The chicanos movement

Maria Jose Heredia

Professor G. Motil

ENGL-115-86

October 26, 2017

ESSAY #2

The chicano movement and their identity

The 1960s was a decade in American history, fraught with conflicts over isssues from Civil Rights to the war in Vietnam. The Mexican-American war, emerged during the Civil Rights era with some goals: restoral of land, rights for farm workers and education reforms.

Similar to other movements of this period promoting civil rights, the Chicano movement made society aware of the injustices suffered by Mexican-Americans in the United States and spurred social change.

In this work the theme of the Chicano identity was analyzed through different views and aspects.

In principle we can say that according to Eduardo Sandoval, means the identity as:

"... The answer to customs, values, cultural symbols, rituals, and all those symbols that give coherence in the sense of belonging and identification with a collective, generated through integration and identification of the individual with a habitat and conditions sociocultural" (Sandoval Forero, 1993, p. 10).

This means that the identity is the result of an integration between the individual and a given space. That is, the individual is identified with a place to which it belongs.

Moreover, it is necessary to clarify that identities are not immutable in time and space. They do not remain fixed but are constantly changing due to the dynamic character of the individual and society. For this, I think historically interesting clarify that the changes within societies have been very large. Old, smaller companies more easily maintained ties with all individuals. Currently, given its mechanization and extension, the links are not given to company level, in general terms, but smaller areas of interaction, such as neighborhoods, are looking for and this is very visible in the case of minorities in United States.

In the case of Chicanos, we could say that although there is the latter, due to distance codes are transformed and modified. I think we could speak of cultural and national identities changed, because in fact, there does exist a membership with Mexico, an idealization of that country, because of its quality of minority 1 in a country like the United States.

García Canclini would say, when migrating, we become a minority. The identity necessarily should be given in small groups, not society level. But this also is transformed, no remains the same; mutates, adapting to the new place, and make something different. "The dynamic nature of migration holds the potential to redefine the collective and individual identities" (Ariza, 2000, p. 52). Thus, the immigrant goes through an analysis of what is and what is not in the new territory, and this necessarily refers to a matter of belonging. They are a minority in a country that is not yours, but at least this minority has the possibility of being united.

We can say, in general terms, which was from 1846, when the United States declared territorial war over northern Mexico, when some Mexicans who lived in those places, losing the war, were, almost without realizing in US territory.

During World War II, due to lack of manpower, the United States asked Mexicans to go to work in industry. Later, with the Second World War, again a pact between the two governments, called Bracero Program, which is trying to supply labor to that northern country is established.

It is in this context that the Chicano population has a somewhat dismissive when referring to the working people of Mexican origin who occupied the worst jobs connotation.

It is interesting to note that before the Second World War, usually these people worked in the fields. After the war, an urbanization process is given, and many of them begin to work in areas such as services or industries.

In fact, in Los Angeles as many Mexican - origin population is concentrated. And Hispanics, together constitute the second largest group in California.

The cities offered them better education, more jobs and more opportunitie, and this was extremely important.

During World War II, new possibilities for Mexico due to the growth of the war industry, which provided them with more and better jobs emerged.

An important for the formation of social consciousness chicane step, as in other groups such as African Americans, was the Vietnam War, war driven by power, and which was sent to fight these minorities usually , they did not identify with the ideas of those for fighting.

The Vietnam War undoubtedly marked the starting point of the social consciousness of these groups, awareness of disadvantaged groups who killed people for a country that had nothing helped.

Afterall, the Chicano Movement emerged in 1966 in California. His supporters tried a new form of political integration, because they felt incorporated into the system. Conversely, discrimination and segregation were daily question. Among the icons with which they identified, we can mention the Cuban revolution, Che Guevara's ideals, and even the Mexican revolutionaries. We must also emphasize the role of "black power" in the formation of the Movement.

Among other issues, the group intends to challenge the generalized

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