Chicano Studies

This critical essay describes and demonstrates the uses and unique contributions of performative writing as a form of inquiry into the materialities and mobilities of sociocultural communicative phenom- ena. Embracing an Anzaldu an approach, the author utilizes Mesoamerican Aztec and Chicanx history, iconography, and mythos to argue for an ontological reimaging of where research should begin and end. As a methodological intervention, this article chal- lenges traditional impulses regarding where knowledge generation occurs, which knowledges are valid, and who counts as a valuable knowledge producer. By shifting genres, breaking grammatical rules, and creatively constructing poetics and rhythm (flor y canto), this “flight of the imagination” focuses on what Chicana, Latina, and indi- genous scholars have termed “fleshing the spirit” or “spiriting the flesh.” By embracing the soul work and spirituality of writing, this piece offers an art-based approach to methodological inquiry that functions as a sharp critique of the White capitalist cisheteropatriar- chal structure of higher education that maintains status quo under- standings of knowledge. When rerouting our methodological impulses toward a critical and decolonial telos and embracing the soul and spirit of performative writing, I argue that our first move must be to make an ontological shift in how we see the world and our place in it—we must begin and end with “theories in the flesh.”

El presente trabajo tratará de abordar el tema del Spanglish en los Estados Unidos de América desde una perspectiva, principalmente, lingüística. El propósito que se ha intentado seguir ha sido revisar la bibliografía esencial para poder comprender los procesos y recursos lingüísticos que definen a esta variante del español. También, lo es fundamentar si dichos procesos o fenómenos se adecuan con la realidad con el fin posterior de clasificar diferentes palabras, locuciones adverbiales, etc., extraídas de varias obras reales, bajo la etiqueta Spanglish, dentro de un corpus real para probar su fiabilidad.

​ ​ This article explores the roles of the indigenous Nahuatl language in the production of the imagined nation of Aztlán, a central idea in the US Chicano movement. We adopt a theoretical approach from linguistic anthropology, in which we attend to the role of language as a source of historical knowledge about the past, and also as a medium for the production of metahistorical narratives. We describe the history of the Nahuatl language and its speakers, and how the concept idea of Aztlán has been used first as a source of identity among the Nahuatl speaking peoples of Mexico, then as a symbol of Mexican national origins, and finally as a source of identity and dignity among Chicano people in the US. We argue that just as the Nahuas saw the Nahuatl language as defining a pan-­Nahua identity including politically separate city-­states, today Chicanos use the Nahuatl language and its related cultural practices to embody a transnational community.

2016-ban, a Miskolci Egyetemi Kiadó gondozásában látott napvilágot a Kis csikánó olvasókönyv címet viselő, hazánkban unikumnak számító kötet. A mexikói-amerikai közösség eredetét és beilleszkedési nehézségeit boncolgató egy novellát és két drámát, valamint a hozzájuk kapcsolódó elemzéseket Vraukó Tamás, a Miskolci Egyetem Angol Nyelv- és Irodalomtudományi Tanszékének docense rendezte önálló kötetbe. Vraukó tudományos érdeklődésének egyik fókuszában az észak-amerikai kultúra és civilizáció, azon belül a mexikói-amerikai, azaz csikánó (angolosan chicano) közösség tapasztalatai állnak, míg munkássága másik fő irányáról műfordításai tanúskodnak. Nem véletlen tehát, hogy a jelen kötetben sem csupán szerkesztőként jelenik meg, hanem a közreadott szépirodalmi művek avatott fordítójaként és az egyik kísérő tanulmány szerzőjeként is. Ilyen értelemben vett társzerzői között szerepel Virágos Zsolt, a Debreceni Egyetem Észak-amerikai Tanszékének irodalomtudós egyetemi tanára, valamint két amerikai író-egyetemi oktató Kaliforniából: Richard Dokey novellista és a csikánó Carlos Morton drámaíró.

The authors approach this paper from their own positionality, incorporating their experiences at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI) while pursuing their doctoral education into a discussion of colonialism throughout the United States’ educational system. This manuscript conceptualizes education as a tool of assimilation when viewed through the settler narrative. Utilizing the concepts of Tribal Critical Race Theory and Historical Trauma, education is revealed as a from of settler colonial narrative, displacing and erasing Indigenous people.

Cesar Chavez is widely considered to be the most prominent Latino civil rights icon in the United States.  In this talk, I will present several lessons that we can take from La Causa, the struggle of the farm workers, for doing social justice organizing today.  I will also consider several warnings about the kind of leadership we ought to avoid in doing social justice work, based on the conflicts within the United Farm Workers union toward the end of Chavez’s life.

With a foreword by renowned novelist Rolando Hinojosa-Smith and comprised of personal essays about the impact of drug violence on life and culture along the U.S.-Mexico border, the anthology combines writings by residents of both countries. Mexican authors Liliana Blum, Lolita Bosch, and Diego Osorno write riveting, first-hand accounts about the clashes between the drug cartels and citizens' attempts to resist the criminals. American authors, including José Antonio Rodríguez and José Skinner, focus on how the corruption and bloodshed have affected the bi-national and bi-cultural existence of families and individuals. Maria Cristina Cigarroa shares her poignant memories of life in her grandparents’ home now abandoned in Nuevo Laredo.

In their introduction, editors Sarah Cortez and Sergio Troncoso write that this anthology was “born of a vision to bear witness to how this violence has shattered life on the border, to remember the past, but also to point to the possibilities of a better future.” The personal essays in this collection humanize the news stories and are a must-read for anyone interested in how this fragile way of life between two cultures, languages and countries has been undermined by the drug trade and the crime that accompanies it, with ramifications far beyond the border region.

“With selections by marginalized thinkers, this Reader rejects the myth that American philosophy is fundamentally male, white, and limited to the United States. It offers a window to the contexts, cultures, and conflicts that shaped Native American, African American, Latin American, and Asian American philosophies, and provides fresh insight into perennial problems in ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology by expanding the philosophical canon. Required reading.”

Derrick Darby, Henry Rutgers Professor of Philosophy, Rutgers University, USA



“The year is 2021 and what you have here is perhaps the first and only anthology of ‘American’ philosophy.”

Robert Eli Sanchez, Jr. Associate Professor of Philosophy, Occidental College, USA



“This exciting collection does some very important philosophical work. Díaz and Foust provide us with the tools to construct a much more honest philosophical canon, one with a hemispheric awareness of the importance of multicultural perspectives. By showing us the wide range of North and Latin American voices, we are able to find new ways of thinking for a more humane future.”

José-Antonio Orosco, Professor of Philosophy, Oregon State University, USA

In the spring of 2006, millions of Latinos across the country participated in the largest civil rights demonstrations in American history. In this timely and highly anticipated book, Chris Zepeda-Millán analyzes the background, course, and impacts of this unprecedented wave of protests, highlighting their unique local, national, and demographic dynamics. He finds that because of the particular ways the issue of immigrant illegality was racialized, federally proposed anti-immigrant legislation (H.R. 4437) helped transform Latinos' sense of latent group membership into the racial group consciousness that incited their engagement in large-scale collective action. Zepeda-Millán shows how nativist policy threats against disenfranchised undocumented immigrants can provoke a political backlash - on the streets and at the ballot box - from not only 'people without papers', but also naturalized and US-born citizens. Latino Mass Mobilization is an important intervention into contemporary debates regarding immigration policy, the immigrant rights movement, and racial politics in the United States.

¿Se está haciendo lo que se debe por el español, como se debe y por quien se debe? ¿Hay realmente una voluntad política hispánica a favor de la lengua común, esto es, traducida en organización, cuidado, respeto, estructura, presupuestos? ¿Se coloca  favorablemente el español en el mapa de las nuevas tecnologías, se gestiona bien ese aspecto, se sacan los réditos oportunos a todas las actividades que se adjetivan como electrónicas: banca, comercio, correo, publicidad, relación con el ciudadano, servicios? ¿La empresa privada acude coordinadamente a cooperar, es consciente de la necesidad de su participación? ¿Las organizaciones internacionales son fiel reflejo lingüístico de la importancia que, se supone, tiene la lengua que expresa la cultura hispanoamericana? ¿Está bien organizada y gestionada la relación que se produce entre la lengua que recibe a los inmigrantes y la que estos llevan consigo? ¿Será el destino del español permanecer exclusivamente al servicio de su comunidad cultural, sin proyección externa, como el árabe sólo sirve a la comunidad religiosa islámica?
Si la respuesta a estas y similares preguntas fuera claramente afirmativa o rotundamente negativa, las páginas siguientes sobrarían, en el primer caso, y serían insuficientes, en el segundo: la lengua española no enfrentaría ningún reto. Tampoco basta con una cómoda contestación, del tipo “no lo necesario,” igualmente imprecisa e inexacta. Su intención es presentar un panorama lo suficientemente amplio y lo bastante profundo de los retos de la lengua española y las márgenes entre las que se mueve este idioma, para que el siempre hipotético lector se haga su composición de lugar. Se invita a la meditación, desde una reflexión personal que se inició a finales de los años sesenta, en los albores de esta impresionante transformación de la sociedad. Hay soluciones, pero no recetas, lo cual es políticamente poco conveniente, porque la tendencia fácil es buscar al taumaturgo de las recetas, aunque nunca hayan funcionado, y no al técnico de las soluciones, generalmente más lentas y trabajosas.


Tabla de contenido ...... 2
Prólogo: retos y márgenes... 4
Agradecimientos ...... 6
I. EN BUSCA DE LA IDENTIDAD ..... 7
De quinientos en quinientos años...... 7
Identidad y forma de la lengua  8
Vivir en la diversidad. 13
Desde la normalidad del bilingüismo ........... 13
Lengua y cultura ... 14
Se puede decir más... 14
Otros y nos-otros..... 15
Conceptos.. 15
Lengua, historia y educación ........ 16
La máquina cultural ...18
El español, lengua internacional ... 19
Una lengua internacional ...... 20
Recapitulación histórica 21
Español, lenguas españolas y lenguas hispánicas 23
La internacionalidad económica......... 24
Lengua y tecnología en el mercado internacional 27
Perspectiva comunitaria......... 28
Perspectiva española ..... 29
Identidad, estereotipo e imagen internacional .... 30
II. La Lengua Española en Internet.. 38
Planteamiento... 38
Presencia en la red ..... 40
Mitos y ritos ......... 42
Las cifras también bailan ...... 51
Los ciudadanos y la técnica .............. 58
El español de Internet.. 59
Incrementar la presencia de la lengua española .. 64
El área de Lenguas y Lingüística de EducaRed...... 68
Tecnología y enseñanza de la lengua......... 69
La adscripción de la tecnología a la enseñanza de las lenguas .... 70
La enseñanza de lenguas con la ayuda de la computadora (ELAC) y la adquisición de segundas lenguas 71
La integración de la tecnología en el aula .... 72
ELAC ......  72
ELAC y la Teoría Sociocultural de Vygotski ...... 72
Los instrumentos, su selección y sus ventajas .... 74
Ventajas e inconvenientes .......... 76
Reflexiones ........... 76
III. Los dos sentidos de la frontera norteamericana ........ 78
Pluralidad del español en los Estados Unidos de América .... 78
La periodización del español norteamericano....... 79
Descripción general de los Estados Unidos ..... 84
Datos de los hispanos y el español.... 87
La identidad social  90
Algunas reflexiones sobre la norma y la norma hispánica en los EUA.... 94
La dimensión de la frontera ........ 100
Libros y productos editoriales..102
De rasquachis, gonzos y zoot-suiters ...... 104
El spanglish inventado 107
El español de los EUA en tres líneas léxicas ... 110
Español y Lengua Hispana en la educación norteamericana .. 113
Evaluación..........................................................................................121
La amenaza hispánica .... 122
La recuperación patrimonial en los EUA..... 127
Canarios en Tejas y Luisiana 128
Algunas líneas concluyentes ........... 132
IV. Cultura al margen: inmigración y lengua .... 135
El otro y el mismo ........ 136
La invención de la historia 138
La cultura lingüística139
El fenómeno de la inmigración 141
La lengua y cultura de origen y su mantenimiento 144
El proceso del aprendizaje 147
Aptitud y actitud en el aprendizaje de la lengua ..... 148
El temor al enfrentamiento 149
Bibliografía 153

Nepantla Familias brings together Mexican American narratives that explore and negotiate the many permutations of living in between different worlds—how the authors or their characters create, or fail to create, a cohesive identity amid the contradictions in their lives. Nepantla—or living in the in-between space of the borderland—is the focus of this anthology. The essays, poems, and short stories explore the in-between moments in Mexican American life—the family dynamics of living between traditional and contemporary worlds, between Spanish and English, between cultures with traditional and shifting identities. In times of change, family values are either adapted or discarded in the quest for self-discovery, part of the process of selecting and composing elements of a changing identity.

Edited by award-winning writer and scholar Sergio Troncoso, this anthology includes works from familiar and acclaimed voices such as David Dorado Romo, Sandra Cisneros, Alex Espinoza, Reyna Grande, and Francisco Cantú, as well as from important new voices, such as Stephanie Li, David Dominguez, and ire’ne lara silva. These are writers who open and expose the in-between places: through or at borders; among the past, present, and future; from tradition to innovation; between languages; in gender; about the wounds of the past and the victories of the present; of life and death.

Sergio Troncoso, David Dorado Romo, Reyna Grande, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Francisco Cantú, Rigoberto González, Alex Espinoza, Domingo Martinez, Oscar Cásares, Lorraine M. López, David Dominguez, Stephanie Li, Sheryl Luna, José Antonio Rodríguez, Deborah Paredez, Octavio Quintanilla, Sandra Cisneros, Diana Marie Delgado, Diana López, Severo Perez, Octavio Solis, ire'ne lara silva, Rubén Degollado, Helena María Viramontes, Daniel Chacón, Matt Mendez.

In his ongoing comic book series Sonambulo, versatile artist Rafael Navarro has been able to channel his Mexican American cultural heritage by creating a unique blend of narrative genres. In his work, Navarro exploits classic American film noir as a fundamental reference and hybridizes it with elements distinctive to a shared Chicanx heritage, such as lucha libre cinema, horror folktales, and border-crossing metaphors; the construction of an oneiric dimension helps bring the narrative together, marking it with a peculiar

This is an oral history of a Chicana who migrated as a child to the state of Washington. Her lived experience provides insight to the Chicana experience in the Northwest. The oral interview is also analyzed to provide additional insight and awareness of the gendered experience.

This paper considers Sergio Troncoso's _From This Wicked Patch of Dust_ as a resistance novel. I argue that Troncoso relies on form, language, and indigenous myths and symbols to resist dominant American linguistic authority and popular imagination and to embrace his mestizo and Chicano heritage. Yet, he does not call for a complete return to old Mexico, which is itself plagued by problems of androcentrism. Instead, he calls for a Chicano identity that is defined by hybridity, ambiguity and fluidity.

This book examines the post-1960s era of popular music in the Anglo-Black Atlantic through the prism of historical theory and methods. By using a series of case studies, this book mobilizes historical theory and methods to underline different expressions of alternative music functioning within a mainstream musical industry. Each chapter highlights a particular theory or method while simultaneously weaving it through a genre of music expressing a notion of alternativity―an explicit positioning of one’s expression outside and counter to the mainstream. Historical Theory and Methods through Popular Music seeks to fill a gap in current scholarship by offering a collection written specifically for the pedagogical and theoretical needs of those interested in the topic.

“This study of ‘insurgent’ modes of popular music in the last third of the 20th century accomplishes quite a feat.  It yokes together a wide swath of sub-genres and styles--including reggae, punk, hip hop, alternative rock and country—through the lens of what the authors are calling “historical theory,” in order to chart a different, more comprehensive pathway through the annals of pop music history.  Shonk and McClure achieve an enviable balance of accessibility and scholarly depth, making this volume ideal for introductory college courses as well as more experienced researchers seeking a quick guide to specialized topics.”

--Pamela Fox, author of Natural Acts: Gender, Race, and Rusticity in Country Music; co-author of Old Roots, New Routes: The Cultural Politics of Alt.Country Music

"This special issue of Radical History Review considers the persistence of death and suffering in the history of punishment to be part of historical legacies created by slavery and colonialism. These essays, which focus primarily on the United States, contend that the most
“modern” political systems of the twenty-first century still stand behind mechanisms of violence and death in their geopolitical strategies, sanctioning military use of torture and punishment, much like thoroughly repressive regimes, to incapacitate their enemies and even their own citizens. The issue further argues that the infliction of pain, suffering, and untimely death through punishment is foundational, rather than exceptional, to modern state power.

The issue’s contributors—comprising both academics and activists—examine the practices of punishment and death imposed upon citizens, particularly through penal systems. One contributor exposes how the indignation and outrage many Americans expressed toward the military torture at Abu Ghraib do not extend to similar instances of torture (beatings, “shower-baths,” sexual abuse, etc.) against inmates of color within the U.S. prison system. Another contributor reflects on the unexpected but effective alliance between antiprison activists and the environmental justice movement in California, which worked to stop the massive prison-building boom of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Bringing a longer sweep of Western colonialism into view, another essay reveals the racial prejudices within disciplinary processes of Puerto Rico that lingered even after the island’s emancipation from the Spanish American empire, leading to unequal distribution of punishment on both colonial and domestic subject populations.

Contributors. Ethan Blue, Rose Braz, Helena Cobban, Craig Gilmore, Alan Eladio Gómez, R. J. Lambrose, Heather Jane McCarty, Dylan Rodríguez, Kelvin Santiago-Valles, Carolyn Strange, Patrick Timmons"

There are few places where mobility has shaped identity as widely as the American West, but some locations and populations sit at its major crossroads, maintaining control over place and mobility, labor and race. In Collisions at the Crossroads, Genevieve Carpio argues that mobility, both permission to move freely and prohibitions on movement, helped shape racial formation in the eastern suburbs of Los Angeles and the Inland Empire throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By examining policies and forces as different as historical societies, Indian boarding schools, bicycle ordinances, immigration policy, incarceration, traffic checkpoints, and Route 66 heritage, she shows how local authorities constructed a racial hierarchy by allowing some people to move freely while placing limits on the mobility of others. Highlighting the ways people of color have negotiated their place within these systems, Carpio reveals a compelling and perceptive analysis of spatial mobility through physical movement and residence.

I Kissed Chavela Vargas a play w music about three generations of Chicanas living under one roof, written by Monica Palacios will have reading May 2, 2019 @ Wistariahurst Museum, Holyoke, MA. Reading can come to your campus. Let's talk! monicapalacios@earthlink.net

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of NAFTA on      Mexican public policies leading to the privatization of ejidos,   village-owned lands, and the impact of these policies on migration.  The research includes field interviews in one Mexican village to test the effects of these policies and their implications on villagers migration to the United States.