Chicano

From Free net encyclopedia

(Redirected from Chicanos)

A Chicano or Chicana is a term used to indicate an identity held by some persons of Mexican descent living in the United States. Often times, it refers to a first or second generation Mexican American living in an urban, Mexican American immigrant community, where there exists the strong ethnic consciousness of being "Mexican American". It is considered a term of ethnic pride, though not all Mexican Americans proud of their heritage necessarily consider themselves Chicano. A woman of this category is usually named by the feminine form Chicana, and, following the usual conventions for Spanish words, the masculine plural form Chicanos is used for groups that include both genders.

1 Etymology
2 Societal and cultural aspects
3 Notable Chicanos
4 See also
5 External links
6 Sources

[edit]

Etymology

Although the word Chicano may be a contraction of Mexicano, there is no clear etymology of the term or its origin. It seems to have originated in the first decades of the twentieth century (see reference 1) in the south of US, and it was a derogatory term used by US landowners to refer to their Mexican workers. The term spread to Mexico to refer to people of low origins. The literary and political movements of the 1960s and 1970s among Mexican Americans established Chicano as a term of ethnic pride; Mexican-descended or origin Americans became aware of their status as a community and began to use the term with pride to refer to themselves.

Some believe the word comes from the word Mexica (pronounced Me-shi-ca in Nahuatl) and was corrupted to Mechicano by the Spanish, so that a Chicano or Xicano is in some sense an heir of the Mexica culture. 2" Some historians also argue that the word may come from the Mexica tribe, the tribe that traveled to Atzlan (today's US southwest and Mexico/Central America).

The word "Chico" means boy and "Chica" means girl in Spanish. Therefore, the most likely etymology for "Chicano" is the old custom of calling a low status person as if the person was a young man or "boy" or "Chico". An example is "Garçon" (waiter) in French which also means boy.

The term Chicano is offensive to some assimilated Mexican Americans, who prefer other terms such as Hispanic, or Latino, or simply Mexican. Many Chicanos, in turn, find Mexican used alone as offensive because it overlooks their American and indigenous roots. Chicanos in Texas are also referred to as Tejanos, although Tejano simply means Texan.

Some who do not find the masculine term Chicano acceptable to use as a plural, use the terms Chicano/a, or Chican@.

[edit]

Societal and cultural aspects

The term Chicano can also refer to Mexican Americans who have lived in the United States for generations. Some Chicanos/Mexican Americans have lived in parts of the United States before the Treaty of Guadalupe and before some southwestern states, including Texas, California, and Colorado were actually states. The term began to be widely used in the 1960s as a means of claiming one's cultural indingenous roots and reclaiming a heritage and culture encompassing a history unique to the United States. This is also important because the term Chicano is associated with a culture and history that is not shared with other Hispanic groups who live in the United States.

In Mexico, the term can connote a person of low class and poor morals, while in the U.S. it carries multiple meanings. Sabine Ulibarri, an author from Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, notes that Chicano is a politically loaded term, though it is considered a positive term of honor by many. For Chicanos, the term usually implies being "neither from here, nor from there" in reference to the U.S. and Mexico respectively. As a mixture of cultures from both countries, being Chicano represents the struggle of fitting into the Anglo-dominated society of America while maintaining the cultural sense developed as a Latino child.

Many Chicanos interchangably use the term la raza (literally, the race) to define themselves. Some use the phrase la raza de bronce ("the Bronze Race") seeing themselves as "brown" or "bronze" because of their Native American ancestry (as opposed to white and black people). Using another term common in early twentieth-century americanista/indigenist thought, some also refer to themselves as la raza cósmica, which means the cosmic race.

It should be noted that the term la raza is widely used throughout Latin America and has additional layers of meaning referring to the sense of collective culture and consciousness of Spanish speakers of the New World. In this respect it has elements of the German word volk, which literally means people but is similarly difficult to translate to other languages.

Unfortunately many Chicanos are classified and stereotyped as "gangbangers" and their style differs from the average "Mexican" from Mexico. The Mexicans from Mexico are normally categorized as "Border brothers" with their cowboyish dress attire and unique style of music where as the Chicano dress attire and style are "Lowriders" and gang affiliation vatos locos from the Sureños or Norteños. Chicanos are also often known to feud with the "Border brothers" from Mexico. There is also, at times, denigration of the recent immigrants by calling them mojados or wetbacks, referring to swimming the Rio Grande from Mexico as a means of illegal entrance to the United States.

Many individuals of Mexican descent view the use of the words Chicano or Chicana as reclamation and regeneration of a culture destroyed through colonialism, although these are only opinions and may not reflect the view of all Chicanos. Some younger Mexican Americans refer to themselves as Xicanos with an "X" to appear even more radical in terms of political ideology.

[edit]

Chicano art

The term Chicano is also used to categorize a group of writers. Bruce Novoa, a Chicano author, once wrote that Chicanos exist in the space created by the hyphen in Mexican-American. Also Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales' "Yo Soy Joaquin" is considered a seminal work.

[edit]

Chicano music

Chicano Rap is hip hop music, by all Chicanos, which started with Kid Frost, who began using Spanish in the early 1990's. His track "La Raza" started a whole generation of rappers using some Spanish in their English rhymes.

Chicano rock is rock music performed by Mexican American groups or music with themes derived from Chicano culture. There are two undercurrents in Chicano rock. One is a devotion to the original rhythm and blues roots of Rock and roll. Ritchie Valens, Sunny and the Sunglows. Groups inspired by this include Sir Douglas Quintet, Thee Midniters, and Los Lobos. The second theme is the openness to Latin American sounds and influences. Trini Lopez, Santana, Malo, and other Chicano 'Latin Rock' groups follow this approach.