Tag: Chicana feminism

So Let’s Put Some of the Pieces Together

This is part of a longer blog series, which you can find links to the previous as well as the next blog posts at the bottom of this blog. 

I think its time I put some things into perspective and piece some of the history and blogs together.

I have complied a time line with the perspectives of the blogs but also some big events of the Chicano History.

 

1947: Mendez v. Westminster Supreme Court: This case is critical to the birth of the Chicana/o  Studies program because it is the case that desegregated  schools for Mexican and Mexican American students in Orange County California School.

1968:Chicano Blowouts: Stepping stone towards establishing a formal conversation around the development and implementation of the programs as students walked out in response to the lack of an inclusive curriculum and discrimination they felt in their classrooms.

Plan de Santa Barbara: Noted as the manifesto for implementing Chicano Studies educational programs.

United Mexican-American Students (UMAS) of Loyola-Marymount Proposes a Chicano Studies Department: In a pretty hefty document the students of UMAS began to demand a Chicano Studies Department at LMU.

1970:Chicano Moratorium: An anti-Vietnam war protest that united the Chicanos under one cause, yet it went terribly wrong.

1973: Loyola Marymount University(LMU) officially merge and changes its name to what we know it as currently.

Mexican-American Studies Program proposed at LMU: Five years after UMAS proposes an immediate implementation of a Chicano Studies Program, a proposal for a Mexican-American Studies program emerges.

1974: Chicana/o Studies Department is finally borned at LMU.

Mid 1970’s:Chicana feminist get recognized in El Movimiento thus allowing the discourse of our Chicana Feminism class to occur.

2010: Governor of Arizona signs HB2281 and Tucson Unified School District disbanded Mexican American Studies.

2012: LMU’s Centennial Celebration!

The start of my Chicana/o Studies blog series.

So although this is the end of the series, it is time to recognize this would not have been possible without the help and support of Dr. Annemarie Perez, Dr. Karen Mary Davalos, Raymundo Andrade, Mahnaz Ghaznavi, and Christine Megowan and all those who laid the foundation of the department that gave birth to my interest to its history. Gracias!

Read more:

The Birth of the Chicana/o Studies Department, Setting the Stage, Students Propose a New Program, From Chicano Studies Department to Mexican- American Studies Degree Program, Capstone Project Gone Blog

The Chicana/o Studies courses at LMU have empowered me as a Feminista, Chicana y Mexicana

As I embark in a new journey I will take with me the tools I have gained through my Chicana/o Studies courses. I clearly remember the first day of my CHST 116 introductory course becoming more and more excited as the professor introduced us to the various kinds of readings we would be engaging in. We began the course with The Broken Spears: The Aztec account of the Conquest of Mexico by Miguel León-Portilla. The conquest of the indigenous people of Mexico and South America was something I had heard of before but not to the point where it became the area of study. Taking this course opened my eyes to see things from a different point of view. It invited me to become more critical and question the powers of dominance. I began to see the hidden message in commercials, adds, billboard signs, etc. How the education system in the United States continues to oppress minorities coming from working class backgrounds. I also became aware and informed about Los Angeles’ history and activism during the blowouts.

In my Chicana/o Studies literature and feminist courses I acquired the tools necessary to engage in the text through close readings. I constantly found myself in the position of the Chicana subjects in the stories we read. Reading into narratives and poetry made me eager to write because many times the word choice in the narratives described perfectly some of my experiences. In these courses I read Gloria Anzaldua‘s Borderlands: La Frontera / The New Mestiza and the idea of a third space through the new consciousness acquires as someone in between two worlds. Through Anzaldua’s work, I became empowered and no longer felt alone; it meant a lot to me to know that someone else had written about Chicana oppression within the family and culture.

Reading and analyzing the work of art of La Virgen de Guadalupe enhanced my relationship with her. As a fresh[woman] at LMU my first year I remember going to mass often, but as I began taking more and more Chicana/o Studies courses I grew apart from the Catholic Church. Patriarchy within the church is what caused the separation, and Our Lady of Guadalupe was a reminder of the conquest of the indigenous people in Mexico. I was so close to her before but all of a sudden it seemed like I had divorced myself from her presence. I lacked religion and spirituality my sophomore year, hence the reason why I had a rough year overall especially the second semester. In my junior year I took a Chicana/o Politics and Performing Arts class in which I developed my visual analysis skills and for the first time saw Guadalupe reinvented as a powerful woman. Guadalupe no longer became the submissive, virgin, and obedient goddess I grew up with; she was a hard working woman, she was young, old and beautiful, she represented the women in my family and myself, a college student with goals and dreams.

My Chicana/o studies courses have provided me the tools to utilize them as I begin my career in the field of primary and secondary education. One specific example i which I can utilize these tools is in fourth grade, under the California State standards students are to learn about the missions in California. The way this unit is taught is usually by glorifying the Spanish for establishing the mission system and providing work for the indigenous people in the area. Unless a teacher is conscious of the horrors of the Spanish conquest and how much indigenous women, children and even men suffered from this system, this is not taught in schools. My Chicana/o Studies History course provided me the opportunity to learn the depths of the mission system and the violence indigenous women suffered. I argue this unit can be taught in the elementary (fourth grade) level in a way that does not glorify the missions. This other way will provide the tools for children to question what the dominant narrative describes and what the response to that through counternarration.

I consider myself una Feminista, Chicana, y Mexicana and am proud of who I am! I know I will make a difference in the lives of people whom I come in contact with. I have learned the power of language and the power I have as a mujer. I want to thank the Chicana/o Studies department at Loyola Marymount University for existing and for being such a welcoming and loving space.

Xicana Codex Tweets

Xicana Codex (3)

Reading assignment for Wednesday, April 18, 2012. Your reply (under Comments) is due before class. Your response should demonstrate you’ve done and thought about the readings. Be sure to check and make sure your response posts.

Cherríe Moraga, A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousness (163 – 199)

What is your response to Moraga’s positions on President Obama’s election, marriage equality and transgendered people? What do you see her as arguing for or against?

Do you agree that there’s a lack of political and social movement in the present day? If you see social movement, where do you see them? Who are the leaders? Has Moraga missed “something” in her discussion of “back in the day.” What do you think her vision of Aztlán is and how does your generation of people of color fit into it?

Do you see universities the same way Moraga does? What role do you see universities as having in your life? In the lives of your communities? As sites of social change? What do you imagine the difference between Stanford (where Cherríe Moraga teaches), UC Berkeley (whose Ethnic Studies department she discusses) and Loyola Marymount are?

What vision, if any, of Chicana / women of color feminism does Moraga’s work offer?

More on Xicana Codex.

Xicana Codex (2)

Reading assignment for Monday April 16, 2012. Your reply (under Comments) is due before class. Your response should demonstrate you’ve done and thought about both of the readings. Be sure to check and make sure your response posts.

Cherríe Moraga, A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousness (79-162)

Based on your readings this semester on textual communities and print culture, what does Moraga’s writing reveal about the construction of communal texts, anthologies and performances? How much ownership do we have of our writing? How much debt to others? What do you think of Moraga’s decision not to contribute to This Bridge We Call Home?

On a more personal level, do you think Moraga is right about how she and Anzaldúa could have resolved their differences? Do you agree with her reading of Anzaldúa’s writing as having more to do with vision of the ideal than the more concrete politics of process?

Xicana Tweets

Cherríe Moraga, A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousness (1-77)

Social Media is My New Best Friend

SmallBiz technology
Image from the article Young Women: The Power Users of Social Media

The Academic year is almost coming to an end and so is my junior year. However, my senior year will be filled with memorable moments followed by big decisions to take and more changes in my life. My time at Loyola Marymount University is progressing at a very fast pace but I’m truly enjoying every single moment inside and outside the classroom. Classes are very intimate and students never feel that they are just a number to the professor because they want and hope to get to know every single student by the end of the semester either on a professional or personal level.  However, it always depends on the student and how much they want to invest in the class but also in creating relationships with professors who are always open to students. Further my double major, Spanish and Women’s Studies, has given me a lot of flexibility to take a diverse number of classes but still be able to meet the requirements for the department without having to sacrifice creativity and my own interests.

Reflecting upon my experience in Latina Feminist Traditions, the course I am currently enrolled in and consistently contributing to the blog, has been a very unique and invigorating experience. I’ve never had a class incorporate social media or use it as a teaching tool.  In my opinion, it is a very innovative method and probably predicts what future classes will look like.  Today about the majority of college students own a personal laptop and engage with social media, e.g., Facebook, Twitter, blogs, on a regular basis. I am always on the computer either surfing newspaper columns, on Facebook or reading magazines but prior to the class I had no experience with Twitter or blogs, which were a requirement for the course. When I was informed about it, I was very nervous because it sounded very new and unorthodox. I could not wrap my mind around the idea that school and using the Web could somehow interconnect but in addition be conducive to the learning process. Thinking about it, I was already familiar with technology and possessed the basic skills therefore, doing it would not be an obstacle. Although I did notice the Internet has a language of it’s own and a culture, it’s very learnable especially for college students who were raised around it.

The benefits of using the Internet are that it makes our work more visible, accessible and open to the public. Also it can be disseminated a lot quicker unlike print media that also requires funding and circulation is limited. The word free resonates among college students who are constantly saving or living on a budget. Reading things online are in fact free and don’t require a subscription which most people appreciate. Readers are also free to visit pages on their own without the obligation therefore, making it more enticing for people because they get to choose what they want to read. Plus the Internet makes it possible to build an online community between students and professors, to create more global connections, and to make students feel a sense of ownership about what they are writing or creating. Since students comprehend that their work is out in the open, they become more aware of the audience they are writing to and conscious about their writing. Subsequently, it improves overall reading, writing, and analytical skills, which are crucial for any field of study or profession. On the other hand, like anything else there are some drawbacks to using social media such as being vulnerable to unwanted or offensive comments, privacy issues, etc., because when you put yourself on the Web you create a persona that is subjected to criticism. Also information can be misconstrued by readers, which can cause stress and other related problems. Sometimes it can be very challenging but negative feedback can help the blogger improve their argument and work on their weaknesses because it’s a reality about life that not everyone will share the same views, values, and ideology. However, being part of the online community and our freedom of speech is protected by the 1st amendment therefore, we should utilize the Web responsibly, for a good cause and with good intent.

I have overcome many fears about publishing materials online but I realized I love the autonomy and being part of a movement that’s occurring worldwide. Also it gives me the opportunity to use my voice and to share my story. I get to be the narrator of my own experiences which can possibly help someone who needs it and to build solidarity with others especially with other women. Furthermore my generation depends a lot on the Web thus, using it can only further enhance skills. If used correctly and wisely, social media can be revolutionary in anything that one is trying to achieve. Also it can be useful in creating a space or platform for anyone’s personal causes because as a Women’s Studies major I always want to know what is happening to women in the world and what I can do to reach them. It is a very powerful tool and rather than fearing it I am embracing it as a resource. Maintaining a healthy relationship with the Web is very important because it can be addicting at times. Without a doubt Chicana Feminists could have greatly benefited from using social media, but each generation has its own style and tools of empowerment.

 

 

 

 

Salma Hayek for Milk: New Advertisement, Old Stereotypes

Salma Hayek’s Milk Mustache Ad

Perhaps one of the best known,  if not actually the best known, Mexican actresses in Hollywood of our time is Salma Hayek.  Though she is widely respected, even she cannot escape being used by the dominantly white, heterosexual, male media to perpetuate potentially harmful stereotypes about the women of her culture.  Though the advertisement is apparently meant to sell us milk, what it really sells us is the oppression of the Mexican woman.

As viewers, we are immediately tipped off to contextualize Hayek with Mexicanas by the advertisers use of background music that is culturally recognizable as Mexican music.  We are also asked immediately to sexualize her, for the first shots of her are running around her kitchen in a revealing little black dress and makeup.  She opens her refrigerator and pulls out an empty milk bottle.  The next scene shows her searching frantically for more milk in an empty store refrigerator as she is ogled shamelessly by the white male cashier.

Soon, still on her desperate milk search, she breaks one of her high heeled shoes.  High heeled shoes are an icon of femininity in our society.  As one breaks, we are reminded of her femaleness, and we are being led to view it as frivolous and weak.  She finally finds success in her venture when she flags down a milk truck she is driving next to.  The milk truck, of course, is being driven by a white male.  She begs him to stop and give her milk, prostrating herself and prominently displaying her cleavage.  Shocked and enraptured by her sexuality, he gives her a bottle of milk.

In the last and final scene, we see Salma Hayek again in the kitchen in the same skimpy dress, yet it is the morning after.  Next to her is her daughter who uses the milk for her cereal.  This reaffirms the hegemonic white heterosexual male view that women, especially Latin women, can be only two things: mothers and sexual objects.

Throughout the whole advertisement, Hayek’s gender and ethnicity are used as a gimmick.  In line with popular representation of Latinas in the media, Hayek is ruled by her passions.  She is seemingly incapable of getting what she needs on her own, and it is only when she uses her sexual pull that she can be helped.  In line with patriarchal paternalism, she is helped by a heterosexual white male, and only then can she achieve her ends.

Why was she portrayed in sexualized clothing, instead of the lounge clothes usually worn by people late at night and early in the morning?  Why is she portrayed as weak, helpless, and emotional? Why are we being reminded that she is a mother?  Because these are the things that the mainstream American media would like us to believe about Latin women.  Because if we believe that they are merely sexual objects, or mothers, or people who need help in simple tasks such as finding milk, then there can be justification for their oppression.

Nympha : a poem for my mom

Nympha

I think of nymphs
And wishes
And home-sewn skirts

Of Barons
And sharp tools
And bloody torn shirts

I think of dancing
And playing
And new made-up worlds

Of yelling
And punishments
And very sad girls

It’s the kingdom of the Precious, where everyone knows
It’s the baron that rules but the nymphs still grow…

This was a poem written for my mother in my senior year of high school. Originally, it was an assignment in my English literature class in which we had weekly poetry tasks for part of it. The assignment for that week was to write in the style of a sonnet.
Firstly, I have never considered myself much of a writer–especially not a poet. But like with any subject I face, I try to mold it to my preferences in some way. While most of the kids in the class were writing about themselves or anything simple to get through the assignment, I really cared about my poems, especially since it was the first time I really tried writing them and I wanted them to be decent. So I decided to take the metaphorical route.
Many of the Chicana poets we read about, for example Lorna Dee Cervantes’s poems, address the differences of generations. In her piece, Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway, Cervantes uses the images and common experiences she, her mother, and her grandmother have lived through, as a basis. I decided to write a poem about my mother’s childhood, but her childhood was worlds different from mine, thus there was not much to relate when it came to the types of struggles we faced or the people we dealt with. Therefore, the genre of fantasy fit best since it was a way for me to at least grasp at general ideas.
So I chose nymphs because my mother’s first name (which she replaces by using her middle name) is Nympha, and it also reminded me of the playful young girls my mom and her sisters once were (as she’s told me through stories). Her father was very strict, scary, and overprotective. He was also the one to carry the last name of Preciado, meaning “precious.” So all those pieces (and probably a few more) put together resulted in this poem.

Additional Sources:

My Truth written by Beatriz Alfaro

My Truth 

Yes, it is true that I was not born in this country                                                                           Yes, it is true that English was not my first language                                                                       . . . that my mother’s mother raised 10 kids all on her own                                                                                          . . . that I don’t come from a family of doctors and lawyers

But                                                                                                                                                             I do come from a lineage of strong women                                                                                       women who maximize every resource                                                                                              who share even if they have little                                                                                                  who still love even if they’ve been hurt                                                                                        who find reason to smile when no one else is

what’s not true is that I don’t belong here. . .                                                                                            I’m exactly where I’am supposed to be  

and that’s my truth                                

 

Image from 2011 Women of Color Leadership Retreat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This piece was inspired by all the works I’ve read about Chicana women, such as in Chicana Feminist Thought, ¡Chicaca Power! and This Bridge Called My Back, who are not given the respect they are entitled to and who’ve struggled to fit in. Many women of color are made to feel ashamed of their culture, language, heritage, etc., because it is not the dominant one or lived in mainstream society. There have been women and still are led to believe that they can’t achieve what they dream or that they don’t deserve what they want. Many are belittled including but not limited to reasons because they’re not the “right” sex, gender or race. However US Third World Feminism which emerged from the Chicana Movement did many things to address issues of discrimination and to bring women together through shared experiences. It also proposed to counteract negative representations of womanhood by having women from all backgrounds reclaim their identities and stories. My goal was to write a piece that is self-affirming and motivates women to tell their stories. Even if women took a different path in life either by choice or force, nothing changes the fact that they deserve to be free and happy.

Additional resources: