchange of ideas through activities like conference where scholars present and share their work, newsletters, peer-reviewed publications, scholarships, and research grants

  • the national association for chicano social scientists was formed in 1972 and renamed the national association for chicano studies in 1973. to recognize the contributions of mujeres it changed its name to the national association for chicana and chicano studies in 1995, which remians the name today

  • NACCS that emerged called the mujeres activas en letras y cambio social (MALCS), was founded in 1982. it focuses on chicana/latina and indigenous feminist scholarship seperately from what was known at the time of its founding as the national association for chicano studies (NACCS)

  • some MALCS members established the society for the study of gloria anazaldua.

  • after years of collective work, organizing, and tension within various caucus groups focused on gender and sexuality within NACCS, in 2011, scholars formed an independent group called the association for joteria arts, activism, and scholarship (AJAAS). this focuses on intersecting issues centered around sexuality, gender and power

  • there are also associations within other disciplines that utilize a racial justice lens or are focused on chicanx and latinx communities such as the latino caucus of the american public health association, national latino behavioral health association, society for advancement of chicanos/hispanic and native americans in science (SACNAS), and the american sociological association section on latino/a sociology

  • research shows that chicanx/lantinx studies classes, like other ethnic studies courses, have academic and social benefits for all students, as well as campus communities as a whole

  • in an urgent response to the ongoing education miseducation and underrepresentation of historically racialially marginalized students in school curriculun there have been calls to mandate an ethnic studies requirement in high school and colleges

  • AB 1460 changed the general education curriculum to include ethnic studies as a graduation requirement for all 23 campuses in the CSU system, seperate from any diversity or multiculturalism requirements

  • the ethnic studies now coalition helped to spread the movement to other high schools through advocacy and sharing resources

  • assembly bill 1255, by wendy carrillo, calls for the creation of a statewide task force to provide on the creation of a single subject credential in ethnic studies because it does not yet exist

  • california teacher credentialing, educators at fullerton college have created an ethnic studies educators certificate programs, which is the first of its kind in the community college systems and will provide current and future teachers with disciplinary training in ethnic studies that can be applied to k-12 teaching

  • long before the beginning of ethnic studies as a formal discipline in the 1950s, communities have been calling for relevant, responsive education that communicates the truth of historical, political, social, and cultural systems

threats against chicanx/latinx studies

  • anti-ethnic studies rhetoric from the arizona law, which claimed to restrict treachers from promoting “resentment toward a race or class of people” or advocating “ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals”. re-emerged in 2021 as conservative activists strategically conflated ethnic studies and critical race theory

  • critical race theory is a legal perspective that examines the relationship between US laws and systemic racism, with a particular emphasis on how to end racial bias

  • ethnic studies is an interdisciplinary field of study that encompasses a wide range of topics, issues, and perspectives focused on the lived experiences of historically defined racialized groups

  • with the inclusion of ethnic studies in general education requirements, courses in chicanx/latinx studies will receive a greater amount of institutional oversight, and an increased member of students gaining from this content and pedagogy

1.3 new directions in Chicanx and Latinx studies

frameworks: intersectional, transnational, and relational

  • feminist and queer scholars have advocated changing the name from chicano studies, which implies masculinity and mens concerns as the norm, to chicana studies, chicana and chicano studies, chican@ studies, chicanx studies, or toher similar labels. these titles signal inclusion and respect for all genders and people, along with research guided by feminist praxis and joteria studies

  • intersectionality means analyzing the multiple identities and social systems that influence and shape individuals and communities experiences, including their relationship to power structures and institutions

  • it is a concetual lens that allows for identifying the role of gender, sexuality, immigration status, indifeneity, socio-economic background, ability status, religion, and other factors, in additions to race and ethnicity

    • race

    • ethnicity

    • gender identity

    • class

    • language

    • religion

    • ability

    • sexuality

    • mental health

    • age

    • education

    • body size

  • transnational refers to social dynamics that exist beyond an individual and nation-state. this deconstructs the importance of existing nations, borders, and paradigms of citizenship, instead focusing on how culture, society, and human life communicate identity and move across lands.

  • unlike international, global, or multinational, transnational focuses on ideas, activist campaigns, and solidarity efforts transcending nationalistic and colonia borders

  • relational framework draws from ethnic studies and chicanx/latinx studies to include both specific and broad perspectives that drew from diverse experiences and voices

  • by attending to the experiences and perspectives of minoritized groups, we gain a deth of understanding of the dynamics of race, racialization, and indigeneity, along with the strategies used to dismantle white surpremacy, cisheteropatriarchy and settler colonialism

Lecture videos

1.1 foundations of Chicanx and Latinx studies

lecture video 1.1

why does this field exist

  • traditional disciplines erased or pathologized Latina/os

  • described as ‘problem populations or assimilation failures

  • little recognition as producers of knowledge

  • field emerged because communities demanded it

five S’s of Chicanx/Latinx studies

  • self-identity": define ourselves

  • stories of community: testimonios, oral histories

  • systems of oppression: racism, empire, patriarchy

  • social movements and solidarity: knowledge linked to activism

1960s context

  • civil rights and black power movements

  • Vietnam war protests and student strikes

  • feminist and queer liberation rising

  • universities became battlegrounds for knowledge

San Francisco state strike

  • began in 1968: third world liberation front

  • demands: creation of ethnic studies programs

  • lasted five months: longest strike in US history

  • faced police repression arrests, tear gas

outcome of strike

  • created first school of ethnic studies (1969)

  • programs in black, Chicano, Asian American studies

  • guiding principle: education must serve the people

  • sparked ethnic studies nationwide

east LA blowouts

  • March 1968: thousands of Chicano students walked out

  • demands: bilingual education, better facilities, Chicano history

  • faced police repression, arrests, violence

  • inspired activism for Chicano studies

lecture video 1.2

el plan de Santa Barbara

  • drafted in 1969 at UC Santa Barbara

  • manifesto for Chicano studies

  • community-based activist scholarship

  • blueprint for Chicano studies departments

Chicano studies departments

  • established at UCSB, CSUN, UCLA in early 1970s

  • created through protests and occupations

  • linked to broader Chicano movement

  • trained new generation of scholars and activists

occupied America

  • Rodolfo Acuna’s seminal text

  • framed Chicanos as colonized, not immigrants

  • US Southwest = occupied territory

  • reframed Mexican American history through colonial lens

from Chicano/a to Latinx studies

  • shift from Mexican American focus → pan-Latinx approach

  • demographic evidence: Latinx = ~19% of US population

  • includes Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, central & south American, Dominican, etc.

  • expansion to cover intersectionality, indigeneity, Afro-American, transnationalism

expansion to Latinx studies

  • 1980s-90s: Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican studies

  • New York, Miami central to expansion

  • central American studies in Los Angeles

  • reflects hemispheric and pan-Latinx approaches

hemispheric approach

  • recognizes overlapping histories of colonization and empire

  • Latinidad as diverse, not singular

  • afro-american and indigenous voices included

  • field reflects transnational migrations and struggles

lecture videos 1.3

self determination

  • communities demand control over education

  • ethnic studies as intellectual form of movements

  • knowledge is not neutral: ties to power

  • classrooms as sites of liberation or domination

pedagogy of the oppressed

  • Paulo Freire critiques banking model of education

  • advocates dialogue and praxis

  • students as co-creators of knowledge

  • ethnic studies embodies liberatory pedagogy

Tucson MAS Program

  • Mexican American studies in Tucson schools

  • improved test scores, graduation rates

  • engaged students through cultural curriculum

  • banned in 2010, reinstated after 2017 ruling

why ethnic studies are feared

  • empowers marginalized students

  • challenges Eurocentric dominance

  • builds critical consciousness and solidarity

  • threatens entrenched power structures

Ethnocentrism

  • judging other through one’s own cultural standards

  • US history framed as exceptional, universal

  • erases diversity of world experiences

  • reinforces white supremacy in curriculum

eurocentrism

  • Europe = center of knowledge and civilization

  • western civilization courses erase Africa, Asia, Americas

  • produces common sense of white superiority

  • justifies colonial narratives in education

terminology matters

  • Hispanic = census category tied to spain

  • Latino/Latina = geographic but gendered

  • Latinx - gender inclusive, decolonial shift

  • Chicano/Chicana = politicized identity, resistance

traditional scholarship

  • pathologized Latinx communities

  • culture of poverty thesis

  • assimilation failure models

  • Latinos treated as objects of study

ethnic studies epistemology

  • knowledge from community: testimonios, oral histories

  • corridos, murals, embodied memory as archives

  • lived experience as valid epistemology

  • centers agency, not pathology

lecture video 1.4

critical theory links

  • Gramsci: hegemony and counter-hegemony

  • Foucault: knowledge and power intertwined

  • Anzaldúa: mestiza consciousness

  • Moraga, Lorde, lugeons: intersectional epistemologies

racial capitalism

  • Cedric Robinson: capitalism structured by racial hierarchies

  • Latinx labor racialized and exploited

  • deportability as labor control

  • Chicanx/Latinx studies foreground political economy

neoliberalism

  • privatization, austerity, deregulation since 1970s

  • factories closed; precarious jobs expanded

  • Latinx workers concentrated in insecure sectors

  • economic precarity fuels scapegoating politics

authoritarian populism

  • blames immigrants for economic insecurity

  • trump: ‘bad hombres’, ‘build the wall’

  • DeSantis migrant transport stunts

  • ethnic studies expose scapegoating strategies

ethnic studies as transformation

  • Yosso: community cultural wealth framework

  • highlights aspirational, familial, resistant capital

  • research: boosts GPA, attendance, engagement

  • links classroom to movements (DREAMers, marches)

why ethnic studies today

  • challenges eurocentrism and neoliberal austerity

  • builds resistance to racial capitalism and fascism

  • links past struggles to present movements

  • offers critical tools for liberation

conclusion & reflection

  • ethnic studies: protest, knowledge, transformation

  • connects history to neoliberation and racial capitalism

  • equips us to resist authoritarian populism

  • reflection: what will you do with h=this history?

lecture video 3.1

introduction - why indigeneities matter

  • indigeneity as presence, continuity, and resistance

  • critical framework from Gonzalez et al., chapter 4

  • four guiding questions: identity, colonialism, migration, decolonization

  • indigeneity as living philosophy of survival and liberation

frameworks - what is indigeneity?

  • ongoing relationship to land and community

  • critical latinx indigeneities (CLI): Blackwell, Boj Lopez, Urrieta

  • indigeneity as place-based and mobile

  • migration as movement across layered indigenous geographies

critical latinx indigeneities - theoretical contributions

  • challenges indigenismo and romanticization ancenstry

  • links colonial legacies of Spain and the US

  • draws from decolonial theory: Quijano, Lugones, Mignolo

  • indigeneity as relational and dynamic

the legacy of indigenismo and its limits

  • indigenismo: state ideology celebrating indigenous culture

  • Vasconcelos’ La Raza Cosmica - unity through whiteness

  • Chicanx adoption of Aztec imagery and Aztlan

  • Jennie Lua and Susy Zepeda: accountable solidarity

indigenous roots and anti-indigenous racism

  • anti-indigenous prejudice in Mexico and US

  • language discrimination: ‘Oaxaquita”, Mixtec and Triqui suppression

  • FIOB: binational organizing for education and rights

  • indigeneity as resistance through language and art

Mestizaje and racial hierarchy

  • Mestizaje ideology masks hierarchy and colorism

  • Edward Telles: pigmentocracy across latin america

  • Casta paintings and ‘color-blind nationalism’

indigenous histories and colonial wars

  • manifest destiny and US invasion (1846-1848)

  • treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and ‘off-white’ citizenship

  • Laura Gomez: layered racial orders

  • Steven Osuna: border imperial formation

indigenismo and revolutionary nationalism

  • Mexican revolution (1910-1920) and ‘Tierra y Libertad’

  • Diego Rivera’s murals and national unity

  • state appropriation of indigenous imagery

  • representation vs. real sovereignty

migration, displacement, and de-indianization

  • NAFTA and rural displacement

  • de-Indianization: erasure for survival

  • Oaxacan renewal: Guelaguetza California

  • migration as threat ans renewal

narratives, representation, and epistemic violence

  • epistemic violence and erasure of indigenous knowledge

  • textbooks beginning at 1492 as colonial narrative

  • Linda Tuhiwai Smith: decolonizing methodologies

  • indigenous science as sophisticated epistemology

lecture video 3.2

indigenous cultural continuity - bird songs

  • Gerald Vizenor: survivance = survival + resistence

  • Cahuilla Bird Songs as oral maps and archives

  • cultural epistemology through music and ritual

  • listening as entering a decolonial archive

Gloria Anzaldua and the borderlands

  • borderlands/ la Frontera (1987): Napantla as in-between space

  • Mestiza consciousness and indigenous epistemology

  • healing contradictions and colonial wounds

  • hybridity as strength, not loss

art, ritual, and survivance

  • Danza Azteca and embodied sovereignty

  • Angelbertha Cobb and Melissa Moreno’s work

  • Judith Baca and Ester Hernandez: art as decolonial archive

  • murals and ritual as living history

from Columbus Day to indigenous people’s day

  • reframing 1492: invasion vs discovery

  • AIM and Chicanx activism against Columbus Day

  • Epistemic turn: reclaiming indigenous history

  • decolonization beyond symbolic recognition

Zapatismo and transnational decolonial movements

  • EZLN uprising (1994): autonomy and anti-neoliberal struggle

  • Mariana Mora: politics of dignity and self-governance

  • Zapatismos global influence: East LA to Chipas

  • autonomy as collective democracy

gender, sexuality, and indigeneity

  • colonial control of gender and sexuality

  • pre-colonial fluid gender systems: Zapotex Muxes

  • Deborah Miranda: gendercide; Lugones: coloniality of gender

  • reclaiming gender as decolonial healing

two spirit and queer indigeneities

  • two-spirit: identity as balance and sovereignty

  • Qwo-Lo Driskill: restoring body-land relations

  • Joteria studies and queer decoloniality

  • embodies resistance in powwows and activism

migration, gender, labor

  • Bracero program and gendered exclusion

  • Grace Chang: disposable domestics

  • indigenous women in domestic farm labor

  • gendered racial capitalism and exploitation

queer and trans migration - the ‘sexiles’

  • Manuel Guzman: sexile as exile for sexuality

  • Christina Madrazo and ICE deportation violence

  • Sayal Valenica: gore capitalism

  • coloniality of power and gender at the border

decolonization and sovereignty

  • Tuck & Yang: decolonization is not a metaphor

  • land, cultural, and epistemic sovereignty

  • Tongva Land Back, Zapatista schools, Oaxacan education

  • sovereignty as relationship, not ownership

lecture video 3.3

healing and epistemic renewal

  • Jennie Luna & Patrisia Gonzales: decolonial science

  • indigenous midwifery, herbalism, and healing

  • education as reclamation and remembrance

  • healing as political praxis

language revitalization and education

  • language loss as epistemic violence

  • Mixtec and Zapotec programs in Oaxaca & California

  • CBDIO and native language immersion initiatives

  • language as remembering the self

transnational indigeneities - from Oaxaca to Oxnard

  • Oaxacalifornia: transnational community networks voices of indigenous Oaxacan youth project

  • Floridalma Boj Lopez: diasporic indigeneity

  • migration as continuity, not rupture

indigenous feminisms

  • lugones: coloniality of gender

  • indigenous feminism: land and body sovereignty

  • Leanne Simpson, Ana Castillo, Cherrie Moranga

  • Ni una menos: linking femicide to colonial extractivism

contemporary movements and resistance

  • standing rock: water is life

  • idle no more and Mapuche resistance

  • indigenous women rising mijente

  • liberation as ecological and rational

in Lak’ech - the philosophy of interconnectedness

  • Luis Valdez: tu ered mi otro yo

  • reciprocity as ethical framework

  • beyond human centered ethics: all our relations

  • pedagogy of interconnectedness

ethnic studies as decolonial practice

  • ethnic studies as transformational, nit inclusion

  • Arizona MAS ban and 2017 court victory

  • Paulo Freire: education for liberation

  • classroom as site of decolonization

reflection and discussion

  • in Lak’ech and collective ethics

  • migration and indigenous belonging

  • cross racial solidarity and decolonial practice

  • living history as personal responsibility

closing - indigeneity as future praxis

  • indigeneity as roadmaps for survival and justice

  • knowledge, healing, and justice intertwined

  • indigeneity as praxis of relationship and resistance

  • history is what we do with that happened