Chicana/o Studies Commons^™

Aztlán Del Sol, Marcus Zúñiga

Chamisa: A Journal of Literary, Performance, and Visual Arts of New Mexico and the Greater Southwest

An artistic writing developed from the themes and concepts of an of art installation made by a visual artist of Mexican-American descent from New Mexico. The work references the relationship of Aztec mythology to the American Southwest, art theoretical discourse in object oriented ontology and aesthetics, and key ideas in astronomy. Additionally interwoven is an expanded sense for interpreting ancestry and history under the constructs of multicultural conceptions of time, specifically cultures with notable spiritual rituals of Sun worship and observation.

Epistemologías Muertas, Luis Oswaldo Esparza

Chamisa: A Journal of Literary, Performance, and Visual Arts of New Mexico and the Greater Southwest

No abstract provided.

Cosmic Desert Art, Mike Graham De La Rosa

Chamisa: A Journal of Literary, Performance, and Visual Arts of New Mexico and the Greater Southwest

The Cosmic Desert are the designs inspired by chile hallucinations, desert creatures, and the long weird neon nights in the Borderworld. Made with love on the banks of the Rio Grande.

My family is originally from Northern Mexico but I grew up in Northern New Mexico down river of both where Al Hurricane and Nuclear Annihilation were originally created. Amongst chollas, rattle snakes, and river willow, the imagining of New Mexico permeates the landscapes. The Cosmic Desert is inhabited lowriders, taco trucks, neon adobe bars, cholas, native peoples, immigrants, punk rockers and cowboys. Just beyond the darkness, our imagination takes …

Intersextional Pride, Damon R. Carbajal

Chamisa: A Journal of Literary, Performance, and Visual Arts of New Mexico and the Greater Southwest

This poem is one of a trio of poems published in this volume titled, “at the interSEXtion of being GAY and CHICANX: Un Trío de Poemas,” that dive into what it means growing up as a gay, Chicanx light-skinned in the current times post the moviemento and through the strides of the queer liberation movement. The poems explore many facets of living at this intersection including, but not limited to, toxic masculinities, queerphobia, mental health, sexual assault, pride, etc. The poems also explore the notion of what it means to be mestiza as Mexicano and White and how this further …

Aztlán Potentialities: Queer Male Chicanx Affect And Temporalities, Ethan Trejo

English (MA) Theses

While there has been much critical attention paid to Aztlán, the mythical/historical Chicanx homeland, there is still work to be done in combatting the entrenched heteronormativity of Aztlán and of chicanidad more broadly. This thesis, born from my own identity as a queer Chicanx male, considers the potentialities of queer male Chicanx affect and temporalities, offering an affective turn as a resistance model to the heteronormativity that plagues the queer male Chicanx. The first chapter establishes a critical intervention in the field by putting Cherríe Moraga’s dream of a “Queer Aztlán” in conversation with the queer futurity framework that José …

Mental Health, School Climate, And The Resilience Of Lgbtqia+ Mexican/X Youth, Damon R. Carbajal

Chicana and Chicano Studies ETDs

Mental health and school climate are two critical components of youth experience and are cardinal components of creating and ensuring equitable education and spaces for youth. LGBTQIA+ Mexican/x youth are highly affected by these two entities as part of their lived realities, being multiply marginalized persons in the U.S. educational system. Thus, to best understand how these entities play into the LGBTQIA+ Mexican/x youth experience, this study utilizes a social sciences testimonio comprised of one-on-one semi-structured interviews, demographic surveys, and a focus group. Through this three-prong approach, I analyze the lived realities of LGBTQIA+ Mexican/x youth, the traumas of discrimination, …

Still Dreaming Of You: Selena's Discourse With And Continuing Impact On American Musical Culture, Hannah Lastra

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Selena Quintanilla Perez continues to circulate in popular culture, including MAC cosmetic lines, a Netflix series, and podcasts. As a result, her cultural influence continues to be passed on and shared with future generations. This thesis focuses on three aspects of Selena and Selena y Los Dinos: Selena’s music, Selena’s performance aesthetic, and Selena’s fandom today. Chapter 1 focuses on Selena y Los Dinos’ American musical influences, particularly studying the songs “Enamorada de ti,” “Missing my Baby,” and “Fotos y Recuerdos” and the presence of American genres of new jack swing, R&B, and rock within them. Chapter 2 focuses on …

Treatment Access For Dual Diagnosis Substance Use And Mental Health Disorders, Pedro Banuelos

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In 2018, of 1.3 million Latinx adults in the United States facing concurrent issues with substance use disorders (SUD) and mental health disorders (MHD) 93% remained untreated for either diagnosis. This is concerning since Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) data reveals that this population is at greater risk for suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts. They also face structural barriers such as employment, housing, legal involvement, and insurability that further impede access to treatment.

This study’s purpose was to examine barriers to accessing treatment for Latinx populations confronting co-occurring SUDs and MHDs. This study used a qualitative design …

Voices Through The Streets Of The South Valley: Stories Of Querencia Lost And Reclaimed, Esther Garcia

Chicana and Chicano Studies ETDs

The South Valley is a rural community within the urban boundaries of the City of

Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is predominantly populated by minorities from diverse ethnicities and linked to the City of Albuquerque through limited access thoroughfares. The South Valley, composed of inhabitants who have lived in the area for generations, also includes returnees or those who are new to the valley. On any given day, within these neighborhoods, economic and social problems manifest themselves on the streets and threaten to deteriorate the seams of the community. Nevertheless, given the prevalent socio-economic challenges, South Valley residents appear to demonstrate …

La Llorona, Picante Pero Sabroso: The Mexican Horror Legend As A Story Of Survival And A Reclamation Of The Monster, Camille Maria Acosta

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

For centuries, the relationship between Mexico and its infatuation with scary stories has been profoundly complex, but why? Perhaps it is the easiest way to communicate a Mexican culture, although proud and resilient, riddled with haunting narratives. For myself personally, the Mexican horror narrative La Llorona has served as a lens for conversation and communication that is unique and important.

In this thesis, I explore how Mexicans and Mexican Americans alike use the legend of La Llorona as a unique form of communication through personifying what truly haunts us. From using the narrative as a tool for entertainment, cautionary tales, …

Community Engagement In Tpc Programs During Times Of Crisis: Embracing Chicana And Latina Feminist Practices, Nora Rivera, Laura Gonzales

English Faculty Articles and Research

Drawing on lessons gathered while teaching community engagement in technical communication courses during the COVID-19 pandemic, two Latina instructors, one in New Mexico and one in Florida, highlight the value that Chicana and Latina feminism can bring to technical communication pedagogies. The authors share course assignments and student examples that demonstrate their applications of Chicana/Latina feminist practices in technical communication. Through pláticas and testimonios, methodologies and methods grounded in Latina/Chicana feminism, the authors demonstrate how they navigate the challenges of the pandemic while also creating spaces for students to share, heal, and contribute to the activist work taking place in …

The Ballet Folklórico De San Antonio: A Vehicle Of Empowerment And Cultural Preservation Through Dance, Victoria Villasenor

Capstone Projects

Since the mid 20th century, ballet folklórico has been a source of community, identity, and = celebration for Mexican Americans across the United States. Despite the popularity throughout Texas, its migration from Mexico to the United States is not well-documented nor widely known. Utilizing digital media, oral histories, personal artifacts, and archives this project is an effort to capture the development of ballet folklórico in San Antonio as a pillar of the city’s identity and reputation as culturally distinct. I share this history through the perspectives and experiences of the Ballet Folklórico de San Antonio (BFSA) dance company as they …

An Offering On The Altar Of Queer History: Amalia Mesa-Bains And Sor Juana’S Library, Maria P. Chaves Daza

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This paper argues that home altars are archives. I consider the history of altars within Chicana community practices; political, and feminist critique of both patriarchal nationalism; and the role of the altar in challenging the public and private divide defined by nationalist discourses of the US and Aztlan. Furthermore, I use Amalia Mesa-Bains’s altar installation The Library of Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz to consider how altars are spaces of feminist queer memory-making and resistance against colonial logics.

Television Viewing And Latino Stereotypes, Gustavo Rivera

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Over the course of a modern lifetime, television viewing accounts for a significant amount of information taken in by viewers. Within that consumption lies a potential problem. Viewers may learn erroneous messages about people and the world. Since television has characterized Latinos in ways that have emphasized cultural stereotypes, viewers may learn to perceive them in a corresponding manner. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 403 students from five universities and two community colleges located in Northern California. The respondents completed a seventy-one item questionnaire. Five key variables were utilized to measure relationships between them. The key variables …

Radical Rattlers: A Narrative Of Latino Students At St. Mary’S University In The 1960’S, Edgar Velazquez Reynald

Capstone Projects

In the 1960s, St. Mary’s University saw an increase in Latino enrollment and a shift in student political attitudes from confidence in established politics in the early 1960s to radical activism at the end of the decade. The transition occurred as students engaged with the Civil Rights movement and then the Chicano movement. St. Mary’s distanced itself from radical forms of protest, as best exemplified by the formation off campus of the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) off campus, arguably the lynchpin of the Chicano movement in San Antonio. Attempting a reconciliation, St. Mary’s declared the 1969-1970 school year The …