Chicano
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- For other uses, see Chicano (disambiguation).
Chicano is a cultural identity used primarily by people of Mexican descent having connection to the Southwestern region of the United States, but is also used by those from other regions as well. While the term's meaning has changed over time and varies regionally, it most often referrs to a person who lives in the United States who have a strong sense of Mexican and/or Mexican-American ethnic identity and an accompanying political consciousness. It is considered a term of ethnic pride, though not all Mexican Americans proud of their heritage use the term Chicano.
Most Americans first heard of the term in the 1960s and 1970s, and thought of Chicano as a term for children of parents who were immigrants from Mexico. However, Chicano can mean any US-born American of Mexican descent, including US citizens of multi-generational residence who may trace residence in the Southwest preceding the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848.
A female Chicano is called a Chicana, a term which tends to have feminist connotations. Following the usual conventions for Spanish words, the masculine plural form Chicanos is used for groups that include both genders.
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[edit] Etymology
The origin of the word has been explained in various ways. According to the Mexican researcher on patterns of emigration to the United States Manuel Gamio, "chicamo" (with an "m") was first used as a derogatory term for recently-arrived Mexican immigrants by Mexican-American Texans at the beginning of the 20th century.<ref>Gamio, Manuel (1930). Mexican Immigration to the United States: A Study of Human Migration and Adjustment. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.</ref> In California, a similar explanation dating to the 1930s and 1940s is proposed: "the inability of native Nahuatl speakers from Morelos state to refer to themselves as 'Mexicanos,' and instead spoke of themselves as 'Mesheecanos,' in accordance with the pronunciation rules of their language". This pronunciation was similarly met with derision by settled Mexican Americans, who exaggerated the sound to mock the recently-arrived. In both cases, the term and its pronunciation are analogous to the Nahuatl word "Mexica".<ref>Villar Raso, Manuel, Herrera-Sobek (2001). "María". Journal of Modern Literature 25 (1): 17-34.</ref>
An alternate etymology holds that the conversion of the pronunciation of the "x" in "Mexicano" was converted to /sh/ or /ch/ as either a term of endearment or of derisiveness.
"Chicamo" eventually became "chicano", which, unlike "chicamo", reflects the grammatical conventions of Spanish-language ethno- and demonyms.
[edit] Development
The term was taken up in the mid 1960s by Mexican American activists, who, in attempt to rid the word of its negative connotation and create a unique ethnic identity, reconfigured its meaning by proudly identifying themselves as "Chicanos".
According to the Handbook of Texas,Inspired by the courage of the farmworkers, by the California strikes led by Cesar Chavez, and by the Anglo-American youth revolt of the period, many Mexican-American university students came to participate in a crusade for social betterment that was known as the Chicano movement. They used Chicano to denote their rediscovered heritage, their youthful assertiveness, and their militant agenda. Though these students and their supporters used Chicano to refer to the entire Mexican-American population, they understood it to have a more direct application to the politically active parts of the Tejano community.<ref>De León, Arnoldo. (2001). "Chicano". Handbook of Texas. Austin: University of Texas. Retrieved on 2006-07-06.</ref>
At certain points in the 1970s, "chicano" was the preferred, politically correct term to use in reference to Mexican-Americans, particularly in the scholarly literature from the field of sociology. However, as the term became politicized, its use fell out of favor as a means of referring to the entire population. Since then, "chicano" has tended to refer to politicized Mexican-Americans.
[edit] Alternative labels and variations
Some Mexican Americans prefer to identify themselves as American (sometimes the term first like "American-Mexican"), Hispanic, Hispanic American, Hispano or Hispana, Latino or Latina, Mexican American, Mexican, Spanish American, Spanish, Californio, Nuevomexicano (New Mexico Spanish) or Tejano/Tejana. The reasons for rejecting the term "Chicano" are numerous and varied, from an aversion to its association with the left-wing politics of the 1960s and 1970s, to the ability of many families, particularly in the state of New Mexico, to trace their ancestry back to the original Spanish settlers of the colonial era.
Many Chicanos interchangeably use the term la raza (literally, the race) to define themselves. Some use the phrase la raza de bronce ("the bronze race") seeing themselves as "brown" or "bronze" because of their Indigenous ancestry (as opposed to white and black people). Using another term common in early twentieth-century americanista/indigenist thought, some also refer to themselves as "la raza cósmica", which means "the cosmic race."
Due to the gendered nature of Spanish language, some activists and writers who do not find the masculine term Chicano acceptable to use as a plural, use the terms "Chicano/a" or "Chican@."
Many individuals of Mexican descent view the use of the words Chicano or Chicana as reclamation and regeneration of an indigenous culture destroyed through colonialism, although these are only opinions and may not reflect the view of all Chicanos. Some younger Mexican Americans refer to themselves as Xicanos with an "X" to reflect a closer identification with their indigenous Mexica/Aztec roots, as well as their more radical political views.
[edit] Social aspects
Chicanos, regardless of their generational status, tend to trace their cultural roots to the indigenous peoples of North America and to the early Spanish and Mexican settlers of the Southwestern United States. Due to the long-term denigration of Mexican culture through assimilationist educational practices and stereotypical media portrayals, an emphasis on pride in Mexican cultural practices and in their preservation is common.
However, "Chicanismo" is different from being "Mexican". As much as the Chicano Movement emphasized the folkloric or indigenous aspects of Mexican culture, the culture it created interacted with and responded to modernity: technology, communications, and cultural diversity. To be a "Chicano", therefore, is to create one's own identity.
Biculturalism and bilingualism are both factors of Chicano culture. However, Being the product of two worlds, the Chicano is never fully accepted in either. Prior to the Chicano Movement, Mexican Americans were viewed as foreigners, and often as inferior, in the United States. If they went to Mexico, they were often considered "vendidos" (sell-outs) or self-ignorant pochos. The lack of a homeland brought about the psychic recreation of Aztlán, the semi-mythic northerly land to which the Aztecs traced their roots.
[edit] Political aspects
Many currents came together to produce the Chicano political movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Early struggles were against school segregation, but the Mexican American cause, or La Causa as it was called, soon came under the banner of the United Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez. However, Reies Tijerina stirred up old tensions about New Mexican land claims with roots going back to before the Mexican-American War. Simultaneous movements to empower youth, question patriarchy, democratize the Church, end police brutality, and end the Vietnam War all intersected with other ethnic nationalist, peace, countercultural, and feminist movements.
For some, Chicano ideals involve a rejection of borders. The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo transformed the Rio Grande region from a rich cultural center to a rigid border enforced by the United States government. At the end of the Mexican-American War, 80,000 Spanish-Mexican-Indian people were forced into sudden U.S. habitation. <ref name=Castro>Castro, Rafaela G. Chicano Folklore. Oxford University Press: New York, 2001</ref> As a result, Chicano identification is aligned with the idea of Aztlán, which extends to the Aztec period of Mexico, celebrating a time preceding land division. <ref name=Hurtado>Hurtado, Aida and Patricia Gurin. Chicana/o Identity in a Changing U.S. Society. University of Arizona Press: Tucson, 2004. pp 10-91.</ref>
Paired with the dissipation of militant political efforts of the Chicano movement in the 1960s was the emergence of the Chicano generation. Like their political predecessors, the Chicano generation rejects the "immigrant/foreigner" categorization status.<ref name=Hurtado> Chicano identity has expanded from its political origins to incorporate a broader community vision of social integration and nonpartisan political participation. <ref name=Montejano>Montejano, David. Chicano Politics and Society in the Late Twentieth Century. University of Texas Press: Austin, 1999</ref>
<ref name=Castro>The shared Spanish language, Catholic faith, and history of labor segregation and ethnic exclusion and discrimination encourage a united Chicano folkloric tradition in the United States. Ethnic cohesiveness is a resistance strategy to assimilation and the accompanying cultural dissolution.</ref>
[edit] Cultural aspects
The term "Chicano" is also used to describe the artistic and literary movements that emerged with the Chicano Movement. Chicano literature tends to focus on themes of identity, discrimination, and culture, with an emphasis on validating Mexican American and Chicano culture in the United States. Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales's "Yo Soy Joaquin" is one of the first examples of Chicano poetry. See also Chicano poetry:[[1]]. Other important writers in the genre include Sandra Cisneros and Gary Soto.
One of the most powerful and far-reaching cultural aspects of Chicano Culture is the indigenous current that strongly roots Chicano culture to the American continent. It also unifies Chicanismo, within the larger Pan Indian Movement. Since its arrival in 1974, What is known as Danza Azteca in the U.S., (and known by several names in its homeland of the central States of Mexico: danza Conchera, De la Conquista, Chichimeca, etc) has had a deep impact in Chicano muralism, graphic design, tattoo art (flash), poetry, music, and literature.
In the visual arts, work by Chicanos addresses similar themes as works in literature. The preferred media for Chicano art are murals and graphic arts. San Diego's Chicano Park, home to the largest collection of murals in the world, was created as an outgrowth of the city's political movement by Chicanos. Rasquache art is a unique style subset of the Chicano Arts movement.
Lalo Guerrero is considered the "father of Chicano music". Beginning in the 1930s, he wrote songs in the big band and swing genres that were popular at the time. He expanded his repertoire to include songs written in traditional genres of the Mexican music, and during the farmworkers' rights campaign, wrote music in support of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers.
In the 1960's and 1970's, a wave of Chicano rock surfaced through innovative musicians Johnny Rodriguez, Carlos Santana, Linda Ronstadt, and Joan Baez, herself of Mexican-American descent included Hispanic themes in some of her protest folk songs. Chicano rock is rock music performed by Mexican American groups or music with themes derived from Chicano culture.
There are two undercurrents in Chicano rock. One is a devotion to the original rhythm and blues roots of Rock and roll including Ritchie Valens, Sunny and the Sunglows, and ? and the Mysterians. Groups inspired by this include Sir Douglas Quintet, Thee Midniters, Los Lobos, War, Tierra, and El Chicano, and, of course, the Chicano Blues Man himself, the late Randy Garribay.
Chicano punk is a branch of Chicano rock with bands like Los Illegals, The Brat, The Plugz and Los Cruzados coming out of the punk scene in Los Angeles, some music historians argue the Chicanos, not entirely Mexican nor Americanized of Los Angeles in the late 1970's might co-founded punk rock, despite its' British-European origins has arrived to America (but through New York and Southern California).
The second theme is the openness to Latin American sounds and influences. Trini Lopez, Santana, Malo, Azteca, Toro, Ozomatli and other Chicano Latin Rock groups follow this approach. Chicano rock crossed paths of other Latin rock genres (Rock en espanol) by Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and South America ("Nueva cancion" has a more European influence found in Argentina and Chile), but Nueva cancion spreaded into Peru, Colombia and Venezuela).
Latin Jazz is a more flavorful form of Jazz influenced by Spanish and Hispanic musical rhythms, may gone back to the 1930s and early 1940s when young Mexican Americans of Los Angeles experimented with Jazz-like Mexican music, where the "zoot suit" subculture flourished. This type of Latin Jazz came back to vogue in the 1990's and 2000's, recently an album of songs by Jenni Rivera, daughter of Mexican conjunto star Chalino Sanchez had a hybrid influence of Latin jazz, Mexican regional and Chicano rock.
Chicano rap is a unique style of hip hop music which started with Kid Frost, who began using Spanish in the early 1990's. While Mellow Man Ace was the first mainstream rapper to use Spanglish, Frost's song "La Raza" paved the way for the use Spanish in their English (Spanglish) in American hip hop. Chicano rap tends to discuss themes of importance to young urban Chicanos. Today's main chicano artists are Lil Rob, Baby Bash, B-Real, Darkroom Familia and Delinquent Habits.
Other famous Chicano/Mexican American singers include Selena, who sang a variety of Mexican, local Tex-mex and American popular music, but was killed at age 23 in 1995. And the Los Lonely Boys are a Texas style country rock band, but never shyed away from their Mexican American roots in their music. In recent years, a growing Tex-Mex polka band trend and from Mexican immigrants (i.e. Conjunto or Norteno) has influenced much of new Chicano folk music, esp. in large market Spanish language radio stations and on television music video programs in the U.S. The band Quetzal is known for its political songs.
[edit] Identity
Since the term is inextricably linked to the Identity politics-based activism of Mexican-Americans, its application and meaning are highly subjective. For this reason, it may be useful to examine some of the definitions put forward by prominent Chicanos and Chicanas:
- Ruben Salazar: "A Chicano is a Mexican-American with a non-Anglo image of himself."<ref>Salazar, Ruben. "Who is a Chicano? And what is it the Chicanos want?", Los Angeles Times, 1970-02-06.</ref>
- In the 1991 Culture Clash play "A Bowl of Beings", in response to Che Guevara's demand for a definition of "Chicano", an "armchair activist" cries out, "I still don't know!!"
- Reies Tijerina: "The Anglo press revolutionized the word 'Chicano'. We use it, but they use it to divide us from Latin America."
- Bruce Novoa: "A Chicano lives in the space between the hyphen in Mexican-American", . . Houston: , 1990.<ref>Bruce-Novoa, Juan (1990). Retro/Space: Collected Essays on Chicano Literature: Theory and History. Houston: Arte Público Press.</ref>
- Leo Limón: "...because that's what a Chicano is, an indigenous Mexican American".
- Ana Castillo: "[A Xicana is a] marginalized, brown woman who is treated as a foreigner and is expected to do menial labor and ask nothing of the society in which she lives."<ref>Ana Castillo. (2006-05-25). How I Became a Genre-jumper [TV broadcast of a lecture]. Santa Barbara, California: UCTV Channel 17. </ref>
[edit] Use in Mexico
In Mexico, the term can connote a person of low class and poor morals, while in the U.S. it carries multiple meanings. Sabine Ulibarri, an author from Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, notes that Chicano is a politically loaded term, though it is considered a positive term of honor by many. For Chicanos, the term usually implies being "neither from here, nor from there" in reference to the U.S. and Mexico respectively. As a mixture of cultures from both countries, being Chicano represents the struggle of being accepted into the Anglo-dominated society of the United States while maintaining the cultural sense developed as a Latino child.
[edit] See also
| Demographics of the United States
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| Demographics of the United States • Demographic history Economic - Social Educational attainment • Household income • Homeownership • Immigration • Income quintiles • Language • Middle classes • poverty • Religion • Social structure • Unemployment by state • Wealth
|
- Aztlán
- Brown Berets
- Caló (Chicano)
- Chicano Rap
- Cholo
- Colegio César Chávez
- Ethnicity (United States Census)
- History of Mexican-Americans
- List of Chicano Caló words and expressions
- List of Chicano poets
- List of notable Chicanos
- MEChA
- Mestizo
- Mexican Americans
- Pachuco
- Race (U.S. Census)
- Tejano
- White Americans- The ambiguous "white" identity versus "Hispanic" for Mexican Americans or Chicanos throughout US demographic history.
- zoot suit riots
[edit] External links
- Chicanas.com
- Chicano-Art
- UCLA Women
- Danza Mexi'cayotl: Traditional Chicano-Azteca-Chichimeca Dance Circle
- National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies
- I Am Chicana, Not Hispanic!
[edit] References
1. Tino Villanueva, Chicanos (selección), Lecturas Mexicanas, número 889, FCE/SEP, México, 1985, p. 7
| Topics related to Chicanos and Mexican-Americans | Image:Calendário Asteca.jpg |
|---|---|
| Terms: Chicano · La Raza · Latino · Mexican-American · Hispanic | |
| Pre-Chicano Movement: Mexican-American History · Mexican-American War · Sleepy Lagoon Trial · Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo · Zoot Suit Riots | |
| Chicano Movement: Aztlán · Catolicos Por La Raza · Chicanismo · Chicano Blowouts · Chicano Moratorium · El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán · El Plan de Santa Bárbara · Farm Worker Rights Campaign · Land Grant Struggle · Colegio César Chávez | |
| Supreme Court Cases: Hernandez v. Texas · Plyler v. Doe · Mendez v. Westminster | |
| Culture: Chicano Park · Chicano rap · Chicano rock · Cholo · Estrada Courts Murals · Lowrider · Pachuco · Teatro Campesino · Tortilla art · Zoot suit | |
| Lists and Categories: List of Caló words and expressions · List of Chicano poets · Majority Hispanic U.S. Cities · Notable Chicanos · Notable Hispanic Americans · Category:Mexican Americans · Category:Mexican-American organizations[edit this footer] | |
