Lecture Notes on Chicano/a/x and Latino/a/x Identity

Political/Cultural Meaning

• Chicano/a/x
  • Politicized identity for Mexican-Americans, especially US-born/raised, embracing Indigenous roots and activism.
  • Resists assimilation.
• Latino/a/x
  • Broad, panethnic term for people from or descended from Latin America.
  • Emphasizes shared experience of colonialism, language, and migration.
• Mexican-American
  • US citizen or resident with Mexican ancestry.
  • Emphasizes national origin and citizenship.
  • Popularized after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; commonly used in census.
• Hispanic
  • People from or descended from Spanish-speaking countries (Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina).
  • Ties in language and Spanish colonization.
  • Created by the US Census.

El Plan de Aztlan

• When Written:
  • First drafted at the First National Chicano Youth Liberation Conference in Denver, Colorado (March 1969).
• Movement Inspiration:
  • Inspired by Civil Rights, Black Power, and anti-war movements.
• Demands:
  • Equity in education, labor rights, and cultural recognition.
• Key Themes:
  • Cultural nationalism: reclaiming Chicano identity rooted in indigenous and Mexican heritage.
  • Self-determination: control over Chicano communities, schools, media, and institutions.
  • Anti-Assimilation: rejection of forced assimilation into white American culture.
  • Unity: stresses solidarity across regions; "Chicano unity is the key to liberation."

Arlene Davila “Culture” Piece

• "Latine" as Panethnic Identity:
  • Diverse racial, ethnic, and national constituents, each with its own recognized culture.
  • Groups various ethnic groups under a larger, inclusive scope, emphasizing solidarity and common identity, based on shared cultural, historical, or geographical ties.
  • Basically an umbrella term
• Culture Objectification:
  • Aspects of culture are reduced to consumerism or displays without understanding their meaning.
  • Involves reducing culture to stereotypes.
  • Treating culture as exotic, trendy, entertaining.
  • Ignoring the people and histories behind the culture.
  • Example: Indian clothing being trendy

Ana Patricia “Literature” Piece

• Literature as a Tool:
  • Empowerment and liberation, representation, and storytelling.
  • Used to represent, articulate, and negotiate issues of power, language, ethnicity, community, migration, struggle, social justice, and belonging.
  • Serves as a site of discursive struggle for Latinx literacy practice.

The Young Lords

• Who Were They?:
  • Started as a gang in Chicago, became political in 1968.
  • Founded in 1966, called for self-defense against police violence, created “survival programs” (free breakfast, health clinic, and education).
• What did they fight for?:
  • Puerto Rican liberation and socialist values.
• Inspiration:
  • Black Panthers.
• Symbolism of the People’s Church Takeover:
  • Needed a place to serve the community.
  • Symbol of resistance and strategy for community control.
• Operation Bootstrap:
  • US exploits Puerto Rico economically.
  • Aimed to turn Puerto Rico into an industrial economy.
  • Displaced thousands of rural Puerto Ricans who couldn’t all get jobs which led to mass migration to the US (especially NY) which became a “safety valve” for the unemployed.
  • Media and politicians blamed Puerto Ricans rather than recognizing hardships as a result of colonial economic policies.
• Young Lords at the Chicano Conference:
  • Organizers excluded Black participants for not speaking Spanish.
  • NYC Puerto Rican Young Lords challenged the exclusion, pointing out their Afro phenotype.
  • Conflict led to apology and inclusion, affirmed Young Lords' commitment to multiracial solidarity.

Pedro Pietri - Puerto Rican Obituary

• Significance of Poem:
  • Five Puerto Rican characters all die without achieving the “American Dream.”
  • Death is a metaphor for systemic failure.
  • Experienced exploitation of labor, cultural erasure & resistance, and colonialism.
  • Felt jealousy for each other, even though they were all living a version of a bad life.
• Critique:
  • Capitalism, racism, and assimilation.
  • Ends with a call for Puerto Rican unity and liberation.

Miguel Algarin

• Significance of Poems:
  • Works focus on urban life, community, struggle, and resilience.
  • Known for blending English and Spanish, formal and street language.
• NYC Poem:
  • Key themes: disillusionment with New Year’s as a "fresh start" for those living in urban decay; little change in their lives, everyday will still ring the same tone of disparity.
  • Basically, New Years doesn’t bring a new beginning, they still have to deal with the same old problems.
• Critique:
  • Harsh realities of life, addiction, violence.
  • Contrasts traditional celebration with suffering and survival.
  • Critique of systemic failure and urban neglect.

Gloria Anzaldua

• Mestiza Consciousness
  • Stems from navigating two worlds (English + Spanish, US + Mexican) and shapes identity.
• Nepantla
  • The messy, painful, generative space of being between two identities.
  • Expectations by culture and families vs. who you want to be.
  • Pain of being split in two.
• Shadow Beast
  • The rebellious inner voice that refuses to conform to traditional gender roles or cultural silence.
• Cultural Tyranny
  • Men make the rules in our culture and women enforce and obey them.
• Cultural Betrayal
  • Your culture doesn’t have your back + expects you to conform.
  • Example: expectation for women to show greater commitment and value to men above all else, including oneself.

Sandra Cisneros

• Significance of Felice and her holler
  • Only arroyo named after a woman.
  • Reclaiming her voice, defying gender stereotypes, new meaning to the Llorona myth.

Hector Tobar

• What is Empire?
  • A system of power where one group or nation dominates (Spain) through land, resources, culture, or people – often by force or control.
  • Involves conquest/colonization - created unequal relationships between people.
  • Can be military/economic/cultural/political
  • Has lasting effects even after empire “falls.”
  • Example: the Spanish Empire in the Americas.

Julia Alvarez

• Critique of Quinceaneras
  • "Right of passage" vs. "rite of passage."
  • Quinces have become commercialized and normalized.
• Bicultural identity
• How Quinceaneras Shape Latina Gender Identity
  • Gender roles reinforce hyper-feminine pageantry vs feminist ideals.
  • Age 15 as reinforcement of heteronormative femininity.
• Socio-Economic Dimensions of Quinceaneras
  • Tension between sacrifice and expectation.
  • Economic strain for symbolic success.

Ana Castillo

• What is curanderismo?
  • Healing of the body and Spirit.
  • Focus on holistic care: mind, body, and spirit.
  • Common ailments: susto, mal de ojo, empacho.
  • Three types of curanderas: yerbera (herbs), sobadora (massage), partera (midwife).
  • Stems from Native American, Spanish, African, and Arab medicine.
• Who is Maximon San Simon?
  • Trickster, Healer, God.
  • Maya-Christian hybrid deity venerated in Guatemala.
  • Symbol of chaos, sexuality, protection, and defiance.
  • Embodies ambiguity: revered + feared, sacred and profane.
• Comparison of Maximon to Virgen de Guadalupe
  • Both blend worlds of Catholicism and indigenous belief.
  • Syncretism as resistance: embracing both traditions rather than erasing one.
  • Max is a religious figure to Guatemalans like Maria is to Mexico.
  • Max is an important figure of Holy Week.

Zoot Suit

• El Pachuco as a Symbol of Chicano Identity in Film
• Portrayal of Racial and Political Tensions
  • Surrounding the Sleepy Lagoon case.
  • Surrounding the Zoot Suit Riots.

Gabriella Gutierrez y Muhs

• Role of Clothing in Chicanx Life
  • Clothing communicates identity, culture, and resistance.
  • Attire shapes how others perceive us.
  • Clothing can be a survival strategy or act of defiance.
• Meaning of “Por la facha y por el traje, se conoce al personaje”
  • The way a person dresses can be telling of their personality.
• Symbolism of Makeup and Accessories
  • Self-expression, identity formation, and social signaling.

Group Presentations

• Juan Sanchez Art
  • Nuyorican artist - focus of Puerto Rican immigrants, still lifes and collage style artwork - photography, poetry, painting
  • Escrito en Piedra
    • Themes of colonialism in Puerto Rico - Taino ppl wiped out because of Spanish colonization
    • Statue of liberty covered by Puerto Rican flag - show denial of American colonialism over Puerto Rico
  • Un Sueno Libre
    • Dream of change + unity + prosperity for Puerto Rico
    • Uses children to illustrate the future and provoke change for children's sake
  • Para Carmen Maria Colon
    • For his mom, and basically how she was independent and strong. dives into Nuyorican struggle
• “I am Joaquin” poem by Corky Gonzalez
  • Groundwork for Chicanx poetry/literature
  • Description of life + tie of Joaquin
  • Chicanx history, struggle, cultural identity
  • I am Joaquin - synonymous to all Latino men
  • Forces choice between economic survival + cultural preservation – hernan cortes (lends Aztec/Spanish heritage)
  • Survival can be achieved by having faith in the revolution
  • “Chicano” not used until the end of poem - term created identity for oneself
• Decade of Fire
  • Redlining + disinvestment
  • Urban renewal
    • Federal programs designed to clean up “slums” of NY
    • Drove Nuyoricans and African Americans from their homes.
    • → fires
    • Landlords choose not to upkeep their building to save money → families used electric heaters and ovens to not freeze during winter → overload poor infrastructure resulted in fires.
  • Political involvement
    • Budget cuts - less fireman, and the few there were, were placed in rich neighborhoods
  • Exploitation + Sensationalism
    • Landlords exploited fire insurance by hiring gangs to burn their properties - they kept insurance money
    • Media blamed African Americans and Nuyoricans
• The Great Wall of LA
  • Art that captures resistance, storytelling, and reclaiming erased histories
  • Showcases stories of struggles that mainstream history often ignores
• La Llorona (and the rewriting of La Llorona as a loving mother goddess)
  • Native women affair with Spaniard - killed their two kids in a river, whether it was because she didn’t want them ostracized or because she couldn’t stand seeing her kids, when her heart was broken??
  • Manuel Carpio 1849 poem “La Llorona” rewrote her as a woman facing…
    • Gendered trauma + oppression
    • Colonial trauma
    • Liminality + border-Crossing cultural resistance + continuity
• La Malinche
  • Aztec princess - turned slave/sex worker - turned valued interpreter – baptizes as Dona Marina - turned Malinche with indigenous tongue - spanish “the fucked one”
  • Unusual political power as interpreter - basically sent to damnation because she betrayed her people even though they abandoned her
  • Gloria Anzaldua - “the raped mother who we have abandoned”
• La Virgen de Guadalupe
  • Perpetuates Marianismo - women expected to conform + silence their voices
  • Guadalupe The Sex Goddess by Sandra Cisneros
    • Challenge ideas of Maria as a “pure” woman
    • Reimagines La Virgen as a real woman!
    • Virgen becomes a symbol where all women can see themselves in and feel accepted
• Ana Castillo
  • + Virgen de Guadalupe
    • Church (patriarchal) and faith (personal)
    • Chicana can’t practice Mexican identity + ignore religion
    • Victim of manipulation - image used to justify nationalism
  • + La Llorona
    • Mother figure: loving mother and goddess
    • Challenges power imbalance between white men + indigenous women
    • Shifts narrative and rewrites her as kind + motherly
  • + La Malinche
    • Viewed as cursed + sacrilegious because she left her hubby
    • Rewrite - willingly joined female friend in search of identity + culture - contrast Malinche who was forced to join Cortes
    • Teresa (character) overcomes shame placed around her - reverting the shame imposed on La Malinche
• American Me
  • Portrayed Chicano unity within the prison system
  • Portrayed Chicano masculinity (machismo)
    • To be considered manly - you had to take part in violence which added to this circle of violence - which perpetuates the violent stereotypes which Latino’s are often depicted as
    • Anti-immigrant sentiments: this movie added to the negative image created by the media, about Latino’s having a violent nature
    • It also created an association between Mexican American identity and criminality
• Modern Family
  • Focused on Gloria Pritchett, who is played by Sofia Vergara
  • Her exaggerated traits reflect harmful Latinx stereotypes - and often she is used as comedic relief
  • Her character was often depicted as hyper-sexulized, hot-tempered, and with an exaggerated accent
  • Her character reinforces biases and limits views of Latinx women in American media
• (5) What countries have the largest semana santa celebration in the world? → Spain
• (6) According to group 6 where did espiritismo originate?
  • Latin America (Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil)
    • Influenced by french spiritism, catholicism, and african/indigenous traditions
    • Communication with spirits - reincarnation + spiritual evolution