MAS 165 - Mexican American Culture, Community and Identity

1. Define within a historical context the vocabulary of Chicanismo: geographies, histories, myths, and oral traditions.
2. Explain the origins of Chicanismo and Chicana/o/x /Raza Studies within the context of the Chicana/o/x Movement in the 1960s.
3. Explain Chicana/o/x perspectives of knowledge based in the history and culture of greater Mexico within the realities of the United States.
4. Describe the major issues, ideas, influences, thinkers, leaders, events, social movements, art, artists, writers, and demographics.
5. Conduct community-based observation and participation.

1. Defining Chicanismo
   1. Vocabulary of identities within a historical context
   2. History, homelands, origins and mythologies
   3. Eurocentric Narratives, Canon, and Chicana/o/x responses
   4. From Guadalupe Hidalgo to El Movimiento
   5. Chicana feminist critiques
2. Chicano(a) Formation
   1. Barrios
      1. History of the barrios
      2. Family and work
      3. Practices, beliefs, and traditions
      4. Issues of segregated life
      5. Civil rights, mutualistas, and social organizations
      6. Urban super barrios:  Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, and Phoenix
      7. Suburbia and the rise of the middle class
      8. Rural colonias and las files
   2. Justice
      1. The development of institutional racism and vigilantism
      2. The legacies of Manifest Destiny and the Alamo
      3. From the Texas Rangers to the Migra
      4. Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)
      5. Grassroots human rights organizations: the Crusade for Justice
   3. Education
      1. Mexican schools and Americanization projects
      2. Major education lawsuits
      3. Bilingual-Bicultural struggles
      4. Walks outs challenge K-12 education
      5. Plan de Santa Barbara challenges academia
      6. Demographics and education today
   4. Politics
      1. Politics of exclusion and control
      2. Impact of WWII and Korean veterans
      3. Electoral politics to the Great Society
      4. Rise of Mexican unions
      5. Rise of a broker class
      6. Crystal City and La Raza Unida
      7. Farm workers organize las files and environmental, food, and justice
      8. New Mexican land struggles: the Alianza
   5. The Border and El Oro Lado
      1. Immigration and border policies from 1924
      2. Bracero agreements and results
      3. Undocumented workers organize: Centro de Acción Social Autónoma-Hermandad General de Trabajadores (CASA)
      4. Militarization: Operation Gatekeeper, 9/11 and Homeland Security
      5. U.S.-Mexico relations since North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA)
      6. The Border Wall
3. The Chicano Movement Today  
   1. Renascimiento
      1. Music from mariachi to Molotov
      2. Art from murals to performance
      3. Teatro
      4. Writers
      5. Poetry and the spoken word
      6. Cultural centers
      7. Dance
      8. Rasquachismo in the popular culture
   2. La Nueva Familia
      1. Guadalupe as militant feminist
      2. Lesbianas Y Los Gays
      3. Single working mothers
      4. Transborder families
      5. Catholicism and evangelistas
      6. Boy and girl gangs
      7. New spaces for the elders
   3. Nuevas Ondas
      1. Demographics
      2. Youth
      3. Media
      4. Business
         1. Middle class
         2. Film and television
         3. Internet
         4. Globalization
4. America sin Fronteras:  Visions for the 21st Century
   1. Future directions
   2. Border alliances and groups