HISTORY OF MEXICAN AMERICANS IN THE UNITED STATES SPRING 2021 HIS 314K, MAS316 - utdirect.utexas.edu
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HISTORY OF MEXICAN AMERICANS IN THE UNITED STATES
SPRING 2021
HIS 314K, MAS316
Instructor: Emilio Zamora
Garrison 2.104B, 739-0168 (cell)
E.zamora@austin.utexas.edu
Office Hours: Wed 1-2, and by appointment
Teaching Assistant: John Carranza
Land Acknowledgment
We are meeting on Indigenous land and pay our respects to the Carrizo & Comecrudo,
Coahuiltecan, Caddo, Tonkawa, Comanche, Lipan Apache, Alabama-Coushatta, Kickapoo,
Tigua Pueblo, their descendants, and all the American Indian and Indigenous Peoples and
communities who have been or have become a part of these lands and territories in Texas, here
on Turtle Island. We also wish to acknowledge that Mexican/Latino/Latina persons are
descendants of Indigenous peoples and that some claim moral and constitutional as well as prior
occupancy rights.
Introduction
The pandemic has disrupted our lives and calls on us to adjust the course to meet the new
reality. The first adjustment is the decision to adopt an asynchronous course design. This means
that I will record my lectures, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, between 9:30 and 11 am. You are not
required to attend the recordings. If you do not attend, I will expect that you access the
recordings at least once a week.
I have also reduced the number and content of the required reports on the readings and
films. A fuller explanation of this appears below. For now, you should know that I require
seven brief reports, as well as a two-page statement on Covid as a personal experience and as
manifestation of recurring crisis in history.
The special circumstance that we face this semester poses challenges to our personal and
public health as well as to possible difficulties related to the technical requirements in
administering the course. Our teaching assistant and I understand that we may be facing
difficulties during the semester, but that we will do everything within our means to make the
course a positive learning environment. We ask you to be patient and understanding with
everyone. We embrace the optimism in the old Mexican saying, No hay mal que por bien no
venga (an approximate translation: Every cloud has a silver lining).
Course Description
The course focuses on Mexican-origin persons in the United States since 1848. Its
primary purpose is to demonstrate that society has incorporated them on an unequal basis, as an
ethnic minority and a bottom segment of the American working class. This will require that I
speak to their continuing relationship with Mexico as well as with African Americancommunities and other Latino groups. I will also emphasize important turning points in this
history and underscore themes such as changing social relations, racial thinking, migrations,
political history, expressions of identity, and intellectual history. My lectures will also engage
key publications in Mexican American history and Mexican American Studies. In sum, the
course is an introduction to the historical experience of Mexican-origin people in the United
States.
The course can substitute for the second half of American history and it meets the
cultural diversity and core curriculum requirements. It meets these requirements with a focus on
Mexicans as an underrepresented group and their relations with African Americans and
communities in Mexico. The course also provides students opportunities to advance their critical
thinking and communication skills, as well as a sense of personal and social responsibility.
Reading and writing assignments advance critical thinking and history writing
skills. Expected academic honesty will promote a sense of personal responsibility. Numerous
examples from history—including the practice of hard work and public service as acts of family
and community responsibility and the work of attorneys who extended the constitutional
guarantees of the 14th amendment to their communities—will address the value of social
responsibility.
The course accommodates students with special challenges and needs. Students may
request accommodations from the office of Services for Students with Disabilities, 512 471-
6259. Notify me by email if you seek accommodations (include your phone number). Students
seeking assistance with their writing, contact the Undergraduate Writing Center, 471-
6222. Medical assistance and counseling services are available at the UT Counseling and Mental
Health Center, 471-3515.
Course materials, including a copy of my vita, this syllabus, lecture notes, and guides for
preparing your writing assignments appear on Canvas. Call the ITS help desk—475-9400—if
you have problems accessing the Canvas site.
Sharing of Course Materials is Prohibited: No materials used in this class, including, but
not limited to lecture hand-outs, videos, assessments (quizzes, exams, papers, projects,
homework assignments), in-class materials, review sheets, and additional problem sets, may be
shared online or with anyone outside of the class unless you have my explicit, written
permission. Unauthorized sharing of materials promotes cheating. It is a violation of the
University’s Student Honor Code and an act of academic dishonesty. I am well aware of the sites
used for sharing materials, and any materials found online that are associated with you, or any
suspected unauthorized sharing of materials, will be reported to Student Conduct and Academic
Integrity in the Office of the Dean of Students. These reports can result in sanctions, including
failure in the course.
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA and Class Recordings. Class
recordings are reserved for students in this class, and FERPA protects them. Student should not
share the recordings any form outside the class. Violation of this restriction could lead to
Student Misconduct proceedings.Covid Guidance. To help keep everyone at UT and in our community safe, it is critical
that students report COVID-19 symptoms and testing, regardless of test results, to University
Health Services, and faculty and staff report to the HealthPoint Occupational Health
Program (OHP) as soon as possible. Please see this link to understand what you need to
report. To understand what to do if a fellow student in the class (or the instructor or TA) tests
positive for COVID, see this University Health Services link.
Course Requirements
• Seven reports on required readings and films (no more than two films): 70 points
Each reports is due on the class meeting after the assignment appears in the schedule
below.
• A personal life story on Covid as an example of a major crisis: 30
Submit by May 6
The readings and films listed below are required. Regarding the seven reports, select
seven of the required assignments and prepare a report for each that answers the following
questions with one or two-sentence responses for each:
• What is the author’s or filmmakers’ major purpose or thesis? A possible response:
“The author seeks to demonstrate demonstrate/prove/or show that “ ______,” or The
chapter reviews the issue of race and provide strong arguments on its significance”;
• How does the author or filmmaker support their thesis (arguments, focus,
geographical area and data/information that the author uses to support her/his
purpose)? Consider the following type of response: “The filmmaker meets his/her
purpose by providing examples that illustrate his major argument,” or “The
filmmaker focuses on (period, kind of information) to give added support to his major
argument in the film.
• How does the article or film engage the general subject of Mexican American
history? A suggested response: “The author provides an in-depth examination of
racial thinking, a central theme in our course,” or “The author explains immigration
as a feature of the concept of the reserve army of labor.
The personal life story assignment asks that you examine your Covid experiences with a
straight-forward exercise that calls on you to step out of yourself, imagine the difficulties that
others have faced under similar circumstances in history, and explain how history can help you
externalize your anxieties and achieve a greater sense of proportion and improved mental health.
This will require some introspection so that you may authorize your personal history as a
backdrop to the question of history as therapy. Racial violence, poverty, malnutrition, and
susceptibility to major illness in Mexican American history, for instance, offer opportunities to
see our lives in light of the experiences of others. The contrasting constants in Mexican
American history like perseverance, mutuality, resilience, and survivance provide a sounding
board to our current moment of angst.
Your personal statement—two pages in length—should be typed, double-spaced and
include your name, a title, and a central point that you will be addressing. The statement is due
on May 6, our last class meeting.Grading Scale. My preference is not to assign a grade lower than a C-. This assumes
that you will have met all your required assignments on the due dates. We will not accept late
work, unless you have a timely and reasonable excuse, meaning that you should alert us before
or immediately after the assignment is due that it will be late. We will handle each case
individually.
A 93-100 C 73-76
A- 90-92 C- 70-72
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B- 80-82
Required Materials
Textbook
Manuel Gonzales, Mexicanos; A History of Mexican Americans in the United States, Chapters 4,
5, 6, 7, and 8. Bloomington: Indiana University, 1992. The library has an online copy. We
recommend that you purchase the book (any edition) online.
Films
A Class Apart, https://fod-infobase-
com.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=40874Hunger in America (1968),
Available online, at the undergraduate library.
Hunger in America, https://www.cbsnews.com/video/hunger-in-america-the-1968-cbs-
documentary-that-shocked-america/#x
Latino Americans, Episode 2: Empire of Dreams, https://www.pbs.org/video/latino-americans-
episode-2-empire-dreams/
Valley of Tears, 2003, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc1tdkKfDjk
Readings (items with * cannot be used for reports)
William D. Carrigan and Clive Webb, “The Lynching of Persons of Mexican Origin or Descent
in the United States, 1848 to 1928,” Journal of Social History, Vol. 37, No. 2 (Winter 2003).
Search Jstor electronic database at the Perry-Castañeda undergraduate library. Go to the library
web page, click on databases, enter jstor, and do a search for the article.
*Rodolfo Gonzalez, “I Am Joaquin,” http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/latinos/joaquin.htm
Max Sylvus Handman, “Economic Reasons for the Coming of the Mexican Immigrant,”
American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 35, No. 4 (January 1930). Search Jstor.Rogelio Saenz, Janie Filoteo and Aurelia Lorena Murga, “Are Mexicans in the United States a
Threat to the American Way of Life”; A Response to Huntington,” Dubois Review: Social
Science Research on Race, Vol. 4, Issue 2 (Fall 2007). Go to Undergraduate Library page, click
on articles and conduct search.
Samuel J. Surace, “Achievement, Discrimination, and Mexican Americans,” Comparative
Studies in Society and History, Vol. 24, No. 2 (April 1982). Search Jstor electronic database at
the Perry-Castañeda undergraduate library
Carmen Tafolla, “The Storykeeper; Instructions from an Historian,” Sonnets and Salsa (San
Antonio: Wings Press, 2001), pp. 4-6. Electronic copy of the book is in the Perry-Castañeda
(undergraduate) library.
Edward E. Telles, “Mexican Americans and Immigrant Incorporation,” Contexts, Vol. 9, No. 1,
Aging Gracefully in America (Winter 2010), pp. 28-33. Search Jstor electronic database at the
Perry-Castañeda undergraduate library.
*Angela Valenzuela “The Drought of Understanding and the Hummingbird Spirit; A Letter to
My Family.” I will post a copy of her essay.
Angela Valenzuela, Brenda Rubio, Emilio Zamora, “Academia Cuauhtli and the Eagle: Danza
Mexica and the Epistemology of the Circle,” Voices in Urban Education, No. 41 (Annenberg
Institute for School Reform). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1074841.pdf
Emilio Zamora, “Alonso Perales and the Hemispheric Strategy for Civil Rights,” In Defense of
My People, Alonso S. Perales and the Development of Mexican American Public Intellectuals,
Edited by Michael Olivas. Houston: Arte Público Press, 2013. I will post a copy of the article on
canvas.
*Zamora, “Mexican Occupational Table, 1930-1970.” I will post a copy of the article on canvas.
Zamora, “Las Escuelas del Centenario in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato; Internationalizing
Mexican History,” In Mónica Perales and Raul Ramos, Eds., Recovering the Hispanic History of
Texas (Houston: Arte Público Press, 2010). I will post a copy of the article.
Zamora, ““Voluntary Organizations and the Ethic of Mutuality: Expressions of a Mexicanist
Political Culture,” Chapter 4, The World of the Mexican Worker in Texas.
Search for electronic copy of the book in the library web page.
Schedule
The dates on the schedule correspond to the recordings of lectures. You are welcomed to
join the zoom meeting during which I will be recording my lecture. You access the recording in
Zoom if you wish. We will follow the university semester schedule, with one modification—
every two weeks, we will set aside a Review Session so that I can offer a general assessment of
the material covered up to that point and to provide time for you to ask questions through chat.1-19 Our TA and I will introduce ourselves and give some thought to the public health issue
that we are facing. I will review the syllabus, discuss the major purpose of the course,
and explain concepts and terms.
Assignment: Do not use this assignment for a report.
David Foster Wallace, “This is Water,” Full Transcript and video:
https://fs.blog/2012/04/david-foster-wallace-this-is-water/
1-21 The commencement speech by David Foster Wallace provides us an opportunity to
examine liberal arts values that serve as guideposts in the course and in a life well lived.
The assignment also serves as an exercise on how to read assignments and prepare the
required reports. Regarding future reading assignments and their reports, the first thing
that you should do is to inquire about Foster Wallace the author and his work, “This is
Water,” that is, conduct a search on the internet. Also, ask the following questions in
preparation for my lecture:
• What is the author seeking to demonstrate?
• What supporting information and arguments is the author using?
• How effective was he, and what relevance does his work have to the subject and
purpose of this course?
Required Assignment:
Emilio Zamora, “Voluntary Organizations and the Ethic of Mutuality,”
This is the first required assignment that you can select for one of your reports. The
reports are always due on the day after the assignment appears in the course schedule.
For instance, if you select this reading for a report, its report will be due on 1-26, before
5pm.
1-26 Foster Wallace’s Prescription in Reading History
My purpose will be to demonstrate that Foster Wallace’s prescription is not limited to the
present. It also appears as a choice in history, principally because the values that he
proposes have served people in the past as a basis for defining lives in meaningful ways.
These values are also necessary if we wish to engage and understand Mexican American
history on its own terms. I will illustrate this by examining the practice of mutualism,
reciprocity, and cooperation in the history of communities in crisis and the role that
intellectuals have played in translating them into political projects or programs of action.
My focus will be on Mexican mutual aid societies and public intellectuals like Sara Estela
Ramiresz.
Required Assignment:
Film: “Empire of Dreams,” Episode 2, “Latino Americanos,”
https://www.thirteen.org/programs/latino-americans/latino-americans-episode-2-empire-
dreams/The Conquest Generation, 1848-1900
1-28 Pre-20th Century Review: Indigenous People, Independent Mexico, U.S. Expansionism
An expansionist United States reached Mexico’s northern region (the current American
Southwest) as Spanish colonial rule was waning (1821-48) and Mexico was achieving its
independence (1821). The long period included wars (Texas insurrection, 1835-36;
Mexico-U.S. war 1846-48), Mexico’s loss of more than one-half of its national territory,
the absorption of the newly acquired region during a politically charged environment, and
the incorporation of Mexicans as a territorial minority.
I will also address Mexico’s weak claim over its northern territory, and the beginning of
the incorporation of Mexicans into a developing socio-economy in the American
Southwest. Texas plays an especially important role in national rivalries and conflicts, as
American settlers followed the movement of cotton production into the Gulf States and
established communities that would entertain ideas of insurrection during the early
1800s. My references will include works by Carey McWilliams (North from Mexico),
Rodolfo Acuña, (Occupied America), Juan Gómez-Quiñones, (Roots of Chicano Politics)
and Mario García (Mexican Americans).
Required Assignment:
Gonzales, Chapter 4
Search for “available online” book in the library web page.
2-2 Westward Expansion and the Incorporation of the Annexed Territories
We will continue the discussion on U.S. expansionism, paying close attention to the
consequences of the wars in regions and communities of the American Southwest. The
film, “Empire of Dreams,” and Gonzales’ Chapter 4 will serve as general points of
departure. I will use Albert Camarillo’s study of Santa Barbara, Chicanos in a Changing
Society, to illustrate how military occupation, racial conflict, and the arrival of Anglos
introduced important social and political changes to Southern California, including the
use of race to define social relations. Camarillo’s use of the concepts of
proletarianization and barrioization explain the kind of social marginalization and
community building evident in California. I will incorporate the works of Sara Deutsch
(No Separate Refuge) and David Montejano (Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of
Texas) to support the claim that experiences in Santa Barbara and southern California
mirrored similar changes in other parts of the American Southwest.
Required Assignment:
Gonzales, Chapter 5, Search for “available online” book in the library web page.
The Mexicanist Generation, 1900-1940
2-4 Industrialization, Work, Migration, and Community BuildingUnequal social relations and racial thinking emerged with the continuing incorporation of
the American Southwest in the early 1900s. This was part of a larger story of
development, involving the growth of basic industries (railroads, mining, agriculture and
urban-based industries like construction). The industrialization process increased the
demand for labor and triggered a massive movement of workers and their families from
Mexico who joined earlier arrivals and U.S.-born Mexicans in low-wage, low-skilled
jobs. The anti-Mexican ideas associated with the wars (1835-36, 1846-48) and the
undeclared “low intensity” conflict of the late nineteenth century reinforced racialized
relations associated with economic development. Studies by Montejano (Anglos and
Mexicans in the Making of Texas), Arnoldo De León (They Called Them Greasers),
Carey McWilliams (North from Mexico), and Emilio Zamora, (The World of the
Mexican Worker in Texas), help us understand the development of racial ideas and the
way Mexicans adjusted to life and work in the United States.
2-9 Review
Required Assignment:
Handman, “Economic Reasons for the Coming of the Mexican Immigrant.” Search in
Jstor.
2-11 The Organizational Response
Mexicans responded to their marginalized position in society by developing communities
to survive their condition, protest the causes of their condition and advance their interests.
In other words, they were not mere objects to someone else’s wants or desires. They
were also architects of their own world. This is a central self-determining theme in our
course.
Required Assignments:
Carrigan, Webb, “The Lynching of Persons of Mexican Origin or Descent.” Search in
Jstor.
2-16 Speaker: Mónica Muñoz Martínez, Associate Professor in History, UT, Austin
Required Assignment:
Zamora “Las Escuelas del Centenario in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato.” We will provide
an electronic copy of the article.
2-18 LULAC and the Incorporation of Mexicans on a Conditional Basis
The decision by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and its state affiliates (e.g.,
Texas State Federation of Labor) represents the beginning of a process of incorporation
of Mexicans into American society. The organizing work of Clemente Idar, the first
Mexican organizer of the AFL and the emergence of the League of United Latin
American Citizens (LULAC) speaks to this important point of transition in MexicanAmerican history. While society opened its doors to some of the upwardly mobile and
U.S. born Mexicans, it shunned Mexican immigrants who continued to look to the South,
the homeland. I will focus on two civil rights leaders and authors José de la Luz Sáenz
(La Gran Guerra y los México Americanos, 1933) and Alonso Perales (En Defensa de mi
Raza, 1936, 1937).
2-23 Review Session
I will be recording a review of the early 1900s and will welcome questions and
observations by the students and our teaching assistants.
Required Assignment:
Gonzales, Chapter 6
2-25 The Depression
I will be explaining the adjustments to the course noted at the start of this syllabus.
the worst of the hard times. The massive deportations and discrimination by the national
relief programs presented them with a special experience of inequality. Mexicans also
participated in impressive in labor organizing and strike activity. An example of this was
the pecan shelling strike of the 1930s and the San Antonio leader Emma Tenayuca.
Required Assignment:
Gonzales, Chapter 7
Mexican American Generation, 1940s-1960s
3-2 War, Recovery, and Disillusionment, An Unprecedented Turn of Events
Mexicans, like others in the American Southwest and the nation, recovered from the hard
times of the Depression when the expanding wartime economy provided them better-
paying jobs, especially in urban areas. The opportunities, however, varied. I will discuss
how Mexicans failed to benefit from wartime opportunities to the same extent as Anglos
and Blacks even as the economy expanded and the federal government intervened on
behalf of minority group members and workers. Uneven I will use the works of Carlos E.
Castaneda (“The Second Rate Citizen and Democracy”), Pauline Kibbe (Latin Americans
in Texas), Walter Fogell (Mexican Americans in Southwest Labor directly and explicitly
to the basic purpose of the course, that is, Society incorporates Mexicans on an unequal
basis.
Required Assignment:
Surace, “Achievement, Discrimination, and Mexican Americans.” Search in Jstor.
Zamora, Occupational Table, 1930-1970. We will provide an electronic copy of the
table.
3-4 Things Change as They Remain the SameMexicans are registering important advances but continue to lag behind other groups— in
income, wealth, educational attainment levels, job classifications, health, and personal
security—even if one controls for nativity or immigrant status. The advances often
obscure the inequalities. For instance, record numbers of Mexicans are attending college
at the same time that the dropout rates according to ethnicity remain relatively
unchanged. An impressive number of Mexicans are moving up the socio-economic
ladder, but are disproportionally represented in the bottom segment of the professional
class. Mexicans Americanize at a rapid clip, but acculturation is not guarantee social
incorporation on an equal basis. Three “hidden” inequality exist: inequality between
segments in the same class, inequality between Mexicans and Anglos, and generational
inequality among Mexicans. My last counter-intuitive point is that despite differences,
divisions, and the promise of incorporation in the “American Dream,” political and
cultural expressions of unity are obvious.
3-9 Wartime Unity in the Americas and the Internationalization of the Mexican Cause
The war provided Mexicans opportunities to demonstrate their loyalty at home and at the
war front, and to challenge inequality and discrimination in education, employment, and
public establishments. Mexico offered one of these opportunities when its leaders
intervened on behalf of Mexican rights in the United States and encouraged the State
Department “to bring the Good Neighbor Policy home.” This elevated racial
discrimination to a point of major importance in relations between Mexico and the United
States, a development that had not occurred before nor has it been seen again. I will
focus on how some LULAC leaders capitalized on the growing hemispheric attention to
racial ideas and discrimination in the United States to continue campaigning against
inequality.
3-11 Review Session
I will be recording a review of the 1930s and the 1940s, and will welcome questions and
observations by the students and our teaching assistants.
Required Assignment:
Zamora, “Alonso Perales and the Hemispheric Strategy for Civil Rights.” We will
provide an electronic copy of the article.
3-15/20 Spring Break
3-23 Testing the Good Neighbor Policy in Texas
Mexico’s advocacy policy on behalf of Mexicans in the United States energized the
Mexican cause for equal rights in places like Texas at the same time that the state
government adopted some of the most progressive civil rights policies in the United
States. The State Department’s favorable response to Mexico involved concessions like
the expansion of the purview of the Fair Employment Practice Committee (the federalagency responsible for implementing the nation’s first non-discrimination policy in
industrial employment) to include Mexicans in the Southwest, as well as pressure on
Texas to be a good neighbor to its Mexicans in the state. With the financial help and
encouragement of the State Department, the Texas governor established the Good
Neighbor Commission and adopted the Good Neighbor Policy as the state’s official
policy in fighting discrimination. The State Legislature also passed a joint resolution
known as the Caucasian Race Resolution, a seemingly odd attempt to prohibit
discrimination against Mexicans, the “other White” group that was now called Caucasian.
3-25 Screen Film: Hunger in America
3-30 Contributing Factors to a New Social Movement
The film Hunger in America, like the Bureau of the Census reports, contributed to a
growing awareness that Mexican Americans registered difficult and even worsening
social conditions. Other factors include news and government reports as well as
scholarly works that demonstrated that the Mexican condition was similar to other
marginalized communities, including Blacks, indigenous communities, Puerto Ricans and
poor Anglos.
Required Assignment:
Gonzales, Chapter 8
4-1 The Chicano Movement I
An examination of the major leaders—César Chavez, Reies Lopez Tijerina, Rodolfo
Gonzalez, and José Angel Gutierrez—will allow us to examine significant trends in the
Mexican social movement, including the building of alternative educational institutions
and the establishment of a third party challenge in electoral politics. Activism was not
limited to organizing against inequality. It was also evident in the intellectual activity
that accompanied it and that generated new and reformulated ideas about group identity,
civic culture, social entitlement, and strategies for change. The Cultural Renaissance
found expression in literature, public performances, and popular culture.
4-6 Film Screening: A Class Apart
4-8 The Chicano Movement II
I will be using Crossing Guadalupe Street, the autobiography by David Maldonado, and
its concept that “survival is resistance,” to posit that the Mexican working class generates
different forms of resistance. These include everyday acts of resistance that help the
group survive and buy time until another generation can act for and by itself. The
decision to migrate from a village in Mexico to a metropolitan area like Los Angeles and
Houston, for instance, helps families survive difficult conditions and allow youth to
secure the resources necessary to make use of better opportunities for social
advancement, including collective political action, the form that we usually call acts ofresistance. I will also a broader understanding of the social movement by addressing
groups—like women—who have not been given enough credit for singular contributions.
4-13 The Continuing Issue of Immigration
After a short lecture on current concerns in immigration policy and enforcement, we will
discuss the Saenz and Telles articles, paying particular attention to demographic data and
the role of the resident Latino population as a host for recent arrivals, especially in large
urban areas.
Required Assignment:
“Facts on Latinos in the United States,” Pew Research Center,
https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/fact-sheet/latinos-in-the-u-s-fact-sheet/
4-15 To be announced
4-20 Film Screening: Valley of Tears
4-22 Losing the Battles but Winning the War
One of the leaders of the onion strike in Raymondville, Texas points out the popular
“concept of the weak” that fights like workers’ strikes or minority campaigns are always
generative over the long haul. In other words, the standard method for determining
success does not necessarily apply to minority groups. We need to take into
consideration other factors, including expressions of strong will and the development
relations of trust and longstanding forms of unity and political consciousness that they
can harness in the future.
4-27 Latinos in the United States
Although Mexicans constitute the majority of the Latino population, it makes sense to
know the larger group. My lecture will address a problem posed by some researchers
who argue that they do not constitute a distinct group because their differences are greater
than their similarities. At least four arguments argue for a pan-Latino identity: 1) The
majority consider themselves Latinos in settings where they need to place their individual
group within a larger one; 2) They share the experience of racialization; 3) the mostly
share a language; and 4) U.S. foreign policy explains their diasporic experience.
Required Assignment:
Valenzuela, Rubio, and Zamora, “Academia Cuauhtli and the Eagle.”
4-29 The Ethnic Studies Movement
5-4 Invited Speaker: Angela Valenzuela, Author, Professor of Education
5-6 Last class meetingYou can also read
