This week’s viewing and listening are around the experience of migration and immigration and what the experience of being undocumented does to children. Please respond to these works: “Are the Kids Alright” and “Which Way Home” below. What are the experiences of children from families who are undocumented? What are the effects of this stress? How can or should Chicana/o studies and Chicana feminist theory help us respond to the threats experienced by undocumented children? What should be our response to the threats posed by deportation?

You may also respond to this with your own questions and other readings you find helpful or thought-provoking.

After listening to Latino USA’s podcasts I’ve linked to on Blackboard, please write a response in the comments below. How would you answer the podcasts’ questions about Thanksgiving, a Latino spin or no?

I’ll start.

Thanksgiving Day my partner and I spend with friends rather than family because a lot of my family works on Thanksgiving due to the extra overtime they can earn on Thursday. For our friends’ Thanksgiving I make pumpkin pie and cranberry apple pie. Most of the people we celebrate live in Los Angeles now, but are from out of state. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, my mom generally makes the whole turkey dinner with trimmings. The Californianess of it is we spend the time outside. We also usually have tamales as a side dish for Thanksgiving.

Our other holiday tradition is we draw names to know who we’re going to buy Christmas gift for.

In addition to your usual weekly blogging assignments, you are to do a film review about a film that focuses on Chicana/o family. The assignment is: A 500 word review, focusing on one or more of the issues raised in the course readings so far, of one of the following films:

La Bamba
Quinceañera
Bread and Roses
Real Women Have Curves

You are responsible for finding and viewing the film you choose on your own. You may request to use another film but must do so to Dr. Perez by Wednesday, September 14.

Review is due by Friday, September 15. You must post it to the class blog AND submit it to the TurnItIn link in this week’s Blackboard folder.

Readings:
Rodriguez, Chapter 2
Noriega, “Imagined Borders” from the book The Ethnic Eye. This reading is in place of “This is Not a Border” It is available electronically through the CSUDH library.
Blogging:

Regular blog assignments on readings from Week 3 and Week 4.
Please let me know if there are any questions.

Using crowd sourcing, we’re going to develop a working definition of Chicana/o. In the comments below, I want you to write a paragraph (100-200 words) giving something of a definition / impression or sense of what Chicana/o means. Use the ‘net and any other books you may want. Cite your sources by putting in links and MLA citations. Sound fun? Hope so. Here’s the catch. Each webpage can only be cited once. So if someone has already put up a link, you need to find a new one. Look at each other’s links and make comments if the spirit moves you. Make sure you finish putting your links up (you can keep on reading and commenting of course) by 11:59 Pacific Time Friday, August 26.

Example: Actor Cheech Marin starts out his essay titled “What is a Chicano” with the phrase “Who the hell knows?” He then goes on to say to be a Chicano you have to declare yourself a Chicano — which I take to mean that he sees being a Chicano as a choice. He goes on to specifically say: “That makes a Chicano a Mexican-American with a defiant political attitude that centers on his or her right to self-definition. I’m a Chicano because I say I am.” I think he’s right, but I also use “Chicana/o” to refer to Mexican Americans generally. So I’m still left wondering, what is a Chicana/o?

Citation: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cheech-marin/what-is-a-chicano_b_1472227.html
Marin, Cheech. “What Is a Chicano.” The Blog. The Huffington Post. 2012. Web. 15 Jan. 2014.

Note: your first comment response may take longer to show up as it needs to be hand moderated.