Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945

Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945, written by George J. Sánchez and published in 1993 by Oxford University Press, explores the experiences of Mexican Americans in Los Angeles during the early 20th century. Sánchez provides a detailed look at Mexican Americans' lives, examining how they navigated living in a new country, including discrimination, poverty, and cultural displacement, and how they created a distinct Mexican American identity.^[1][2]

One of the book's key themes is the concept of "transculturation," which refers to the process of adapting to a new culture while also maintaining elements of one's own culture. Sanchez argues that Mexican-Americans were able to create a unique identity influenced by Mexican and American cultures, which was shaped by the experience of immigration and discrimination.^[3]

The book is divided into chapters, organized chronologically, each dealing with a different aspect of the Mexican-American experience.^[3] Sánchez draws on a wide range of sources, including oral histories, government documents, and newspapers, to provide a detailed picture of the lives of Mexican Americans during this period.^[4]

Academic journal reviews

• Chávez, E. (1998). "Culture, Identity, and Community: Musings on Chicano Historiography at the End of the Millennium". Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos. 14 (1): 213–235.
  JSTOR 1051894
  .
• Escobar, E. J. (1995). "Review of Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945". The Journal of American History. 81 (4): 1772–1773.
  JSTOR 2081782
  .
• Ethington, P. J. (1996). "Toward a "Borderlands School" for American Urban Ethnic Studies?". American Quarterly. 48 (2): 344–353.
  S2CID 142718620
  .
• García, A. M. (1995). "Review of Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945, by G. J. Sanchez". California History. 74 (3): 340–341.
  JSTOR 25177516
  .
• Lipsitz, G. (2013). "How History Happens and Why Culture Counts: Twenty Years after "Becoming Mexican American."". American Quarterly. 65 (2): 405–411.
  S2CID 144901953
  .
• Loewen, R. (1999). "The Fragmented Refashioning American Urban Immigration History". Urban History Review / Revue d'histoire Urbaine. 27 (2): 60–63.
  JSTOR 43562212
  .
• Martínez, O. J. (1995). "Review of Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945, by G. J. Sánchez". The Western Historical Quarterly. 26 (2): 211–212.
  JSTOR 970191
  .
• Murguia, E. (1994). "Review of Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945, by G. J. Sanchez". Contemporary Sociology. 23 (5): 649–650.
  JSTOR 2074261
  .
• Pitti, S. J. (1994). "Review of Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900–1945, by G. J. Sànchez". The Historian. 57 (1): 146–147.
  JSTOR 24449192
  .
• Romo, R. (1995). "Review of Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945, by G. J. Sánchez". The American Historical Review. 100 (2): 604.
  JSTOR 2169184
  .
• San Miguel, G. (1995). "Review of Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945, by G. J. Sánchez". History of Education Quarterly. 35 (1): 80–81.
  JSTOR 369703
  .
• Valdés, D. N. (1997). "Review of Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945; Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity., by G. J. Sánchez". The Hispanic American Historical Review. 77 (1): 92–93.
  JSTOR 2517070
  .
• Vargas, Z. (1996). "Review of Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945, by G. J. Sánchez". International Labor and Working-Class History. 49: 214–217.
  S2CID 143752175
  .
• Vigil, J. D. (1997). "Review of Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945, by G. J. Sánchez". Pacific Historical Review. 66 (2): 281–282.
  JSTOR 3640650
  .

George J. Sánchez is a historian and author; their research focuses on the experiences of Mexican Americans in the United States. He is currently a professor of American Studies and Ethnicity and History at the University of Southern California. In 1989 he received a Ph.D. in history from Stanford University; he previously earned his B.A. in History and Sociology from Harvard University.^[5]

See also

• Cannery Women, Cannery Lives: Mexican Women, Unionization, and the California Food Processing Industry, 1930-1950
• Black and Brown: African Americans and the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920

References

Notes

Citations

External links

• Book page; Oxford University Press.