An Evolving Chicana/o Identity
The definition of Chicana/o social identity has evolved since its beginning in the Spanish Conquest, and will continue to evolve to fit the identity of the Chicana/o population today. The origin of the term Chicano came during the Spanish Conquest; the Spaniards conquered indigenous land, and made it possible to mix cultures. Not only did they create a mestizaje population, as pictured in “I Am Joaquin”—“I am both tyrant and slave ,” referring to his mixture of indigenous and Spanish blood—but they also exploited the indigenous peoples. According to the book titled “The Broken Spears,” the Mexicanos tried to fight back against the Spaniards. However, the Spanish group held superior weapons and thus were able to
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In Hurtado and Gurin’s article, we see the first label of Chicano as “the Chicano Generation” originating from 1966 to present time. The generation before the Chicana/o generation were the Mexicanos whom valued the Spanish language over English, Mexican customs, and their Mexican culture. However, the article states that the Chicano Generation, although derived from Mexican ancestry, critiqued the Mexicanos based on their “loyalty” to the United States. Thus, the Chicano Generation deviated from their Mexican culture, but did not fully assimilate to an American culture.5 Chicanas/os placed themselves in between, not accustoming to one culture or the other; thus, creating their own. From this, we can conclude that the early definition of a Chicana/o social identity is solely that of a first generation American-born citizen into a Mexican-American …show more content…
I think the most important is a commitment to activism. We often hear of many powerful Chicanos that changed the view of the Chicana/o community: Cesar Chavez, Reies Tijerina, and Rodolfo Gonzales… but what we often fail to recognize is that women, such as Yolanda Broyles-Gonzalez (whose research “questioned the ways in which Chicano Movement histories are ‘text-centered, chronological, and male-centered’” ) too have a big role in Chicana/o history. It is important for Chicanos to be inclusive of both genders since women too can identify with the three traditional characteristics of Chicano social