Chicana Power is a book written by Maylei Blackwell; the book was published by the University of Texas Press Austin in 2011. It tells the story of the Chicana feminism development. Blackwell does a startling job of placing the Chicana movement into a much bigger context. Not only does she provide what she thinks, but along the books, she includes the stories of others. She talks about the social factors and she also expresses the political factors that helped with the rise of the movement. Growing up, Blackwell was taught in the Cherokee way to believe that stories have power: The power to inspire, the power to heal, the power to transform, the power to incite new possibilities, in fact to create new worlds (Acknowledgements vii). After the …show more content…
Las Hijas de Cuauhtémoc was named for the Mexican feminist organization that demanded women’s civil and political rights and an end to the Diaz dictatorship at the turn of the 20th century (pp 2). Blackwell was able to conduct with the pioneering Chicana activist and theorist Anna NietoGomez, along with the members of Las Hijas de Cuauhtémoc. She talks about the families of Anna NietoGomez, Corinne Sanchez, and also Sylvia Castillo; and what brought them to activism. She uses Foucault’s archaeology of knowledge to help understand the ways in which the Chicanas have been omitted from the social histories of the Chicano and women’s movements. Blackwell puts together the first book-length study that talks about the roots of the Chicana movement. She talked about all the struggles that they faced for being activist; and the real life stories of what other women went through. Being an activist does not seem easy but the way they fight for what they believe in, can influence many other women who are scared to stand up for what they believe. As Blackwell stated in the acknowledgement vii, stories do have the power to inspire, transform and
This is critical for the readers to know the show the bias, injustice, and premeditated ignorance of the United States educational system. It also demonstrates that Chicano Studies is not important regardless of the Hispanic population in this supposed “free” country. It seems as if the Chicano Studies was made only to fail by keeping it under funded and understaffed. By doing so, it has an affect on keeping away good scholars to maintain the historical development of Hispanics in the United States as well as its own history.
In 1975 the death of Franco and forty years of dictatorship and censorship offered Spanish women the freedom to reexamine their identity and question their role in a patriarchal society. At the same time on another continent, African-American women are also struggling to find their identity among the numerous American literary images that, until the 20th-century, had not realistically represented their gender or race. Notwithstanding the different histories, geographies, and ethnicities between African-American and Spanish women, a common thread that appears to bind them is their inheritance of a legacy of struggle against the internalization of controlling patriarchal perceptions and images of women that lead them to believe that they are, indeed, the stereoty...
Delgadillo, Theresa. "Forms of Chicana Feminist Resistance: Hybrid Spirituality in Ana Castillo's So Far From God."Modern Fiction Studies. 44.4 (1998): 888-914. Delgadillo, Theresa. "Forms of Chicana Feminist Resistance: Hybrid Spirituality in Ana Castillo's So Far From God."Modern Fiction Studies. 44.4 (1998): 888-914. .
Moraga, Cherrie. “Queer Aztlan: the Reformation of Chicano Tribe,” in The Color of Privilege 1996, ed Aida Hurtado. Ann Arbor: University Michigan Press, 1996.
King, Thomas. “Let Me Entertain You. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005. 61-89. Print.
Martinez, Demetria. 2002. “Solidarity”. Border Women: Writing from la Frontera.. Castillo, Debra A & María Socorro Tabuenca Córdoba. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 168- 188.
Ruiz, Delia. Women of Color in Modern Society. New York, NY: Harper and Row Press,
Chicano men incorporated the church’s dominance over women into their life at home. Carmen M. del Río in her article “The Virgin of Guadalupe Revisited: Religion, Culture, Sexuality in the Works of Chicana/Latina Writers” details the entanglement of religion and culture,
Woo-Sam, Anne. "Mexican Americans and the Chicano Movement." Encyclopedia of American Social Movements. Sharpe Online Reference. 2012. n. pag. Web. 12 February 2012.
McKracken, Ellen. "Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street: Community-Oriented Introspection and the Demystification of Patriarchal Violence," Breaking Boundaries: Latina Writing and Critical Readings. Eds. Delgado Horne et al. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989: 62-71.
However, not all Chicana feminists fought for the same exact reasons, and with the same goals. The goals of various feminists varied depending on personal, political or social beliefs. Chicana feminists goals and focuses were distinct in four different ways. Chicana liberal feminism, Chicana insurgent feminism, Chicana cultural nationalist feminism and Chicana transnational feminism are all different forms of feminism that work towards different beliefs and ideologies. The Chicana liberal feminism idea consists of improving the role of the Chicana within the Chicano community. To improve the role of Chicanas, the feminists believe in having access to social institutions and employment by using political strategies. The political policies help “improve the community through education, employment, health care services, and political involvement” (Garcia 301). Chicana insurgent feminism believes in revolutionary change for the women in the community. This ideology is more radical and less compromising with the struggles of "racial discrimination, patriarchy, and class exploitation" (Garcia 302). The combination of these factors is “cumulative effects of oppression” (Garcia 302) towards Chicanas. Chicana cultural nationalist feminism preserves the Chicano cultural values while having a change in gender relations. The Chicano movement slogan was “La Gran Familia De La Raza” which signified that all
In addition, these women were often subjected to control, domination, and violence by men” (Global). This validates Azuela’s stance on how women should stay within their traditional roles because fighting for equality has been ineffective even today.
However, understanding the feminist movement is to understand that there has been exclusion of certain groups of women; therefore, leaving out certain issues that those women are still needing to fight for on their own. Women of color had to fight and continue to fight to bring their issues to the attention of mainstream feminists. Latina women’s issues were not being represented in the issues that mainstream feminist were advocating for. Latina feminism includes issues regarding their culture, language, religion, and education and much more. Through the book, Chicana Feminist Thought: The Basic Historical Writings, edited by Alma M.Garcia, there is further evidence about the issues that Latina women experience. In the chapter ,“La Femenista,” by Anna NietoGomez, she states that “In order to establish themselves as a legitimate interest group or groups, the Chicana femenista has continually had to justify, clarify and educate people in the political philosophical issues of the Chicana woman” (NietoGomez 87). The fact that Latinas even had to clarify their issues shows that their issues were being ignored or not being considered important. Latinas had to prove that their issues were far different from the mainstream feminist, yet still important. NietoGomez states that, “Philosophical conflicts arose from those who felt that the Chicano movement did not have
This is what affects our future as a whole and challenges us to “bridge the gap between marginal Latino/a culture and the American mainstream.” If society does not at least try to blend together, then it will lead to a huge war that could possibly never end. Just being that woman to show her passion and influence, can cause a great impact and force this world to acknowledge we all are the same. Works Cited Cisneros, Sandra. Woman Hollering Creek.
Banner, Lois W. Women in Modern America a Brief History. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974.