Monthly Archives: August 2011

By The Time I Get To Texas

Posted on August 31, 2011 by admin

I’m always saying,”One of these days I’m gonna go to El Paso, Texas and retrace my family’s steps.” I want to visit the places they had (if they’re still there). I want to visit the movie theaters my grandma did … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicana/o Studies, History | 2 Comments

Book Giveaway #1 – Expedition Through Aztlán by David Sanchez

Posted on August 31, 2011 by admin

Aztlán Reads is giving away a signed copy of “Expedition Through Aztlán” by David Sánchez, founder and former Prime Minister of the Brown Berets. This book features over 85 rarely seen dramatic photos of the Chicano Movement. It was originally … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicana/o Studies, History | Leave a comment

To the Brother Warriors of August 29th – In Gratitude

Posted on August 31, 2011 by admin

living in the academic world has its privileges and its limitations.  in some ways the anonymous birth of this blog is a reflection of the academy’s limited scope.  on the other hand, without the opportunities that have been presented during … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicana/o Literature, Chicana/o Movement, Chicana/o Studies, History, Poetry | Leave a comment

Dogs from Illusion: A Novel by Charley Trujillo

Posted on August 31, 2011 by admin

Dogs from Illusion (Chusma House Publications, 1994): A Novel by Charley Trujillo I really can’t claim to “know” much about Latina/o war-minded literature. The more I get into it though, the more I realize how complex, important and yet neglected … Continue reading →

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The Age of White Flight: Restructuring White Space in Los Angeles

Posted on August 30, 2011 by admin

In Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles, Eric Avila argues that the suburban character of postwar popular culture in Los Angeles was defined by the centrality of whiteness that helped nurture … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicana/o Studies, History | 2 Comments

A World of its Own: Popular Culture in La Colonia

Posted on August 29, 2011 by admin

In A World of Its Own: Race, Labor, and Citrus in the Making of Greater Los Angeles, 1900-1970, Matt García merges Chicana/o community and cultural formation to explore the development of the San Gabriel Valley as a citrus empire and … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicana/o Studies, Labor Studies | Leave a comment

Retelling History Through Autobiographical Resistance & Affirmation

Posted on August 29, 2011 by admin

Genaro M. Padilla in My History, Not Yours: The Formation of Mexican American Autobiography argues for an archeological re(dis)covery of post-1848 Mexican American autobiographical texts to cultivate a reconstruction of the narrative history of Mexicans as a way of overturning … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicana/o Studies, Literary Theory | Leave a comment

Calligraphy of the Witch

Posted on August 27, 2011 by admin

Calligraphy of the Witch by Chicana scholar Alicia Gaspar de Alba is an amazing American novel. It confronts Chicana/o absence in traditional American history and literature by telling the story of a convent raised Mexican mestiza scribe, Concepción Benavídez, captured by pirates and … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicana/o Literature, Novel | Leave a comment

Silent No Longer: The Visual Poetic Resistance of Chicana/o Cinema in the Experimental Films of Frances Salomé España

Posted on August 26, 2011 by admin

During the formative years of the motion picture industry in the early 1900s, silent films exemplified the egregiously racist and misogynist nature of American cinema towards Mexicans. The films Let Katie Do It and D.W. Griffith’s little known, The Martyrs … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicana/o, Experimental, Film | Leave a comment

Caramelo

Posted on August 26, 2011 by admin

Reading Caramelo was an odd experience. I used a library copy, but the only one my library had was the large print edition. The large type gave the odd impression of being shouted at. At first, I thought the larger print was … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicana/o Literature | Leave a comment

Solving for XY = BAD BITCH squared

Posted on August 24, 2011 by admin

She’s like… 6 times a DIAMOND 12 times the SHINE 2 times the ROUGH And 10 times the FINE 3 veces el SOL Por 4 la LUNA Estrellas Brillantes, Como ella NINGUNA 4 times HISTORY 2 times WHENEVER Swag times INFINITY Times … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicana/o Literature, Poetry | 2 Comments

Soy Ilegal

Posted on August 24, 2011 by admin

Since the beginning we, la raza odiada the hated race have been caught in the middle just as we are now between the fall of Tenochtitlan and the migrant farms that feed a nation in this modern day version of … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicana/o Literature, Poetry | Leave a comment

Flight to Freedom: A Story of Resistance

Posted on August 24, 2011 by admin

Rossana Pérez in Flight to Freedom: The Story of Central American Refugees in California documents the stories of eight key Salvadorans who were integral to the formation of a political resistance movement in the United States whose primary purpose was … Continue reading →

Posted in Central American Studies | Leave a comment

Rethinking La Familia in Richard T. Rodríguez’s Next of Kin

Posted on August 24, 2011 by admin

The 38th Annual of the National Association for Chicana & Chicano Studies (NACCS) was held on March 30-April 2, 2011 in Pasadena, CA. This year’s theme: Sites of Education for Social Justice focused on the issues that impact Chicana/o education … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicana/o Studies, Gender Studies, Queer Studies, Women's Studies | 1 Comment

Gazing East: Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton’s Who Would Have Thought It?

Posted on August 24, 2011 by admin

Just as there is a presumption that United States history begins in the east and moves to the west against a savage frontier, so is there a presumption that this expansion was an inevitable and ultimate good.  Even now, to … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicana/o Literature | 1 Comment