ipl-logo

I Am Joaquin Analysis

507 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Chicano culture essays

In the Chicano movement art was used through murals and poems to combat racism. The poem “I am Joaquin” was used to “exemplify the Chicano faith and strength of their community” (Quest for a Home Land). This was a tool to combat racism through the use of creative writing, thus showing the peaceful manner of the Chicano movement. The murals created by Chicano community exemplified their struggle in an Anglo American society and peaceful beauty of their culture that was once thought to be “savage and violent” (Mann, 15). In history our ancestor’s artistic expression was similar to the Chicano art to show our strength and pride of who we are, but early historians showed it as something “violent and uncultured” (Jackson, 10/20/15). A great example of the murals created was the development of Chicano park in San Diego, California. The Chicano turned the negatives of the area into something with hope, similar to how they took the term Chicano and turned it …show more content…

In “Quest for a Homeland” Rodolfo Gonzalez showed the Chicano’s ancestry roots through the connection of Atzlan. “I am Aztec princes and Christian Christ” (Quest for a Homeland), this statement refers to the cultural background of the Chicano community, which defeated the idea of racism in the sense of the Chicano community’s individualistic identity. Aztlan became the symbol for racial and cultural pride in the Chicano community, giving Chicano’s a sense of a home at a place that’s been denied to them. “Aztlan has become a symbolic trope used to promote racial and cultural pride” (Menchaca, 24). Aztlan is within every Chicano and gives them pride and will power to fight the oppression that’s been given to them for so long to fight off the negativity given to them by society. With this willpower now in place the Chicano community can go and seek out the history of their own culture and gain a historical

Show More
Related
781 Words | 4 Pages

In today’s society many successful artists portray their personal life experiences, historical movements, events they witnessed etc. through their art work. Frank Romero is an American Chicano artist, who created the master piece of The Death of Ruben Salazar. Through Romero’s painting we see how Ruben Salazar’s death occurred and the historical event behind it and the impact it, had in the East Los Angeles Community.  

Read More
766 Words | 4 Pages

Also in the chapter how race is a central thesis of the novel is about the paintings Dawn at the Alamo and The fall at the Alamo where Anglo-Americans were shown to be brave, courageous valiantly while Tejanos were left absent of the battle of the Alamo and the Mexican army under Santa Anna was portrayed as though they were monstrous as the Mexican solider sneaking up on Travis to shoot him in the back or stab him in the back. As Crisp states “repaint

Read More
741 Words | 3 Pages

For this book review, I am going to be talking about David Montejano’s book entitled Quixote’s Soldiers, A local history of the Chicano Movement, 1966-1981. The author’s purpose is very well explained and it is not hard to understand. The author clearly tries to explain different ideologies, individuals and organizations located in one of the Southwest’s major cities, San Antonio, Texas, during the late 1960s and early 190s. All these varieties mentioned above made possible that a movement was created called Chicano Movement, a group that David Montejano provides a deeply understanding and description of the movement during the reading of the book. Since, the city was governed by a tough Anglosocial elite that was firmly convinced in the way

Read More
834 Words | 4 Pages

During the Chicano Nationalist Movement, a well-known speaker, Rodolfo ‘Corky’ Gonzales, delivered a speech titled Chicano Nationalism: Victory for La Raza. In this speech, Rodolfo Gonzales tries to unify the Latin American people within the United States by using the idea of a family and to create a new political organization for the Chicano people. This speech was a cumulation of various ideas which stemmed from his own life, the experiences of the Chicano people, and the Chicano Nationalist Movement in general. Each of these factors contributed to the context of the speech and how the ideas within the speech are presented by Rodolfo Gonzales.     Rodolfo ‘Corky’ Gonzales was born to Federico and Indalesia Gonzales, two Mexican immigrants, on June 18, 1928.

Read More
1578 Words | 7 Pages

The Power of Hope Gary Soto brings the impoverished, crime filled streets of the Mexican-American communities where he grew up to life by “evoking the harsh forces that often shape the life for Chicanos” (“‘Gary Soto’: Poetry Foundation” p. 1). He combines an archetypal young love poem with the concept of poverty to create the powerful poem: “Oranges” (1985). Soto also works with the notion of old age and the importance of life in his somber poem: “The Seventieth Year” (1986).

Read More
1397 Words | 6 Pages

These exhibits exclusively made by chicano artists from Southern California, show freedom of speech and social problems such as immigration that the artists believe are present in the United States. These art pieces are aided by its use of objects, how it curates those objects, and use of space to create a relationship between viewer create many historical arguments about the significance

Read More
938 Words | 4 Pages

The immigrants entering the United States throughout its history have always had a profound effect on American culture. However, the identity of immigrant groups has been fundamentally challenged and shaped as they attempt to integrate into U.S. society. The influx of Mexicans into the United States has become a controversial political issue that necessitates a comprehensive understanding of their cultural themes and sense of identity. The film Mi Familia (or My Family) covers the journey and experiences of one Mexican-American (or “Chicano”) family from Mexico as they start a new life in the United States. Throughout the course of the film, the same essential conflicts and themes that epitomize Chicano identity in other works of literature

Read More
504 Words | 3 Pages

“Aztlan, Cibola and Frontier New Spain” is a chapter in Between the Conquests written by John R. Chavez. In this chapter Chavez states how Chicano and other indigenous American ancestors had migrated and how the migration help form an important part of the Chicanos image of themselves as a natives of the south. “The Racial Politics behind the Settlement of New Mexico” is the second chapter by Martha Menchaca.

Read More
626 Words | 3 Pages

The Chicano movement derives from early oppression of Mexicans. Robert Rodrigo, author of “The Origins and History of the Chicano Movement” acknowledges that, “At the end of the Mexican American war in 1848, Mexico lost half of its territory to the United States and its Mexican residents became ‘strangers in their own lands.’” In stating this fact, Rodrigo exemplifies the United States’ relations with Mexico, that, ultimately, led to their oppression. Moreover, these early relations led to social injustice for the Mexican community. Carlos Muñoz, author of The Chicano Movement: Mexican American History and the Struggle for Equality reports, “As a conquered people, beginning with the Texas-Mexico War of 1836 and the U.S. Mexico War of 1846-48, they have

Read More
483 Words | 2 Pages

On July 21, 2015, I had the opportunity to take a trip down to “The Great Wall of Los Angeles”. I was amazed to see the creativity and the empowerment of the art. The wall is a mural designed by Judith Baca, and a group of community youth from diverse ethnical backgrounds. The mural paints the history of California through different eras; it starts with colonialism and makes its way to the Chicano Movement of the 1960s.

Read More
871 Words | 4 Pages

Octavio Paz, a Mexican poet and essayist, is one of the many philosophers with a written piece regarding his understanding of Lo Mexicano. Paz’s “Sons of La Malinche” was first published in the Labyrinth of Solitude in 1950 and is a rather grim interpretation of the Mexican character, however, it captures the crisis of identity that Mexico was burdened with after the conquest. Paz uses the Spanish term “chingar,” (when literally translated means “to screw, to violate”) and its associated phrases to understand the conquest and the effect

Read More
1122 Words | 5 Pages

Unity for Chicanos came in the form of an idea, of a dream, called El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán (The Spiritual Plan of Aztlán). ‘Plan of Aztlán’ became one the Chicanos signature ideas, this ‘Plan’ “sought to connect Chicanos to their indigenous past while… reminding them of the colonial implications of the Mexican-American war.” The ‘Plan’ become a method through which Mexican-Americans could be united through their shared ancestry and culture. Simultaneously, the Young Lords pushed for unity through a much more radical avenue. The Lords aimed to liberate their fellow Puerto Ricans and thus “rejected the established norms and American values…

Read More
1414 Words | 6 Pages

Culture is an essential part of a community’s identity, because it links individuals to a collective bond. The Americas have always contained a vast variety of cultural communities, especially in the United States. The US is known for being one of the most diverse nations in the world, housing hundreds of different cultures. Mexican-Americans display a strong sense of a cultural background, which falls as a subset of the bigger Latino culture that links all Latinos. Oral history is a major aspect on the Mexican culture, which contributes to the truth of how history in the United States actually happened.

Read More
744 Words | 3 Pages

The use of art creates community-driven experiences that are unique to Chicano/Latino expression. Authors and Curators like Carribean Fragoza and the Petersen Automotive Museum discuss the importance of creative expression within these communities. Carribean Fragoza’s, "Toward a Radical Arts Practice: Theater and Muralism during the Chicano Movement", discusses the impact art forms such as teatro and murals had on vulnerable Mexican American youth. Similarly, the Petersen Automotive Museum’s, "Seven Reasons to See High Art, Riding Low", demonstrates the craftsmanship and dedication used to illustrate culturally-driven works of art on the bodies of lowriders. Art comes in many forms and sizes, and sometimes even takes the form of

Read More
585 Words | 3 Pages

To many people “I am Joaquin” is more than just an epic poem, it is the anthem of the Chicano movement which embodies our peoples struggles and culture. What made the work become the Chicano Movements anthem is the fact that it is a piece that seems to evaluate the Chicanos and their history from the good to the bad. It also seems to emphasize the Chicanos search and struggle for identity starting from the beginning of the Spanish conquest to our modern times. Basically this poem has become such an iconic work because it attempts and succeeds in encompassing as much Chicano history into it and makes no bias choice as it has both positive historical moments and negative, but they all tie back to Chicanos and their history. One of the main aspect that makes “I am Joaquin” an interesting piece of work and an icon for the Chicano movement is how the work seems to

Read More

More about I Am Joaquin Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document