Chicana feminism

Chicana feminism, also called Xicanisma, is a group of 2 Origin

social theories that analyze the historical, social, political,
and economic roles of Mexican American, Chicana, and Though evidence of Chicana feminist thought can be
Hispanic women in the United States.
traced as far back as the mid-nineteenth century, it was
not until the 1960s and 70s that the Chicana feminist
movement truly began. The Chicana feminist consciousness grew from a struggle for equality with Chicano
1 Overview
men and displeasure with Chicanas prescribed role in
la familia. With the emergence of the Chicano Movement, the structure of Chicano families changed draChicana feminism maintains that throughout history,
matically. Specically, women began to question the
women have been oppressed, and sometimes even
role that they were assigned within the family and where
abused, in many dierent societies. In Latin America,
their place was within the Chicano national struggle.[1]
just as in Europe and Asia, many women were, for cenOne of the main movements in Chicana feminism is La
turies, treated by their fathers, brothers and husbands
Malinche.[2] A main event that sparked Chicana femiwith discrimination. Women in Latin America, Mexico
nism was the 1969 Chicano Youth Liberation Conferincluded, were seen as child-bearers, homemakers, and
ence, which began the Chicano Movement and eventucaregivers. These women had to watch their children,
ally, MEChA. At the conference, women began to get
perform household chores, and cook for their husbands.
involved in the male-dominated dialogue to address femMany men did not consider women to be capable of workinist concerns. After the conference, women returned to
ing outside the home, which is part of the reason why the
their communities as activists and thus began the Chicana
term weaker sex was coined.
Feminist Movement.[3]
In Latin America, women at those times had to act according to some social standards. In many Latin American cities, for example, women were not seen with good
eyes if they spoke to men they did not know. Meanwhile, 3 Feminism
prostitution, for example, was legal in many Latin American areas, and men were not criticized, but rather seen During the 1970s, a feminist movement took place across
as heroic, if they had several girlfriends, even if the man the United States. Chicanas wanted to be part of the
was married.
movement, and so, in 1973, the Comisin Femenil MexIn 1848, with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe- icana Nacional was formed. This commission became an
Hidalgo, Mexico ceded to the US: Arizona, California, important part of Chicana feminism, as many Chicanas
New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and part of Colorado and viewed the commissions presidents as heroines. Former
Wyoming. Former citizens of Mexico living in those ter- United States President Jimmy Carter spoke with one
ritories became US citizens. During the twentieth cen- of the commissions former presidents during the early
tury, Hispanic immigration to the United States began to 1980s. Central to much of Chicana feminism is a rewritslowly but steadily change American demographics. By ing of female and maternal archetypes in the form of La
1940, Los Angeles was one of cities with the largest group Virgen de Guadalupe, La Llorona, and La Malinche, that
have prevented Chicanas from achieving sexual, bodily
of Chicanos in the United States.
agency. In this light, motherhood and mother-daughter
Euro-American women also had their own problems: relationships have been negatively portrayed, making a
they were also stereotyped as homemakers, caregivers, Chicana feminist revision of these mother gures a cruand child-bearers. Unlike women of minority races, how- cial element of contemporary Chicana feminism. Unever, white women largely evaded dealing with racism, derstanding this shift from traditional (patriarchal) repunless they or their husbands befriended people of Black resentation to feminist Chicana revision, we may clearly
or Hispanic background.
see its inuence on the mother-daughter dynamic. In reMexican-American men often spoke about La Familia thinking the duality of mothers and challenging this tra(the family). Mexican and Mexican-American women ditional context of motherhood, Chicana writers strive
felt they were being left out by men when they spoke to create a complex rendering of the mother-daughter
about La Familia.
bond. Reclaiming the three mothers is a symbolic re1

claiming of the maternal relationship. For it is only by

modifying their cultural foremothers that contemporary
Chicanas may come to terms with their own maternal relationships. By challenging patriarchal representations,
Chicana writers re-construct their relationship as symbolic daughters of these mythic mothers.[4] Chicana Feminism, rejects the traditional role of Mexican-American
women and serves as a middle ground for the Womens
Liberation Movement and the Chicano Movement. Chicana Feminism addresses inequalities within and outside
of the Chicano movement.

Chicana feminist organization

CRITICISM OF CHICANA FEMINISM

chicano originates from the Aztec Indians who pronounced it meshicano. However the Spaniards had no
sh in their vocabulary and pronounced it mexicano. Although the term chicano was not always used as a warm
term.The term chicano was once found to be a demeaning term , it was associated with newly arrived Mexican
immigrants in the past century. Many Americans associated the word chicano with poor, unskilled, ignorant
people . Also it was used to distinguish Mexicans and
Chicanos by a language barrier. The rst language for
many chicanos became english which took over their natural mother tongue of spanish. The U.S. media also stigmatized the Mexican people by sending the notion all chicanos came from such a corrupt country, all Mexican immigrants were criminals, thieves, and immoral people.

Although now the denition of chicana/o is a U.S. citizen

born to hispanic parents who immigrated to the U.S. The
chicana/o holds two dierent worlds. The rst and more
familiar one is the country of origin from which their family descend. Most chicanos today are practicing religion
, language, and culture from their respective country of
origin .The second , is the American culture. Chicana/os
have adapted to the American culture and practice the english language and culture. However, they are both stigmatized by both cultures because they are believed to beOne of the rst Chicana organizations was the Comisin long to the country of birth versus the country of origin.
Femenil Mexicana Nacional (CFMN), created in 1970. Thus being caught between two worlds a new culture and
The concept for the CFMN originated during the Na- language is created in order to help adapt to both worlds.
tional Chicano Issues Conference when a group of attendhttp://archive.vancouver.wsu.edu/crbeha/ma/ma.htm
ing Chicanas noticed that their concerns were not ade,
http://www.mexica.net/chicano.php
,http:
quately addressed at the Chicano conference. The women
//www.vividhues.com/BSS/chicanomovement.htm
met outside of the conference and drafted a framework
for the CFMN that established them as active and knowledgeable community leaders of a peoples movement.[7]
First eorts of organizing the Chicana feminist movement began in the later part of the 1960s. During the
Chicano Movement,[5] Chicana women formed committees within Chicano organizations. Similar to the organization of other groups in the Womens movement,
the Chicana feminist groups that were being formed focused on furthering the feminist agenda. They organized
consciousness-raising groups and conferences specic to
the issues that Chicana women face.[6]

At the rst National Chicana Conference held in Houston, Texas in May 1971, over 600 women organized to
discuss calls regarding equal access to education, legalization of abortion, formation of childcare centers, and
more (Smith, 2002). During the conference, the issues being debated caused its attendees to split into opposing camps; one being the loyalists and the other
being feminists.[6] The loyalists focused their struggle against race/class domination, while the feminists
focused theirs against male domination. The debate
over reproductive rights, for example, caused much conict between the opposing sides. While the loyalists
felt that legalization of abortion and birth control would
tear that la familia, feminists argued that the Chicano
culture that subordinates Chicanas must no longer be
romanticized.[6]

6 Criticism of Chicana feminism

One critique of Chicana feminism was that it was a separatist movement that would divide the Chicano Movement. Loyalist Chicanas felt that the creation of a separate Chicana feminist movement was a dangerous and divisive political tactic, inuenced too heavily by the Anglo
womens movement. Loyalists believed that racism was
the most important issue Chicanos and Chicanas were
facing. They felt that the sexual oppression Chicanas
faced from Chicanos was the fault of the system rather
than the men, and breaking down the racial oppression
aecting both Chicanos and Chicanas would resolve the
sexual inequality the women felt.

Similarly, Chicana feminists have been blamed for tearing at the values of Chicano culture. The rst reason
for this is that loyalists believed Chicana feminists were
5 Culture
anti-family, anti-culture, and anti-man, thus pitting them
against the Chicano movement. Furthermore, feminism
In 1820 the Mexican government allowed American itself was viewed by many as individualistic and as somesettlement to take place in certain areas known as thing that was taking away from the more important issues
Texas,Arizona,California, and New Mexico.The term such as racism that Chicanos were facing.[1]

Literature

See also: Xicana literature

Since the 1970s, many Chicana writers (such as Cherre
Moraga, Gloria Anzalda and Ana Castillo) have expressed their own denitions of Chicana feminism
through their books. Moraga and Anzalda edited an anthology of writing by women of color titled This Bridge
Called My Back (published by Kitchen Table: Women
of Color Press) in the early 1980s. Cherre Moraga,
along with Ana Castillo and Norma Alarcn, adapted
this anthology into a Spanish-language text titled Esta
Puente, Mi Espalda: Voces de Mujeres Tercermundistas en los Estados Unidos. Anzalda also published the
bilingual (Spanish/English) anthology, Borderlands/La
Frontera: The New Mestiza. Mariana Roma-Carmona,
Alma Gmez, and Cherre Moraga published a collection
of stories titled Cuentos: Stories by Latinas, also published
by Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.
Juanita Ramos and the Latina Lesbian History Project
compiled an anthology including many oral histories
of Latina lesbians called Compaeras: Latina Lesbians
(1987).
Chicana literature is also known as chicana literary
renaissance. Anglo women authors have been successful
in making their voices heard although Chicana authors
and poets have seldom had their voices heard. Chicanas
continue to be under represented in the education community ,especially in the literacy section. Many chicana
authors write their poems and stories in a mix of Spanish
and English. Chicana artists purposely do this to express
who they are through stories and poems. The mix of
language in their literature reects the distinct dual life
they lead. Both living in america and practicing their
roots through religion,language and culture. By 1900s
Mexican American literature began emerging in the
United States as part of the literature culture with rich
backgrounds of originating from Mexican and Spanish
descent. During the 1900s a few writers such as Eusebio
Chacon, and Maria Cristina Mena began to write in
english. The bilingual english spanish of the chicano renaissance and brought force history making publications
such as Aztlan : International Journal of Chicano Studies
Research (Berkeley, 1967present) , and El grito : A
Journal of Contemporary Mexican American thought
(Berkeley, 1967-1974). This era was of great excitement
in the chicano renaissance era because gathering of
committed activists both regional and local were taking
place and leaving its political mark in the era. Also
many national conferences,literary festivals, mural and
paintings, as well as college and communities related
to projects to Corky Gonzaless gatherings. In the mid
1960s Chicano literature became an open door to freely
talk about growing up mexican American in an anglo
society.Chicano literature became an important part of
the chicano movement when chicanos began to write and

clear up the human rights , discrimination, and mentioning their opinions on the civil rights movements. Short
stories are very popular among chicano writers where
they share short stories to describe their lives and life
experiences living in the United States. They explained
in great detail using their life experiences to help other
understand the life of a chicano living in the United
States. There are many writers such as Raymond Barrio
who wrote The Plum Pickers(1969) this particular novel
gave insight into the horrible living conditions many
migrant farm workers lived through in order to make a
living . Soon after Peregrinos de Aztlan was released
and gave a huge impact on the human rights being
abused toward Chicanos and people of Hispanic descent.
This novel also described the discrimination and abuse
as well as terrible security on the Mexican American
Border.
(http://faculty.georgetown.edu/bassr/tamlit/
essays/chicano.html)(http://freecontent.abc-clio.com/
ContentPages/contentpage.aspx?entryid=1829699&
currentSection=1829268&productid=1829269)

8 Chicana Music
Continually left absent from Chicano music history, many
Chicana musical artists, such as Rita Vidaurri and Mara
de Luz Flores Aceves, more commonly known as Lucha
Reyes, from the 1940s and 50s, can be credited with
many of strides that Chicana Feminist movements have
made in the past century. For example, Vidaurri and
Aceyes were among the rst mexicana women to wear
charro pants while performing rancheras.[8]
By challenging their own conicting backgrounds and
ideologies, Chicana musicians have continually broken
the gender norms of their culture, and therefore created a
space for conversation and change in the Latino communities.
There are many important gures in Chicana music history, each one giving a new social identity to Chicanas
through their music. An important example of a Chicana
musician is Rosita Fernndez, an artist from San Antonio, Texas. Popular in the mid 20th century, she was
called San Antonios First Lady of Song by Lady Bird
Johnson, the Tejano singer is a symbol of Chicana feminism for many Mexican Americans still today. She was
described as larger than life, repeatedly performing in
china poblana dresses, throughout her career, which last
more than 60 years. However, she never received a great
deal of fame outside of the San Antonio, despite her long
reign as one of the most active Mexican American woman
public performers of the 20th century.[9]
Other Chicana Musicians and musical groups:
Chelo Silva - Tejana Singer[10]
Eva Ybarra - Tejana Accordionist (1945 -)[11]

12 FURTHER READING
Ventura Alonzo - Chicana Accordionist (1904 2000)[12]
Eva Garza - Tejana Singer[13]
Selena Quintanilla-Prez - Tejana Singer (1971 1995)

11 References
[1] Garcia, A. M. (June 1, 1989). The Development of Chicana Feminist Discourse, 1970-1980. Gender and Society, 3, 2, 217-238.

Gloria Ros - Hispanic Singer[14]

[2] A N Harris (2005). Critical Introduction. In Rolando

Romero. Feminism, Nation and Myth: La Malinche. Arte
Publico Press. p. ix. ISBN 9781611920420.

Girl in a Coma - Tejana indie rock band from San

Antonio

[3] Exploring the Chicana Feminist Movement. The University of Michigan. Retrieved 2015-06-09.

Quetzal - East Los Angeles Chicano alternative rock

band[15]

[4] Herrera, Cristina. Contemporary Chicana Literature:

(Re)Writing the Maternal Script. Amherst: Cambria Press,
2014.'

The Bags - Los Angeles punk rock band, led by

Alice Bag.

Notable people

See also: Category:Chicana feminists

Norma Alarcn - Inuential Chicana feminist author

Gloria Anzalda Scholar of Chicana cultural theory and author of Borderlands/La Frontera: The
New Mestiza, among other inuential Chicana literature
Martha P. Cotera Activist and writer during the
Chicana Feminist Movement and the Chicano Civil
Rights Movement
Alma M. Garcia Professor of Sociology at Santa
Clara University

[5] Smith, O. C. (2002, Fall). Chicana Feminism. Retrieved

May 11, 2014, from Emory University website.
[6] Segura, D. A., and Pesquera, B. M. (January 1, 1992).
Beyond Indierence and Antipathy: The Chicana Movement and Chicana Feminist Discourse. Aztlan: a Journal
of Chicano Studies, 19, 2, 69-92.
[7] Leon, K. (2013). La Hermandad and Chicanas Organizing: The Community Rhetoric of the Comisin Femenil
Mexicana Nacional. Community Literacy Journal, 7(2),
1-20.
[8] Vargas, Deborah (2012). Dissonant Divas in Chicana Music: The Limits of la Onda. The University of Minnesota
Press. p. vii. ISBN 978-0-8166-7316-2. Retrieved 201506-09.
[9] Vargas, Deborah (2012). Dissonant Divas in Chicana Music: The Limits of la Onda. The University of Minnesota
Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-8166-7316-2. Retrieved 201506-09.
[10] https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fsind.
Missing or empty |title= (help)

Cherre Moraga Essayist, poet, activist educator, [11] http://americansabor.org/musicians/eva-ybarra. Missing

and artist in residence at Stanford University
or empty |title= (help)
Chela Sandoval - Associate Professor in the Chicano and Chicana Studies Department at University
of California, Santa Barbara

[12] http://kutx.org/this-week-in-texas-music-history/
ventura-alonzo. Missing or empty |title= (help)
[13] https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fgaak.
Missing or empty |title= (help)

Sandra Cisneros - Key contributor to Chicana literature

[14]
Michelle Habell-Pallan - Associate Professor, Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies [15]
at the University of Washington

10

See also

Womanism
Black feminism
Third-world feminism
Chicano studies

http://www.maph49.galeon.com/avandaro/gloriarios.
html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
http://content.lib.washington.edu/wwrweb/
making-scenes/bioGonzalez_Martha.html.
or empty |title= (help)

Missing

12 Further reading
Anzalda, Gloria, and Cherre Moraga, editors.
This bridge called my back: writings by radical
women of color. Watertown, Massachusetts: Persephone Press, c1981., Kitchen Table Press, 1983
ISBN 0-930436-10-5.

5
Anzalda, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera: The
New Mestiza, Aunt Lute Books, ISBN 1-879960-567
Anzalda, Gloria. Making Face. Making Soul: Haciendo Caras: Creative & Critical Perspectives by
Feminists of Color, Aunt Lute Books, 1990, ISBN
1-879960-10-9
Arredondo, Gabriela, et al., editors. Chicana Feminisms: A Critical Reader. Durham, North Carolina:
Duke University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8223-31055.
Castillo, Adelaida Del.
BETWEEN BORDERS: ESSAYS ON MEXICANA/CHICANA
HISTORY. California: Floricanto Press, 2005.
Castillo, Ana. Massacre of the dreamers : essays on
Xicanisma. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8263-1554-2.
Cotera, Martha. The Chicana feminist. Austin,
Texas: Information Systems Development, 1977.
Garca, Alma M., and Mario T. Garcia, editors.
Chicana Feminist Thought: The Basic Historical
Writings. New York: Routledge, 1997. ISBN 0415-91800-6.
Garcia, Alma M., The Development of Chicana
Feminist Discourse, 1970-1980 in: Gender and Society, Vol. 3, No. 2. (June 1989), pp. 217238.
Hurtado, Aida. The Color of Privilege: Three Blasphemies on Race and Feminism. Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0-47206531-8.
Ramos, Juanita. Companeras: Latina Lesbians,
Latina Lesbian History Project, 1987, ISBN 978-0415-90926-6
Roma-Carmona, Mariana, Alma Gomez and Cherre Moraga. Cuentos: Stories by Latinas, Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.
Roth, Benita. Separate Roads to Feminism: Black,
Chicana, and White Feminist Movements in Americas Second Wave, Cambridge University Press,
2003, ISBN 0-521-52972-7
Vivancos Perez, Ricardo F. Radical Chicana Poetics.
London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

13

External links

Chicana Feminisms Page

History of Chicanas page
Chicana Community Search Page

14

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