Family Issues in Chicano Culture

Week three readings and videos covered the culture of Aztlan and the Chicano family. The issues that were discussed included the topics of motherhood, family issues, community, reformation, and poverty.

I feel like “I am Joaquin” and El Plan de Aztlan go hand in hand. They are both fighting against American influence in their land and culture. Joaquin is the man made to lead the people of Aztlan.  El Plan de Aztlan was pushed in order to find justice and equality for the people of Aztlan. Their main goal was to get political, economical, cultural, and social power back to its people. They did not want Americans to take over something that was never theirs.

Chicana Activist mothers found it difficult to be both a good mother and a voice in the community. There was too much demand on them to fulfill all the roles assigned to them. Patriarchy and the machismo culture played a huge role in the struggles of Chicana women. Women had to fight for rights in order to get assistance because they were living in poverty. Women had to fight to be treated more than a second class citizen. Women had to fight to make the education system better for their children. Women had to fight against the system of patriarchy in order for their women families to have the same opportunities as the ideal Chicano family.  Another issue that a Chicana found hard to deal with was coming out to her mother. Being homosexual was not exactly welcomed in Mexican culture. She said that she wished her mother would have seen her more and notice just how much she was suffering. Mothers and families were in need of help especially since some mothers were left raising a family on their own.

Do you think the efforts to help women families are exhausted or do you believe there is still a breakthrough that needs to take place? If you believe women families are still in need, what can we do to better the lives of this community?

3 thoughts on “Family Issues in Chicano Culture

  1. I believe that there are more efforts that can be made to help Chicana women families. Chicana women families continue to suffer under two of the biggest systems of oppression in the world, racism and patriarchy. First and foremost, there is still a prevalent belief that we should all strive for whiteness. Women are particularly susceptible to the pressure to be tall, light skinned, blonde hair and blue eyed. Although we begin to see women push back against those narratives of beauty, it is by no means a resolved issue. Similarly, we continue to see women’s labor be exploited and undervalued in the public and private sphere. As women continue to be oppressed in those two major ways we will continue to see women in need.

  2. I think that a breakthrough can still be made in order to help women families. I think that a breakthrough is possible because a lot of these families still face many obstacles. Women families still face a lot of discrimination. This is due to them going against the set idea of a “normal family.” In order to help out these women families, there needs to be an understanding that these families are not different. Women families need to be treated the same way that all families are treated. This may be very difficult because the ideology that a women family are not the norm have been engraved in society for a very long time. It may take some time but it is possible. I believe women families still need some help in order to overcome problems such a discrimination.

  3. If we establish efforts to help women families it will display the core issues amongst those families, leading to continuous breakthroughs. The issues need to be divided, examined, and develop solutions resulting to breakthroughs. The needs of these families are well-funded education system, mental/ health resources, employment, community unity, and self-efficiency skills. Skills such as gardening, landscaping, carpentry, or workshops for personal wellbeing. If we worked as a community instead of individualist, the breakthroughs would happen consistently due to the consistent conversations of opportunity for overall well-being of the people.

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