Civic Engagement Papers

For Perez, Chicana/o history is not resolvable and must continually be debated and comprehended as multiple and unstable. Perez, like other Chicana theorists, initiates an added dimension that recognizes that woman’s voices and their stories have become subordinated to a colonist racial mentality and to a male consciousness. Perez argues that the quintessential historical accounts. Women become appendages to men’s history, the interstitial ‘and’ tacked on as an afterthought’ (12). Nevertheless, Perez also suggests that even though some stories have not been told, does not define their existences, asserting, “Chicana, Mexican, India, Mestiza actions, words spoken and unspoken, survive and persist whether they are acknowledged or not” (7). The task of locating the voices of the Chicana are often discharged or lowered by the dominant groups.

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.

Another important issue that Cisneros addresses in her story is gender roles in the Latino community. In Mexico, being born a male is of higher prestige and value

The idea of mestiza consciousness is an acknowledgement of both the genetic and cultural mixing that come from falling between the cracks of two cultures. Gloria Anzaldua uses the idea of mestiza consciousness to describe the constant shifting between two or more cultures that Chicana women experience. She describes the issues that arise within various communities due to an “us vs. them” mentality, and argues that mestiza consciousness can also act as a tool to heal these wounds, and to reshape one’s identity by merging various identities.

The word Chicano involves more than just a cultural identification. There has been a continuity of a discussion of its origins, it meanings, its purpose and its affirmations throughout generations. Through oral history, scattered essays, Chicano studies courses and personal relationships, I have evolved my usage of the word Chicano, as many in history have. Through experience I have learned that social, geographical and economical elements have twisted and turned the meaning according to the moral judgments of the class or national origin. I will utilize my knowledge and life experience as a Chicana to the word Chicano. I did this to illustrate the assignment's topic, in that outside factors have a significant effect on the usage and

“How to Tame a Wild Tongue” is published in Borderlands/La Frontera: The New MEstiza (1987), by Gloria Anzaldua and “the book talks about how she is concerned with many kinds of borders--between nations, cultures, classes, genders, and languages.” Anzaldua gives many examples of how she felt when being classified as a Chicana. Her thesis in this is that she is “arguing for the ways in which identity is intertwined with the way we speak and for

“The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria”, by Cofer explains what she has been through with stereotypes and how she dealt with them. Growing up in an Hispanic culture is very different than growing up with an American family. There are certain things expected from each of those culture that are different from one another. “... for example, that of the Hispanic woman as the

During the Civic Engagement day I went to the activity at eight at Yoder Recital Hall. The title of his talk was the professor in the cage, why men fight and why we like to watch. This was by a speaker named Jonatha Gottschall. He was an English professor at a University and he was 40 years old. Across the street where the English department is there use to be a Mechanics shop but now there was a Mixed Martial Arts. Jonatha always like to watch fighting and was really fascinated by it also. One day he went there across the street to look in the window of the MMA building and he was planning to write a book about the darkness in MMA. All of that changed once he began to be a fighter. He trained for thirteen months then he had his first fight.

Finding my voice as a woman in the world has led me to have a greater appreciation of my Mexican-American culture. Although the women in Galang’s book are of a different cultural background I was able to understand and connect with the struggles they went through trying to balance those varying cultures and the difficulty they had in finally accepting it. The story that most exemplifies the two spectrums of acceptance of one’s culture is “Rose Colored”. While going through elementary, middle, and a small portion of high school I could identify mostly as Rose because I hadn’t yet accepted the culture I was from. I was ashamed of being part Mexican and thought people would automatically stereotype and not like me. I saw my curly hair as something that should be hidden, always in braids because it wasn’t straight like all the others and also avoided talking about my home life for fear of being cast out as different. As I grew up into a young woman I began reading more and more about my culture and researching what it meant to be a true Mexican-American. I learned to appreciate all the beauty my culture has to offer and realized that being from two different cultures was not about picking one over the over but combining both at the same time. After reaching this sudden realization I was able to

Through this theory, we all gain the opportunity to see through a Chicana feminist scope into each other’s stories. Elba Rosario Sanchez wrote a piece from A Critical Reader: Chicana Feminisms titled “Cartrohistography: One Voice’s Continent” in which she explains how she became her own territory. “I began to think about that continent in my dream, that self, and about how

The three articles this week review civic engagement with a focus on income Inequality and trust in the US and European countries. In the first article “Civic Engagement in American Democracy” by Theda Skocpol and Morris Fiorina they review civic engagement inequality based on income level. They believe that participation and the distribution of the participants are critical to ensure there is equality for political policy decisions. The research suggests that people with higher education or income are more political active. With the lower income people having differing concerns this gap in participation means that their voice is not heard even though they benefit from many programs. Due to the participation gap the political parties are

My primary research interest has focused on understanding the best practices for conducting Community Engagement in Research (CEnR). This focus will helped increase the collaborative efforts of Mayo investigators, community partners, and increase research participation among diverse populations. My research goal over is to expand my skills as community-engaged researcher and collaborative team scientist. I will accomplish this by conducting the projects described below and I plan to seek NIH funding with my collaborators to extend these research efforts to other communities.

I was raised in a traditional Mexican household. I am the youngest out of three daughters, my household is composed of four women and my father. Growing up I don’t think I ever paid much attention to how my household was divided based on gender but as I got older the distinctions, although some were very minimal, became obvious. My father does not allow for my mother to work outside of the home, her daily routine consist of cleaning the house and cooking. Her daily fears and paranoia consist of not having food ready before 5pm, when my father arrives from work, as well as not having the house clean or up to my father’s standards. When my dad comes home he is the king of the house, nobody questions his ideals and his remarks consist of my sisters

In this report, I will talk about my community engagement that pertain to LGBT books for prisoners. the main goal here was to get books sent to the LGBT prisoners in the United States. The target of people they send to are queer and transgender. This program has been able to run because of the volunteers and the outside donations that they receive from the public through their advertisement on Facebook, word of mouth and throughout the community engagement with college students and through the media, this all started in a basement. The founder was Dennis Bergren he was a teacher in the Madison schools and later in his life he came out as gay. When he chooses to retire, he started to volunteer for the Outreach program which is an LGBT

Since I have been actively helping in the financial briefings presented by Rice Financial, I have continued to learn a fair bit more on things we discussed in class. In particularly: housing bubble, investments, savings and financial system. These gatherings are free, but they ask for you to RSVP before hand. I help by handing out brochures to the individuals who show up or assist in what they need done. These seminars are very helpful to the community showing them how to manage their money, well also learning how the economy is doing. Things are going good so far especially learning about 401k and how to plan for the future. I am still currently working by myself since these events were thrown towards the late evening