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As the heyday of the Chicano Movement of the late 1960s to early 70s fades further into history and as more and more of its important figures pass on, so too does knowledge of its significance. Thus, Chicano Movement For Beginners is an important attempt to stave off historical amnesia. It seeks to shed light on the multifaceted civil rights struggle known as “El Movimiento” that galvanized the Mexican American community, from laborers to student activists, giving them not only a political voice to combat prejudice and inequality, but also a new sense of cultural awareness and ethnic pride. Beyond commemorating the past, Chicano Movement For Beginners seeks to reaffirm the goals and spirit of the Chicano Movement for the simple reason that many of the critical issues Mexican American activists first brought to the nation’s attention then—educational disadvantage, endemic poverty, political exclusion, and social bias—remain as pervasive as ever almost half a century later.
Selected as one of the San Francisco Chronicles' 15 best books of 2021 From critically acclaimed author Maceo Montoya comes an inventive and adventurous satirical novel about a Mexican-American artist’s efforts to fulfill his vision: to paint masterful works of art. His plans include a move to Paris to join the ranks of his artistic hero, Gustave Courbet—except it’s 1943, and he’s stuck in the backwoods of New Mexico. Penniless and prone to epileptic fits, even his mother thinks he’s crazy. Ernie Lobato has just inherited his deceased uncle’s manuscript and drawings. At the urging of his colleague, an activist and history buff (Lorraine Rios), Ernie sends the materials to a profe...
After Wopper Barraza's fourth drunk driving violation, the judge orders his deportation and now he has to move back to Michoacán. His story unfolds as life in a rural village takes him in new and unexpected directions. We know this story from the headlines, but up to now it has been unexplored literary territory.
In the novella You Must Fight Them, a short, bookish half-Mexican doctoral student returns to his hometown of Woodland, California, and tries to reconnect with Lupita Valdez, the girl he worshipped in high school. But in order to date Lupita, he must first fight her three hulking brothers. Attempting to make sense of his unusual predicament, he ruminates on his many insecurities—his definition of manhood and the ambiguities of his mixed-race identity. In this collection we meet characters navigating the difficult situations that arise when different worlds collide, from a professor teaching a course on Latino gangs who makes the unwise decision to invite two former rival gang members as guest lecturers, to an artist threatened by the twin sons of his poor white neighbor. Though this memorable cast of characters faces unique quandaries—and deals with these problems in questionable ways—their stories are driven by a desire to set the record straight.
American Quasar, a visual-textual collaboration, addresses personal and political trauma, the emotional craters left by family, and the ways in which one learns to love not only as son, brother, student, or lover, but from the space one occupies as citizen."
Filastro is a bully, used to beating up his wife, six of their seven children, and the riffraff of his village in Mexico. But he can't bring himself to harm his youngest son, Edmund, whose limbs resemble sticks and whose head seems too big for his puny body. The older children, who loathe their father, escape him by fleeing to the United States, and Edmund, who is fixated on an indifferent Ingrid Genera and yearns to learn the guitar in order to serenade her, is the only child left at home. In the wake of a drunken episode, Filastro is tortured and eventually crippled by a stranger. His wife moves out of the house, and the irrepressible Edmund, who lobbies in vain for his mother to come home, becomes his father's caregiver. In a desperate attempt to win back his wife, Filastro braves crossing the Rio Grande to beseech the forgiveness of each of his six children scattered across America.
Chicano! The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement is the most comprehensive account of the arduous struggle by Mexican Americans to secure and protect their civil rights. It is also a companion volume to the critically acclaimed, four-part documentary series of the same title, which is now available on video from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Both this published volume and the video series are a testament to the Mexican American communityÍs hard-fought battle for social and legal equality as well as political and cultural identity. Since the United States-Mexico War, 1846-1848, Mexican Americans have striven to achieve full rights as citizens. From peaceful resis...
Poetry. Art. Latino/Latina Studies. Dedicated and addressed to the poet's grandfather, A CROWN FOR GUMECINDO is a heroic crown of sonnets that chronicles the first year of grief experienced due to the loss of the family patriarch. Through 15 linked sonnets, Guerrero offers readers a layered experience of the tender and often shocking revelations of grief. Visual artist and poet Maceo Montoya contributes 15 original paintings inspired by Guerrero's sonnets.
A stunning and timely novel about a Mexican-American family in Brownsville, Texas, that reluctantly becomes involved in smuggling immigrants into the United States. From a distance, the towns along the U.S.-Mexican border have dangerous reputations--on one side, drug cartels; on the other, zealous border patrol agents--and Brownsville is no different. But to twelve-year-old Orly, it's simply where his godmother Nina lives--and where he is being forced to stay the summer after his mother's sudden death. For Nina, Brownsville is where she grew up, where she lost her first and only love, and where she stayed as her relatives moved away and her neighborhood deteriorated. It's the place where she...
"This is the first book solely dedicated to the history, development, and present-day flowering of Chicana and Chicano visual arts. It offers readers an opportunity to understand and appreciate Chicana/o art from its beginnings in the 1960s, its relationship to the Chicana/o Movement, and its leading artists, themes, current directions, and cultural impact." "The visual arts have both reflected and created Chicano culture in the United States. For college students - and for all readers who want to learn more about this subject - this book is an ideal introduction to an art movement with a social conscience." --Book Jacket.