Chicana/o Studies Commons^™

The Obstacles Chicanos Face In The United States, Maria Galindo

2014 Symposium

When coming to the United States many immigrants think the biggest challenge they face will be leaving their families. Many do not realize the real challenge awaits them when they arrive in the United States. One of the main challenges they face is that of discrimination and overcoming negative stereotypes Americans use to describe them. Children are being raised to think these remarks are acceptable. In this paper I am going to provide information from personal blogs of experiences that have affected their everyday lives . This paper will provide evidence of the struggles they face with language barriers and …

Dreams Denied, Stephanie Fuentes

2014 Symposium

The case Plyler vs. Doe was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States struck down a state law denying funding for education to immigrant children. The court held states could not discriminate against students enrolling in K- 12 public schools based on their legal status. However, it never addressed public education beyond high school,which allowed states to create their own rules regarding undocumented students and higher education. In 2003 Washington State Legislature approved House Bill 1079 which helped make college education affordable for certain undocumented students by allowing them to pay in-state tuition.Currently 17 states allow …

Carlos Santana: Using Music To Unite Communities, Courtney Darrow

2014 Symposium

Carlos Santana, a musician born in Mexico and raised in America, has spent his entire career creating music for the masses. In 1966, he formed the Santana Blues Band whom, over the next several decades, would become internationally known for their music and charitable nature. Using his fame to promote the good in the world, Santana has become an international icon for the Latino community. Using scholarly and newspaper sources like, Carlos Santana by L.C. Slavicek and the article Santana from The Latino American Experience, I will explore in more detail Santana’s influence on the Chicano community in America. …

Narcocorridos, Jaime Frausto-Cerna

2014 Symposium

Corridos are songs that tell a true story about an event, these songs were written to express the importance of this hero or a heroic action. With time the music has evolved to include lyrics glorifying drug smuggling and extreme violence. Just like hip hop, Narcocorridos challenge the government by singing about their success in the drug business. I will utilize online newspapers, articles and lyrics compose and sung by corridistas themselves. Multiple artists have been ambushed and suffered terrible deaths resulting from the turf war the drug cartels have started and the songs and lyrics they compose. Factors leading …

The Notion Of Cultural Assimilation Into An American Identity: Abstract Or Concrete?, Julie A. Rivera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Assimilation is believed to be the process immigrants follow to become "American." To be American is to be equal to other Americans in societal, employment, and educational opportunities. But this is not and cannot be an outcome of the assimilation process in the United States. There are multiple definitions and expectations of assimilation; too many to allow a clear outcome. This project addresses the complexity associated with all versions of assimilate, the multiple definitions, processes, and outcomes associated with this term, and demonstrates that there is no concrete resolution to an assimilation process due to the multitude of definitions attached …

Family Related Attitudes And Beliefs Influencing Risk And Support Seeking Among Female Victims Of Domestic And Sexual Violence In El Paso, Texas, Diane Ilene Huerta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

To provide effective prevention and intervention strategies for victims of domestic and sexual violence, health care professionals, law enforcement responders, and service providers must adequately understand the factors that influence risk and support seeking processes among victims. More than 12 million men and women become victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking yearly, over 24 people per minute (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013). About one in four women and one in seven men have experienced severe physical intimate partner violence at some point in their life (CDC, 2013). Minority populations are at disproportionately higher risk for domestic …

Rolodex Of Saints: A Collection Of Short Stories, Yvette D. Benavides

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A critical preface and collection of short stories.

Reinventing The Old West: Concordia Cemetery And The Power Over Space, 1800-1895, Nancy Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Utilizing Concordia Cemetery as a framework, this study analyzes the social and economic development of El Paso County and the surrounding areas after the U.S.-Mexico War (1846-48). The cemetery was a vast commercialized zone before it was a burial ground, and silenced histories, voices, and people that lived and thrived on this land are incorporated into this work. The role of the original owners, Hugh Stephenson and Juana Maria Ascarate, as well as the Mexican networks, intermarriage and Mexican American women, and the presence of ethnic Mexicans are subjects that are also examined. In addition, this Dissertation interrogates the pioneer …

Bidi Bidi Bom Bom: The Audiotopias Of Selena Across The Americas, Janet Muniz

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

Using Josh Kun’s Audiotopia as a framework, this paper will explore the role of Selena’s music as audiotopias, the concept that music functions like a possible utopia for immigrant communities on both sides of the United States and Mexico border in imagining an ideal borderless America. Music serves as a disruption to the oppressive reality of immigrant communities and makes the struggles of marginalized communities audible for those who have been traditionally silenced. This paper will fill in gaps in existing literature of Selena's remembrance by applying Kun’s audiotopia theory for an understanding of the places her music takes …

Overheard At Gettysburg, Rashida Aluko-Roberts, Zakiya A. Brown, Monae S. Evans

SURGE

Monday. In Old TKE. A student of color is called in the hallway to hear the “funniest thing ever.” (giggling) “Night night little nigglet.”

Tuesday. In an AFS class. “I’m pretty sure the majority of black students in my private school were there because of sports.”

Wednesday. In Musselman. Woman: “I can’t believe Trayvon Martin got shot because someone thought skittles was a weapon.” Man: “To be honest, he did look suspicious because he was black.” [excerpt]

La Voz Fall 2013, El Instituto: Institute Of Latina/O, Caribbean, And Latin American Studies

La Voz

In this issue:

• Lewis Gordon
• TAULA Pablo Lapegna
• Working Groups
• Migrant Farm Workers

Editors' Commentary: No Straight Lines Here: Cartographies Of Home, Eliza Rodriguez Y Gibson

Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Fearless (Saturday): Michael Hannum, Michael W. Hannum

SURGE

In celebration of Alumni Homecoming Weekend and Hispanic Heritage Week, we proudly feature Michael Hannum, member of the Class of 2011, for his fearless commitment to fighting for social justice issues and his continued involvement in serving the Adams County community. Currently working with the Lincoln Intermediate Unit’s Migrant Education Program as a Recruitment Coordinator, Michael began finding his passion for helping identify families in the migrant community who need extra educational support when he was a first-year student just looking for something to do. [excerpt]

The Shortcomings Of A "Diverse" College Campus, Chelsea E. Broe

SURGE

“What is the diversity like at Gettysburg College?” As a tour guide, I get asked this question a lot. It’s a tricky question to answer: On one hand, I know that this is probably the family’s way of inquiring about race on campus without having to use such a taboo word, but on the other, my Diversity Peer Educator training chimes in and I want to challenge my questioner’s assumptions about what diversity even means. [excerpt]

Ricardo Diaz - Latino/A Mass Incarceration In Relation To The “War On Drugs”, Ricardo Diaz

Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program 2013

Michelle Alexander, in The New Jim Crow, argues that the American legal system is a racial caste system maintained by unequal drug laws, what she terms, “The New Jim Crow” laws. This essay explores the limits of her thesis in relation to Latino/a population in the United States. Specific attention is paid to the Latino/a population in Wisconsin where racial disparities in the penal system are the greatest in America. Analysis of government data suggests that Alexander’s research reproduces the tendency of the American legal system to define race in binary terms: black and white. In effect this leaves …

La Voz Spring 2013 Issue Two, El Instituto: Institute Of Latina/O, Caribbean, And Latin American Studies

La Voz

In this issue:

• Favianna Rodriguez
• Pia Barros
• Javier Diaz
• TAULA

La Voz Spring 2013, El Instituto: Institute Of Latina/O, Caribbean, And Latin American Studies

La Voz

In this issue:

• Rigoberta Menchu Tum
• Migrant Farm Workers
• CTLatinoNews
• Curtis Acosta
• Tinker Field Research Grants

The Vietnam War And Its Detrimental Effects On Chicanos, Juan Carlos Trejo

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

The purpose of this essay is to discuss the possibility that the Vietnam War could have been a stepping stone in the socio-economic ladder for Mexican-Americans; and why many Chicanos did indeed see the war as an opportunity for social mobility. In addition, I will discuss how in reality the war did not bring advancement to the Chicano veteran. The idea that the Vietnam War could have been a way for Chicanos to become upwardly mobile is connected to the idea that World War II created some positive outcomes for African-Americans as well as other minorities including White minorities who …

Editor's Commentary: Demanding Dialogue And Pushing The Conversation, Eliza Rodriguez Y Gibson

Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Chicana Aesthetics: A View Of Unconcealed Alterities And Affirmations Of Chicana Identity Through Laura Aguilar’S Photographic Images, Daniel Perez

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

In this paper I will argue that Chicana feminist artist Laura Aguilar, Alma Lopez, Laura Molina, and Yreina D. Cervantez established a continuing counter-narrative of cultural hegemony and Western essentialized hegemonic identification. Through artistic expression they have developed an oppositional discourse that challenges racial stereotypes, discrimination, socio-economic inequalities, political representation, sexuality, femininity, and hegemonic discourse. I will present a complex critique of both art and culture through an inquiry of the production and evaluation of the Chicana feminist artist, their role as the artist, and their contributions to unfixing the traditional and marginalized feminine. I argue that third wave Chicana …