Chicano Art Research Paper

If you are not smart this American society can truly dehumanize you. Luckily Chicanos have always had a strong group of individual to represent them, their culture, and beliefs through murals. These murals have been used for many decades, and have been beneficial for Chicano communities, for example, Los Tres Grandes were able to show the world that Hispanic are not only farm workers, but that there is so much more to who we are and where we come. These murals also served a method of rallying Chicanos and Hispanics to unify and embrace not so much their European heritage but mainly their Indian heritage to demonstrate to the American society that even those they come from different places, Chicanos are just as American as anyone else. Lastly, murals allow people who are not familiar with the Chicano culture to get a glimpse into what Chicanos truly are.

Yolanda López was born in 1942 and raised in San Diego, California. A third generation Chicana, she knew from a very young age that she wanted to make art. Over the years she’s created plenty of it. Lopez has produced films, painted, done printmaking, and educated others.

The murals depicted what we have been talking in class since the beginning of the first week. They were just a graphic representation of the struggle of the Chicano Movement and the Chicana Feminism. The painting on the wall showed that the Chicano History was more that a simple fact it was alive and it is still alive. I think that all the painting there was an expression of what Moraga call re-membering. Even though, I am not part of the chicano community, throughout those painting, I feel like I was re-membering the struggle that they faced at this time. I understood where the story started from and where it is going.

Murals are the quintessential public art embodying the spirit of the community in which they are created. They say this is who we are, this is what we think, this is where we come from, and this is what we want, reflecting most clearly any changes in the sociopolitical environment. Murals lay out a powerful visual image of the ideology of their creators or sponsors, be it the Church during the Renaissance, government funded projects, or individuals expressing opposition. In Mexico, after the Mexican Revolution of 1917, the government commissioned a vast number of mural projects to transmit its revisionist history of the country, and celebrate the empowerment of the underclass in their recent victory. Predominate themes were cultural

More than a century of prejudice against one of the largest minority residing in the United States that continues today. To these days Hispanics are targets of discrimination and are not offer equal opportunities in jobs and education. The roots of discrimination go back to the end of the Mexican War when thousands of Mexicans became American citizens overnight. The sign of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo not only transfer land to the United States but also the people that live there before it became territory of the United States. These people began to suffer from discrimination in their owl land. Their sons and daughters did not have better luck because even thought they were born in the United States therefore they are American citizens

As for the way of life for Chicanos, they have created their own standards, customs, music, and even language. As for their standards and customs, they are a mix of American culture and the Mexican culture. An example of this fusion can be the famous game “London Bridge” which is also played by Chicanos called “Víbora de la Mar” but in a completely different language and name. Chicano musicians like Lalo Guerrero composed music that attracted all ages and likes. He wrote songs like “Pancho Claus”, “There’s No Tortillas”, “Tacos for Two” and “Ardillitas” songs that talked about the Chicano culture and incorporated the Chicano language, Spanglish. Spanglish is basically attempts to add the Spanish language to an English word or vice-versa. Words like “Troka” which means truck, “Parkear” which means park, “Mopear” which means mop, “Puchale” which means push or press. As we can see, the Chicano subculture has their own style and can’t be either Mexican or American.

The cultural practices that Chicanos/Chicanas partake in such as being pachucos and pachucas, being actively involved in feminism, creating music and using stereotypes in film reflect their struggle to attain freedom and empowerment against Anglo society and within themselves. The various elements that make up Chicano culture have helped them resist Anglo culture and develop subcultures within the Chicano community. In addition, it has also allowed them to free themselves from the idea of becoming just like standard the American that they are expected to be.

The Chicano power movement of the 1960's is characterized by Carlos Munoz, jr. as a movement led by the decedents of Mexican Americans who pressed for assimilation. These young people, mostly students, became tired of listening to school rhetoric that stressed patriotism when they were being discriminated against outside the classroom. Unlike their parents, the young people of the Chicano movement did not want to assimilate into mainstream America and lose their identity, they wanted to establish an identity of their own and fight for the civil rights of their people.

Chicano is a term used to refer to Mexican Americans. There have been a lot of concerns by Chicano activists that the community has always faced racial discrimination in the United States from the dominant Anglo-American. This is evident in which the archaeologists and anthropologists of Anglo-American origin were not interested in studying the history of Mexican Americans. It was therefore assumed that it was due to their dysfunctional culture that Mexican Americans were poor (Menchaca 14). This neglect in the history of Mexican Americans or Chicano was seen as a move by Mexican Americans to maintain their political dominance. Later on, there was the emergence of Chicano anthropologists who came forward to give a true reflection of their

Discrimination has been the brawn of injustices done to people of color. Most don't know of the Chicano struggle in the United Stated for the past four to six generations. Chicanos in America were forced to face chaos, poverty, and pain. Chicano, by Richard Vasquez is a perfect example of how Mexican Americans and Chicanos were treated in America during the 90's. Although Chicanos faced a burdensome life in America, lots of customs and culture immigrated to America with them, which has fabricated the Chicano Culture. The book Chicano profoundly demonstrates how hard it was for a Mexican family to immigrate to America. Once Chicanos started a life in America, it was very hard to get out of it. Mexicans were not socially accepted because

If the income level indicated above does not represent the approximate income level of your parents ' household during your high school years, please explain.

In the Preface of Major Problems in Mexican American History Zaragosa Vargas writes, "Nearly two thirds of Latinos in the United States are of Mexican descent, or Chicanos- a term of self definition that emerged during the 1960's and early 1970s civil rights movement. Chicanos reside mainly in the Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, and the Midwest. Their history begins in the precolonial Spanish era, and they share a rich mestizo cultural heritage of Spanish, Indian, and African origins. The Chicanos' past is underscored by conquest of the present-day American Southwest first by the Spanish and then by the United States following the Mexican American War" (xv). When one thinks of a Chicano one thinks of the Mayans and Aztecs, the conquests,

Art is a very realistic aspect among the Native Americans. In fact, what we call primitive art is actually symbolic objects from the process of a sacred ceremony. This concept is one not easily understood. Furthermore, this concept by Sam Gill is explained in Native American Religions. Sam Gill shows that Native American Art is different in meaning because of its contents then what modern societies consider art. Nonliterate people produce objects of beauty through ceremonial performances and rituals that keeps the cosmos in order, while modern societies over look these factors.

The Chicano art movement rose during the civil rights era was based on three goals that included restoral of land, education reforms rights for farm workers. The three goals followed by the Chicano Art artists had long been coming. One of the first goals included rights for farm workers. Arguably, the Mexicans Americans fight to secure unionization for the farm workers was one of the key goals of the Chicano art. In order to Sway the grape farmers, Cesar Chavez launched a national boycott that aimed at the American Farm

Much of Chicano art historicall was made outside the museum. For example things such as Low riders, and graffiti which can are misunderstood because of the bias against the Chicano culture. These things are unable to be in a museum, and are sometimes seen as an act against art. These expressions of art and culture are not accepted because they are not contemporary and true to the European Aesthetic. As America changes throughout this century, the aesthetic should continue to evolve just as the culture has. The difference between this and European is that, Classical art is the standard for truth, good and beauty. The fact is that Chicano art is actual representation of truth because art does not always have to be pretty. There is