The Cultural Practices That Chicanos / Chicanas

In several cultures, women are seen as archetypes more than men. The proposition of women are instantly idealized and glorified and instantaneously ignore the true complexity of a woman. Countless of these superficial images can be seen across various cultures where the societies within these cultures define what it means to be a female and what type of behavior is and isn’t acceptable within those parameters. The persistent restatement of these stories throughout these generations reinforces the gender system. Women who step out of the norm in these societies are then held punishable for their actions. Alicia Gaspar de Alba pinpoints the three archetypal roles that are given to the women in the Mexican and Chicana cultures. These are,

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They are Mexican-American. Their equality rights do not accept in America society. They and their family always spend the life by examining of American government. Henry Reyna, El Pachuco, the Navy during the World War II. He is the young Mexican-American generation. He lives in the South Central Los Angeles, California. They are a mythical figure, a rebellious, street-smart, young Chicano. They make up their hair style. He dresses a long jacket, a baggy trousers, and a lengthy watch chain. He and his people dance with their girlfriends. They wear the zoot suit, the big pride of Mexican-American about the Mexican male, they make the belief to the rebellious generation for the equality rights struggling. Henry and his gang are the antagonist characters to serve the holistic of the world. He kills the murder, help the media, and fed their headline by the police (Scene 1, Act 5, page). Luis Valdez success to create the danger of the character, El Pachuco is in to Henry and the opposite. The riots break out in the streets. the zoot suiters are targeted, the suspects stripped by sailors and marines based on the racism, the discrimination profile. The author is successful to describe the press, the media communication. The laws use the name to disguise discriminate. They create the dangerous situation for their ruse. Their

Anzaldúa wrote about the conflicting views that Chicanos face involving their own self-identity growing up in societies that tell them they do not belong. Chicanos are people that were born in the United States but have parents that were born in Mexico. They face constant criticism for the way they speak, by both American and Mexican people. Often times Chicanos are told that they’re cultural traitors and that they’re speaking the oppressors’ language and ruining the Spanish language when they are heard speaking English by Latinos (Anzaldúa, 17). They are made to feel as if they need to choose a sole identity to represent and anything other than that is going to be looked down on. Chicanos have felt as if they didn’t belong anywhere, so they created an identity to fit in and belong to “Chicano Spanish sprang out of the Chicanos’ need to identify ourselves as a distinct people” (Anzaldúa, 17). A feeling of

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.

This highlights that Chicanas prefer Chicanos more than they prefer each other; they perpetuate gender hierarchy by constantly placing males above females. Chicanas fear the criticism they will endure if they defy gender boundaries. Joan Riviere addresses this phenomenon in her essay “Womanliness as a Masquerade. Her essay explores the discomfort that woman feel when they act outside of the boundaries established by a male dominated society. In one example, she describes a

However, because of the stereotype that illustrated pachucos as criminals and monsters, pachucos were treated unjustly and were regarded as the enemy of America. For some historical context, durring the Great Depression, the search for jobs was difficult, especially in Los Angeles (Chiodo 1). Los Angeles had locals, people from the Midwest, African Americans, and Mexicans all searching for jobs (Chiodo 1). This caused the white Americans to blame the economic condition on the Mexicans (Chiodo 1). After the Japanese in Los Angeles had been taken to internment camps, Mexicans because the largest Minority in Los Angeles (Chiodo 1). However their youth did not want to stay in their neighborhood, instead they went to dances and clubs in predominantly white areas of the town (Chiodo 1). These young people called themselves pachucos and wore zoot suits (Chiodo 1). Military servicemen and white American citizens saw these outfits as un-American because they used a lot of material when it was being rationed for the war effort (Daniels 101). Furthermore according to an article from Social Studies “the local press had been promoting fear by asserting that a “Mexican crime wave” had hit the city and zoot-suiters and gangsters were one and the same” (Chiodo 1). Because of these factors, Henry Reyna knew that the Pachucos were looked down on in society, as a

David Montejano in his book Quixote’s Soldiers describes the Chicano movement as a way of helping the Mexican American community to be accepted in the United States. The book is

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

During World War II second generation Mexican American women began to create their own sense of style. Many Mexican American women began to wear zoot suits and began to be known as pachucas. Pachuca girls typically wore dark lipstick, had up-do hairstyles, plucked eyebrows and wore skirts that exposed the knees along with long socks. Women with this sense of style were seen as trouble makers and delinquents because people often thought they were gang members. Despite what people thought of them, pachuca girls saw their style as a way to assimilate both to the Mexican and American culture. They also wanted Mexicans to be viewed differently and worthy of being part of the U.S. However, Mexican American women were often discriminated. The way pachucas dressed and behaved caused a lot of negativity towards them and controversy. They were referred to as malinches for betraying proper female behavior which brought shame both to their parents and the Mexican people. Discrimination seemed to

With this came a patriarchal movement with the anthem “Yo soy Chicano” and an ideology of “Chicano = Machismo”. Women within the Chicano movement were afforded one of three roles: mothers, nuns or whores. They were not allowed self determination. This stemmed from the idea that men were the ones that were rising against oppression, when in fact women “broke their shackles and stabbed the spirit of injustice when confronted in the fields by a shotgun, when bloodied on the streets”, when constructed under the violence of “Anglo/chauvinism or Chicano machismo.” The transition from Chicano to Chicana was in protest of previous marginalization and a step towards representation and manifestation. (I Throw Punches, Chabram,

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

Within the Chicano community, the style and subculture of pachucos has received much attention. It appears pachucos were a menace to the middle class Mexican Americans. Chicano writers stressed that the zoot suit was more than a trend for the pachuco. They argued that the zoot suit functioned as a sign of defiance and difference, which may lead to violence within the Chicano movement. Pachucos associate with youth rebellion and juvenile delinquency, which society then views them as trouble makers. All in all, the pachuco can be identified as both a hero and villain in the Chicano

Mexican Americans in Texas have a long and detailed history spanning from the arrival of Cortez all the way to the present day. Through historical events, the culture and identity of Mexican Americans have shifted, diverted, and adapted into what people chose to identify as. The rise of the Chicano identity during the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement was an adaptation as a culture to oppressive and unjust treatment from white, Anglos that had almost all political and social power over all minorities. To stop the oppressive voices from silencing and oppressing the Mexican Americans, they had to stand up to fight for their rights as American citizens that also had Mexican or Spanish heritage to be proud of. In Oscar Zeta Acosta’s novel, The Revolt of the Cockroach People, he dives into the Chicano Movement as a witness and an active participant. His larger than life character is on the front lines of the movement and examines the shift in identity among the group. It was particularly rising of their Chicano identity that gave the people cause to organize politically and socially in order to fight for a worthy cause.

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,