Chicano nationalism
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Chicano nationalism is the pro-
Background
Violence and discrimination against
Some members of the Mexican American community began to question whether assimilation was possible or even desirable.[6] At the same time, a sense of ethnic consciousness and unity was forming, especially among the youth, around the plight of the farmworkers. Mexican Americans, some of whom began calling themselves "Chicanos" as a symbol of ethnic pride, also began to uncover their history and critically analyze what they learned in public schools.[7] With this new sense of identity and history, the early proponents of the Chicano movement began viewing themselves as a colonized people entitled to self-determination of their own.[8] Some of them also embraced a form of nationalism that was based on their perception of the failure of the United States government to live up to the promises that it had made in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.[9][10]
Functions and basis
Chicano nationalism allowed Chicanos to define themselves as a group on their own terms, and was a determination on their part to mold their own destiny. It is rooted in the
The sense of Chicano nationalism was enhanced by a geographical proximity of the United States and Mexico. Chicanos use the name Aztlán in reference to territories within the boundaries of the Mexican Cession, the land that was "granted" to Spain in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI in Bull Inter caetera, then claimed by the First Mexican Empire in 1821 when Spain signed the Treaty of Córdoba at the conclusion of the Mexican War of Independence, then claimed as "territories" (as opposed to "states", often referred to as "provinces") by 1824 Constitution, and finally ceded to the United States in 1848 as an outcome of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (although it also included Texas, which had earlier proclaimed its independence from the government in Mexico City and was independent territory.)
The commitment to a nationalist ideology allowed Chicano activists to supersede differences that threatened their unity. Mexican Americans had regional, linguistic, age, cultural, racial, and gender differences, all of which were all subsumed to a mutual dedication to the Chicano Movement.
Criticisms
Groups of Mexican nationalists, in Mexico, label Chicano nationalism as a form of separatism, similar to the
See also
- Black nationalism
- Chicano
- Chicanismo
- Chicano movement
- Chicano studies
- Ethnic nationalism
- Irish nationalism
- White nationalism
Notes
- ^ "The lynching of persons of Mexican origin or descent in".
- ^ Vicki L. Ruiz. "South by Southwest: Mexican Americans and Segregated Schooling, 1900–1950". OAH Magazine of History. Archived from the original on October 10, 2007.
- ISBN 9780520245204. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
- ISBN 9780520245204. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
- ^ "press3b". Archived from the original on December 8, 2006.
- ^ Chicano Movement
- ^ [1] Archived July 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 9780860919131. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
- ^ "Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo". Archived from the original on October 26, 2009.
- ^ "A History of Mexican Americans in California". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
- ^ "Cinco de Mayo: An open challenge to Chicano Nationalists". Archived from the original on December 3, 2013.
References
- Chávez, Ernesto. "Mi raza primero!" (My people first!): nationalism, identity, and insurgency in the Chicano movement in Los Angeles, 1966–1978 Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. ISBN 0-520-23018-3.