Beyond Aztlan

Mario Barrera

Description

Does the achievement of economic equality in a multiethnic society require the complete loss of a minority's cultural identity? Beyond Aztlan argues that American society has historically viewed a distinctive cultural identity as something that an ethnic group gives up in order to achieve economic and political parity. Mexican Americans, who have scored limited gains in their struggle for equality since the 1940s, are proving to be no exception to the rule. However, Barrera compares the situation of Mexican Americans to that of minority groups in four other countries and concludes that equality does not necessarily require assimilation.

Sujets

• Hispanic American Studies
• Ethnic Studies
• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• América
• Society of the United States
• Mexican American
• Anthropology
• American
• History

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 31 août 1990
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268075583
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

Extrait

BEYOND
AZTLAN BEYOND
AZTLAN
Ethnic Autonomy in
Comparati'OO Perspecti'OO
MARIO BARRERA
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS
NOTRE DAME LONDON Copyright Acknowledgments
The author and publisher are grateful to the following for allowing the use of ex­
cerpts from:
George Moseley, The Party and the National Question in China (Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press, 1966). Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Rodolfo Gonzales, I Am Joaquin (privately published, 1967). Reprinted by permis­
sion of the author.
Hurst Hannum and Richard Lillich, "The Concept of Autonomy in International
Law," The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 74, No. 4 (October 1980).
Reprinted by permission.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Barrera, Mario.
Beyond Aztlan : ethnic autonomy in comparative perspective / Mario
Barrera.
p. cm.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-275-92923-X (alk. paper)
1. Mexican Americans-Ethnic identity. 2. Mexican
AmericansPolitics and government. I. Title.
El84.M5B37 1988
305.8'6872'073--dcl9 88-5432
Copyright © 1988 by Mario Barrera
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may
be reproduced, by any process or technique, without
the express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 88-5432
ISBN: 0-275-92923-X
First published in 1988
University of Notre Dame Press edition 1990
Praeger Publishers, One Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10010
A division of Greenwood Press, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America For my son, Miguel Luis­
the next generation Contents
Illustrations ix
Preface xi
PART I: THE HISTORY OF CHICANO ETHNIC GOALS
1 Introduction: Goals, Dilemmas, and
Autonomy 3
2 The Emergence of Chicano Ethnic Goals 9
3 The Shift to Equality 21
4 The Chicano Movement and the
Revival of Community 33
5 Postmovement Trends: Fragmentation,
Radicalization, Retraditionalization 45
PART II: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
6 Unintended Consequences and Internal
Contradictions 67
7 Learning from Experience, Part I: Canada
and China 85 Contents viii
8 Learning from Experience, Part II:
Switzerland and Nicaragua 123
9 In Search of Aztlan 157
Bibliography 177
Index 199 Illustrations
FIGURES
9.1 California: Percent Spanish Origin
167 by County, 1980
9.2 New Mexico: Percent Spanish Origin
by County, 1980 169
9.3 Texas: Percent Spanish Origin by County, 1980 170
9.4 Published Advertisement for Proposition 63 in
California 173
TABLES
7.1 Ethnic Distribution of the Canadian Population,
1901 and 1971 87
7.2 Population and Percentage Distribution of
English, French, and Other Mother Tongues by
Province, 1971 88
9.1 California: Projected Population by
Race/Ethnicity, 1980 to 2030 165
9.2 Ethnic Population in the SCAG Region 166 Preface
This book stems from my belief that Chicanos, like other ethnic
minorities in the United States, are in the process of assimilating
into the mainstream. It is a trend that I find disturbing, because it
reduces cultural diversity in the society, and because I feel that
Chicanos and others have not truly had a free choice in this mat­
ter. The "institutional dice" in the United States have always been
loaded against cultural pluralism.
In seeking solutions to this problem, I have been led to look to
other societies for alternative ways of ordering majority-minority
relations. It is in this sense that this work is titled Beyond Aztlan
(Aztlan being the mythic homeland of the Aztecs, a homeland lo­
cated by contemporary Chicano nationalists in the U.S. South­
west). Too often we fall into the intellectual traps of thinking that
our way is the only way and that what is, must be. Looking beyond
our borders can be a way of opening our minds to the wide range
of human possibilities.
During the years that I worked on this project, I was helped
immeasurably by a great many people. My colleagues in the De­
partment of Ethnic Studies at Berkeley have been a constant source
of encouragement; I would particularly like to thank Carlos Mu­
noz, Alex Saragoza, Larry Trujillo, Ron Takaki, Terry Wilson, and
Margarita Melville. I also received much help from the following Preface xii
staff members: Rosa Johnson, Maria Hernandez, Ana Coronado,
Magali Zuniga, and librarian Lillian Castillo Speed.
I am indebted to the following for reading and commenting on
earlier versions of some of this work: Mario Garcia, Ben Marquez,
Rudy Torres, Daniel Latouche, Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, Renato
Rosaldo, Jose Limon, Louisa Schein, Michael Banton, David Gu­
tierrez, Linda Kahn, Carlos Cortes, Rodolfo Rocha, Isidro Ortiz,
and my students in my graduate seminar in comparative ethnic
relations. Richard Llata was a great help with the China section.
The word-processing and editorial skills of Susan Barrera have
been an invaluable help to me. I also owe much to the encourage­
ment and support of Dan Moreno, Marilyn Mulford, Frances Her­
nandez, and Wendy Hyman.
Work on this book was aided by fellowships from the National
Research Council, the University of California, and the Smithson­
ian Institution. I
THE HISTORY OF
CHICANO ETHNIC
GOALS 1
Introduction: Goals,
Dilemmas, and Autonomy
Aztlan, according to legend, was the ancestral homeland of the
Aztecs. It was the land they had left in journeying southward to
found Tenochtitlan, the center of their new civilization, now the
site of Mexico City (Chavez, 1984; Smith, 1984). Few people in
the United States were familiar with the concept of Aztlan until
Chicano Movement activists of the 1960s revived it and proclaimed
it a central symbol of Chicano nationalist ideology. The rediscovery
of Aztlan can be traced to a specific event, the Chicano National
Liberation Youth Conference that took place in Denver in 1969.
There, Colorado political activist Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales put forth
a brief but influential political document entitled El Plan de Az­
tlan. In that statement can be found many of the key issues dealt
with in this book.
The Plan de Aztlan argued that nationalism must be the key to
organizing Chicanos to struggle against racism and exploitation. The
focus was to be on unifying all Chicanos to gain control of their
communities and of the institutions that affected their daily lives.
Community control in turn would allow more equitable social pol­
icies and greater economic and political equality, and would give
the people the means to safeguard their distinctive cultural iden­
tity (see Chapter 4).
While El Plan de Aztlan stated the goal of ethnic nationalism in
a forceful manner, the exact form that nationalism should take was 4 The History of Chicano Ethnic Goals
nowhere spelled out. The resulting ambiguity was to remain an
aspect of the Chicano Movement throughout its short but eventful
trajectory. Specific political actions such as the formation of a third
party and the organizing of movements to gain control of city coun­
cils and boards of education were undertaken in the following years,
but a clear statement of the eventual relationship of Chicanos to
the political system of the United States never emerged.
The present book is thus an attempt to sort out some critical
issues that were left unresolved during that period. I have chosen
to begin by examining the long political road that led to Denver.
In Chapters 2 through 5, I present a history of the development
of Chicano ethnic goals, beginning with their origins in the nine­
teenth century and continuing through the Chicano Movement to
the present time. In these chapters, I argue that two types of goals
have characterized Chicano political history, equality and commu­
nity. The first of these goals refers to economic, social, and politi­
cal equality between Chicanos and the mainstream white, or "An­
glo," population. The second involves the maintenance of a cohesive
and culturally distinct communal identity. The relationship be­
tween the two goals has been problematic, and some organizations
have stressed one over the other. In most organizations, both goals
have existed in a state of dynamic tension.
The second section of the book can be seen as having its point
of departure in another political statement that was published shortly
before El Plan de Aztlan. This particular document took the form
of an epic poem by the same Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales, titled I
Am Joaquin, or "Yo Soy Joaquin." The poem begins with the fol­
lowing passage:
I am Joaquin,
Lost in a world of confusion,
Caught up in a whirl of an
Anglo society,
Confused by the rules,
Scorned by attitudes,
Suppressed by manipulations,
And destroyed by modern society.
My fathers
Have lost the economic battle Goals, Dilemmas, & Autonomy 5
and won
the struggle of cultural survival (Gonzales, 1967:3).
In Chapter 6, I present evidence that for the sons and daughters
of those fathers, the opposite is closer to the truth. While the eco­
nomic battle is far from being won, significant progress in the oc­
cupational status of Chicanos has taken place since World War II.
The "struggle of cultural survival," on the other hand, is rapidly
being lost. Indeed, the limited economic and educational gains that
have been made in recent decades have had the effect of acceler­
ating the assimilation process. The results can be seen most dra­
matically in the overwhelming loss of fluency in Spanish by the
third generation, but it can be seen as well in the trend toward
residential dispersion and the rising rate of intermarriage.
These processes have created a dilemma for Chicanos that is
rarely acknowledged in public debate or in statements by leading
political organizations. The focus continues to be on achieving greater
economic mobility for Mexican Americans, and yet the very suc­
cesses of that effort, limited as they may be, serve to undercut the
distinctive collective identity that has so frequently been articu­
lated as a political goal. Are there solutions to this d