Book Resources
The Chicana/o Cultural Studies Forum by
The Chicana/o Cultural Studies Forum brings together a diverse group of scholars whose work spans the interdisciplinary fields of Chicana/o studies and cultural studies. Editor Angie Chabram-Dernersesian provides an overview of current debates, locating Chicana/o cultural criticism at the intersections of these fields. She then acts as moderator of a virtual roundtable of critics, including Frances Aparicio, Lisa Lowe, George Lipsitz, Wahneema Lubiano, Renato Rosaldo, José David Saldívar, and Sonia Saldívar-Hull. This highly collaborative and deeply interdisciplinary project addresses the questions: What is the relationship between Chicana/o studies and cultural studies? How do we do cultural studies from within Chicana/o cultural studies? How do Chicana/o cultural studies formations (hemispheric, borderland, and feminist) intermingle? The lively conversations documented here attest to the vitality and spirit of Chicana/o cultural studies today and track the movements between disciplines that share an interest in the study of culture, power relations, identity, and representation. This book offers a unique resource for understanding not just the development of Chicana/o cultural studies, but how new social movements and epistemologies travel and affiliate with progressive forms of social inquiry in the global era.
The Cristal Experiment by
Amidst the turbulence and militancy of the 1960s and early 1970s, the Mexicano population of the dusty agricultural town of Crystal City, Texas (Cristal in Spanish), staged two electoral revolts, each time winning control of the city council and school board. The landmark city council victory in 1963 was a first for Mexican Americans in South Texas, and Cristal--the "spinach capital of the world"--became for a time the political capital of the Chicano Movement. In The Cristal Experiment, Armando Navarro presents the most comprehensive examination to date of the rise of the Chicano political movement in Cristal, its successes and conflicts (both internal and external), and its eventual decline. He looks particularly at the larger and more successful "Second Revolt" in 1970 and its aftermath up to 1981, examining the political, economic, educational, and social changes for Mexicanos that resulted. Drawing upon nearly 100 interviews, a wealth of secondary materials, and his own experiences as a political organizer in the Chicano Movement, Navarro offers a shrewd and insightful analysis not only of the events in Cristal, but also of the workings of local politics generally, the politics of community control, and the factors inherent in the American political system that lead to the self-destruction of political movements. As both a political scientist and an organizer, he outlines important lessons to be learned from what happened in Cristal and to the Chicano Movement.
Raza Schools by
"Telling the complex story of how territorial pride, race and racism, politics, economic pressures, local control, and the federal government collided in Del Rio, Raza Schools recovers a lost chapter in the history of educational civil rights--and in doing so, offers a more nuanced understanding of race relations, educational politics, and school activism in the US-Mexico borderlands."-- Provided by publisher.
From Coveralls to Zoot Suits by
During World War II, unprecedented employment avenues opened up for women and minorities in U.S. defense industries at the same time that massive population shifts and the war challenged Americans to rethink notions of race. At this extraordinary historical moment, Mexican American women found new means to exercise control over their lives in the home, workplace, and nation. In From Coveralls to Zoot Suits, Elizabeth R. Escobedo explores how, as war workers and volunteers, dance hostesses and zoot suiters, respectable young ladies and rebellious daughters, these young women used wartime conditions to serve the United States in its time of need and to pursue their own desires. But even after the war, as Escobedo shows, Mexican American women had to continue challenging workplace inequities and confronting family and communal resistance to their broadening public presence. Highlighting seldom heard voices of the "Greatest Generation," Escobedo examines these contradictions within Mexican families and their communities, exploring the impact of youth culture, outside employment, and family relations on the lives of women whose home-front experiences and everyday life choices would fundamentally alter the history of a generation.
Truly Texas Mexican by
Over thousands of years, Native Americans in what is now Texas passed down their ways of roasting, boiling, steaming, salting, drying, grinding, and blending. From one generation to another, these ancestors of Texas?s Mexican American community lent their culinary skills to combining native and foreign ingredients into the flavor profile of indigenous Texas Mexican cooking today. Building on what he learned from his own family, Adán Medrano captures this distinctive flavor profile in 100 kitchen-tested recipes, each with step-by-step instructions. Equally as careful with history, he details how hundreds of indigenous tribes in Texas gathered and hunted food, planted gardens, and cooked. Offering new culinary perspective on well-known dishes such as enchiladas and tamales, Medrano explains the complexities of aromatic chiles and how to develop flavor through technique as much as ingredients. Sharing freely the secrets of lesser-known culinary delights, such as turcos, a sweet pork pastry served as dessert, and posole, giant white corn treated with calcium hydroxide, he illuminates the mouth-watering interconnectedness of culture and cuisine. The recipes and personal anecdotes shared in Truly Texas Mexican illuminate the role that cuisine plays in identity and community.
Hispanic Medal of Honor Recipients by
La Valentia, el valor, la bravura. Since the creation of the Medal of Honor by the United States Congress in 1861, sixty Americans of Hispanic heritage have been awarded the nation's highest decoration for bravery and self-sacrifice in combat. In this important new work, Michael Lee Lanning documents what one reader describes as "some of the most extraordinary battlefield exploits ever performed in an American military uniform." Based on meticulous research, Lanning has assembled authoritative accounts of these heroic individuals and their deeds of valor, from the American Civil War through the current campaign in the Middle East. This clear and vigorous narrative--derived from enlistment records and other public documents, newspaper accounts, archival sources, and interviews with the families of the honorees--presents brief biographies that include details of the recipients' lives before and--in the case of those who survived--after their active-duty service. Lanning also includes the text of the citation from each recipients' Medal of Honor ceremonies and gripping accounts of the battlefield heroics that earned them the ultimate military honor from a grateful nation. Hispanic Medal of Honor Recipients: American Heroes provides the most thorough documentation to date of these courageous Americans and their service to our nation. The work offers a fitting commemoration of their remarkable actions under the direst circumstances, often performed under conditions of discrimination and prejudice, providing inspiration and encouragement for years to come.
This Bridge Called My Back by
This groundbreaking collection reflects an uncompromised definition of feminism by women of color. 65,000 copies in print.
Contemporary Latina/o Theater by
In Contemporary Latina/o Theater, Jon D. Rossini explores the complex relationship between theater and the creation of ethnicity in an unprecedented examination of six Latina/o playwrights and their works: Miguel Piñero, Luis Valdez, Guillermo Reyes, Octavio Solis, José Rivera, and Cherríe Moraga. Rossini exposes how these writers use the genre as a tool to reveal and transform existing preconceptions about their culture. Through "wrighting"--the triplicate process of writing plays, righting misconceptions about ethnic identity, and creating an entirely new way of understanding Latina/o culture--these playwrights directly intervene in current conversations regarding ethnic identity, providing the tools for audiences to reexplore their previously held perspectives outside the theater. Examining these writers and their works in both cultural and historical contexts, Rossini reveals how playwrights use the liminal space of the stage--an area on the thresholds of both theory and reality--to "wright" new insights into Latina/o identity. They use the limits of the theater itself to offer practical explorations of issues that could otherwise be discussed only in highly theoretical terms. Rossini traces playwrights' methods as they address some of the most challenging issues facing contemporary Latinas/os in America: from the struggles for ethnic solidarity and the dangers of a community based in fear, to stereotypes of Latino masculinity and the problematic fusion of ethnicity and politics. Rossini discusses the looming specter of the border in theater, both as a conceptual device and as a literal reality--a crucial subject for modern Latinas/os, given recent legislation and other actions. Throughout, the author draws intriguing comparisons to the cultural limbo in which many Latinas/os find themselves today. An indispensable volume for anyone interested in drama and ethnic studies, Contemporary Latina/o Theater underscores the power of theatricality in exploring and rethinking ethnicity. Rossini provides the most in-depth analysis of these plays to date, offering a groundbreaking look at the ability of playwrights to correct misconceptions and create fresh perspectives on diversity, culture, and identity in Latina/o America.
Las Voces de la Experiencia: el viraje de la filosofía feminista by 
Recovering the U. S. Hispanic Literary Heritage, Volume 9 by
This volume of essays is the ninth in the series produced under the auspices of the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project at the University of Houston. This ongoing and comprehensive program seeks to locate, identify, preserve and disseminate the literary contributions of U.S. Latinos from the Spanish Colonial Period to contemporary times. The twelve essays included in this volume examine key topics relevant to the exploration of Hispanic literary production in the United States, including memory, testimony, femininity and identity. Originally presented at the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project's biennial conferences in 2010 and 2012, the essays are divided into four sections: "Recovering Historical Memory: Exploration, Social Space and Lands of Contention," "Culture and Ideology: Transnational Communities, Language and Geopolitical Borders," "Autobiography, Testimonio and Expressions of Resistance," and "Feminism, Culture and Identities in Conflict."
Loving in the War Years by 
Crossing Borders: My Journey in Music by
Baca's music grew out of the harsh life of the borderland, and the duality of borderland music--its keening beauty--remains a recurring theme in everything he does.
Little Joe: No LLore Chingon by
Millions of people have heard of Little Joe y La Familia, a famous Mexican American (Chicano) singer. After sixty years of fame, he still loves his fans and music that blended his DNA with his neighborhood culture to create his unique American sound. He attributes his success to his brother Jesse who died too young in a car accident. Jesse strongly believed that Joe could become huge in music and his memory inspires Joe still. His story is historic in nature in that violent circumstances forced his grandparents to flee to Texas from their homes during the Mexican Revolution bringing them to humble new beginnings in this country. He credits his roots for the foundation of "La Familia." A musician, responsible family man, an activist for the common good of "la gente", and most of all- the young Hispanic cotton picker who "made it big", an inspiration to the blended culture that is America.
Bracero Railroaders by
Desperate for laborers to keep the trains moving during World War II, the U.S. and Mexican governments created a now mostly forgotten bracero railroad program that sent a hundred thousand Mexican workers across the border to build and maintain railroad lines throughout the United States, particularly the West. Although both governments promised the workers adequate living arrangements and fair working conditions, most bracero railroaders lived in squalor, worked dangerous jobs, and were subject to harsh racial discrimination. Making matters worse, the governments held a percentage of the workers' earnings in a savings and retirement program that supposedly would await the men on their return to Mexico. However, rampant corruption within both the railroad companies and the Mexican banks meant that most workers were unable to collect what was rightfully theirs. Historian Erasmo Gamboa recounts the difficult conditions, systemic racism, and decades-long quest for justice these men faced. The result is a pathbreaking examination that deepens our understanding of Mexican American, immigration, and labor histories in the twentieth-century U.S. West.
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Use Palomino Search to search for library resources. Below are suggested search terms to aid in your search for topics covered in this class. These search terms may also be used when searching in the library databases.
Search Terms
American literature Hispanic American authors History and criticism
Hispanic American literature (Spanish) History and criticism
Hispanic Americans in literature
Hispanic Americans Intellectual life
Mexican Americans Study
Chicanx / Chicano / Chicana Heritage
Latino / Latina Heritage
