Cultural genocide exists in México, and the blame is not with McDonalds which has taken over the local taco vender, or even Starbucks - now on practically every corner- engulfing the national coffee brand; this cultural genocide is institutional, societal, and scholarly in its misrepresentation of the African manifestation in México. The presence of the “negro” in México is an enigma, not only for the Mexican population in general, but also - and more specifically - for the black Mexicans themselves. A country that prides itself on its national identity, México is progressively, through action and also silence, erasing the cultural identity and importance of its black population. However, México as a nation cannot be held fully responsible …show more content…
Memin Pinquin, the popular comic series created by Yolanda Vargas Dulché in 1947 follows the life of its main character Memin Pinquin and his Ma’Linda (notice the obvious similarities in tone between La Minga and Ma’Linda, there is much to be conjectured). While Memin lives in México, Vargas claims to have been inspired by Cuban children whom she met while working on the island. Week after week the reader is witness to the adventures of Memin. In the very first issue, Memin enters his school for the first time. It is here, in the school setting that México is in fact a place of racial and social integration according to the popular comic. Yet, when the teacher takes attendance and Memin responds that he is present, he is met with screams and shock by his fellow students. He responds to the attention saying that he is who he is and it “can’t be wiped off”, referring of course to the color of his skin. However, it is not the skin color of the character that has been seen as controversial, but rather his features; his enormous ears, gigantic eyes and voluptuous mouth have been seen by many to be non-human …show more content…
As there is a great number of Cuban dancers performing, studying and teaching throughout Latin America, it is an easy assumption that any dancer in the classical ballet world, which he entered, and of darker skin would be Cuban, especially when considering the popularity of classical ballet in Cuba. Unlike the case of Vera, Mayren never was told to deny his black Mexican heritage, but he did not correct the erroneous assumptions. There are three ways in which the black Mexican can deal with their heritage: embrace, deny, or ignore it. Mayren and Vera are only two examples of the ways in which although privately their blackness is recognized, cultivated and expressed in the public sector they remain part of a taboo that when discussed may well in fact leave them unemployed in the
This is critical for the readers to know the show the bias, injustice, and premeditated ignorance of the United States educational system. It also demonstrates that Chicano Studies is not important regardless of the Hispanic population in this supposed “free” country. It seems as if the Chicano Studies was made only to fail by keeping it under funded and understaffed. By doing so, it has an affect on keeping away good scholars to maintain the historical development of Hispanics in the United States as well as its own history.
The author of Mexican Lives, Judith Adler Hellman, grapples with the United States’ economic relationship with their neighbors to the south, Mexico. It also considers, through many interviews, the affairs of one nation. It is a work held to high esteem by many critics, who view this work as an essential part in truly understanding and capturing Mexico’s history. In Mexican Lives, Hellman presents us with a cast from all walks of life. This enables a reader to get more than one perspective, which tends to be bias. It also gives a more inclusive view of the nation of Mexico as a whole. Dealing with rebel activity, free trade, assassinations and their transition into the modern age, it justly captures a Mexico in its true light.
Keen, Benjamin. 1969. The Black Legend Revisited: Assumptions and realities. The Hispanic American Historical Review. volume 49. no. 4
In El Plan de Santa Barbara, we are provided with a brief description of what “racial structure” has created for the Chicano community.Those who are privileged, “Anglo-American community,” have determined our future, a future where we are meant to stay in the lower class of society. In the Manifesto of EPDSB, it states “due to the racist structure of this society… self-determination of our community is now the only acceptable mandate for social and political action”(EPDSB 9). This “racist structure” stated in El Plan de Santa Barbara is traced all the way back to our ancestors during the Spanish invasion and through the Chicano movement we have been able to fight back against this “racist structure.”
Moraga, Cherrie. “Queer Aztlan: the Reformation of Chicano Tribe,” in The Color of Privilege 1996, ed Aida Hurtado. Ann Arbor: University Michigan Press, 1996.
Preceding her youth, in 1977, Anzaldua became a High School English teacher to Chicano students. She had requested to buy Chicano texts, but was rejected to do so. The principal of the school she worked for told her, in Anzaldua’s words: “He claimed that I was supposed to teach “American” and English literature.” She then taught the text at the risk of being fired. Anzaldua described, “Being Mexican is a state of soul – not on of mind.” All in all, the reprimanding she had to endure only made her stronger: “Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself.” It led to Anzaldua embracing her Mexican culture even more, contrary to shoving it aside. Anzaldua transformed her beliefs into something both cultures can applaud, and be honored
Traditionally history of the Americas and American population has been taught in a direction heading west from Europe to the California frontier. In Recovering History, Constructing Race, Martha Mencahca locates the origins of the history of the Americas in a floral pattern where migration from Asia, Europe, and Africa both voluntary and forced converge magnetically in Mexico then spreads out again to the north and northeast. By creating this patters she complicates the idea of race, history, and nationality. The term Mexican, which today refers to a specific nationality in Central America, is instead used as a shared historic and cultural identity of a people who spread from Mexico across the southwest United States. To create this shared identity Menchaca carefully constructs the Mexican race from prehistoric records to current battles for Civil Rights. What emerges is a story in which Anglo-Americans become the illegal immigrants crossing the border into Texas and mestizo Mexicans can earn an upgrade in class distinction through heroic military acts. In short what emerges is a sometimes upside down always creative reinvention of history and the creation of the Mexican "race (?)".
Martínez, Elizabeth Sutherland. 1998. De Colores Means all of us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century. U.S.: South End Press.
Of these 31.8 million are Mexican origin. Despite the large presence as Rodolfo Jacobo, professor and Department chair, Multicultural Studies at Palomar College recounts in his article Chicano Cultural Space: It’s Roots, “there exist a vast lack of knowledge of the political, economic and cultural significance of the Chicano cultural nationalism” (Jacobo 4). In the search of acceptance Mexican decedents had look and still looking for spaces that they could encounter a sense of home, but through the entire search Mexican Americans find themselves in a territory and a society that denies and discredit their experience and contribution. However, through all the different situations and experiences that Mexican Americans had faced and still face help them to take a step forward, and become leaders of the communities in order to speak out and proclaim their
Crouch, Ned. Mexicans & Americans : Cracking The Cultural Code. NB Publishing, Inc., 2004. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 21 Nov. 2011.
Black people have long struggled to define themselves in a predominantly White world. This holds especially true in the world of dance. Cleverly entitled "Simmering Passivity: The Black Male Body In Concert Dance," DeFrantz’s article chronicles the experience of Black male dancers forced to conform to unidimensional stereotypes in order to perform and capitalize amongst White crowds. Often repressing important aspects of themselves to fit into these roles, these Black dancers “simmered passively,” waiting for the opportunity to show their full abilities and true identities. DeFrantz points to the life and choreography of Alvin Ailey to support this position. Dancing during the 1950s, Ailey, like other Black male dancers, was pigeonholed as a black “brute,” considered only capable of aggressive, hyper-masculine, and animalistic styles. In 1954, Brooks Atkinson wrote a New York Times review describing the Blackness of House of Flowers. He writes, “Every Negro show includes
Armando Rendon in his landmark 1970 wrote the book I am a Chicano. This book is about how activist in the Chicano movement pointed to an empty monolog of the word Chicano. Chicano means an activist. Chicanos describes themselves it was a form of self-affirmation; it reflected the consciousness that their experiences. Chicanos means, nations, histories, and cultures. This book talks about how Mexican American also used the term of Chicano to describe them, and usually in a lighthearted way, or as a term of endearment. In a text it talks how Chicanos haven’t forgotten their Mexican origins, and how they become a unique community. The book talks about how Mexican American community’s long-suffering history of racism and discrimination, disenfranchisement, and economic exploitation in the United States. The
This work only partially tells the story of the Afro Mexican communities of the Pacific coast. This community is highly study but it remains in
The eternal endeavor of obtaining a realistic sense of selfhood is depicted for all struggling women of color in Gloria Anzaldua’s “Borderlands/La Frontera” (1987). Anzaldua illustrates the oppressing realities of her world – one that sets limitations for the minority. Albeit the obvious restraints against the white majority (the physical borderland between the U.S. and Mexico), there is a constant and overwhelming emotional battle against the psychological “borderlands” instilled in Anzaldua as she desperately seeks recognition as an openly queer Mestiza woman. With being a Mestiza comes a lot of cultural stereotypes that more than often try to define ones’ role in the world – especially if you are those whom have privilege above the “others”.
The ethnic- Mexican experience has changed over the years as American has progressed through certain period of times, e.g., the modernity and transformation of the southwest in the late 19th and early 20th century, the labor demands and shifting of U.S. immigration policy in the 20th century, and the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Through these events Mexican Americans have established and shaped their culture, in order, to negotiate these precarious social and historical circumstances. Throughout the ethnic Mexicans cultural history in the United States, conflict and contradiction has played a key role in shaping their modalities of life. Beginning in the late 20th century and early 21st century ethnic Mexicans have come under distress from the force of globalization. Globalization has followed the trends of conflict and contradiction forcing ethnic Mexicans to adjust their culture and combat this force. While Mexican Americans are in the struggle against globalization and the impact it has had on their lives, e.g., unemployment more common, wages below the poverty line, globalization has had a larger impact on their motherland having devastating affects unlike anything in history.