Internal Colonialism

901 Words2 Pages

According to Almaguer (1987), the Chicanos’ victimization from the colonial situation had its roots in the nineteenth century. He formulates a series of problematic features in the works of scholars such as Barrera et al. (1972), Bailey & Flores (1973) regarding the internal colony model. The first critique is that the works give inadequate thought to the impact of class within the Mexican population before and after the Mexican-American War and the class nature of racial tension after annexation into the United States. Second is the trouble in understanding the claim of Chicanos as victims of colonization in their land. Third, the claim that Chicanos were victims of colonial systems based on racial domination is troubling. Such a claim juxtaposes …show more content…

However, Cervantes claims that the essence of powerlessness does not distinguish internal from external colonialism (523). Interestingly, Cervantes claims that we have arrived at a “post-colonial period” where Chicano progressives have become the leaders of a national minority seeking multicultural pluralism instead of anti-colonial discourse seeking national liberation (530). …show more content…

The author examines the economics of oppression where the needs and fluctuations of the United States economy were the main sources of direct Chicano exploitation. Also, the caste-racial nature of labor under the colonization had its impact in the exploitation of Chicanos due economic subjugation by Capital (431). Interestingly, discrimination and racism have not been the cause of oppression, but more of the justification for exploitation and racial domination of Third World people (421). Almaguer states that the Chicano’s relationship to Anglo society is an internal colonial one, and the Chicano’s colonial status came from a classic colonial conquest where the Southwest was conquered via warfare. When the newly acquired land (present-day American Southwest) from a war against Mexico, the Anglos were able to certify their control over the resources of the colonized lands. Their authority was made possible by the establishment of institutions that granted them with favorable conditions to exploit and by built obstacles to keep minorities away from access to the political system that can create change, thus trapping them in a state of

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