Abstract The writer of this well-researched paper asks and answers the following questions: What obstacles have prevented Chicana women from realizing their sexuality and self-importance in the past? How do Chicana women view themselves as members of society in modern culture? What are the most critical factors contributing to a Chicana woman's sense of self and discovery? This in-depth paper delves into the unique hardships faced by Chicana women in recognizing their sense of self-worth and their sexuality. This paper examines the history of Chicana women who grew up in a culture that viewed them as subservient to men. The writer of this paper investigates the history of Chicana women through a comprehensive literature review that focuses on the role Chicana women have depicted in fictional literature, up until the present. This paper discusses the research conducted and analyzes the results which indicate that the role of Chicana women in society is in fact changing for the better. Women are starting to become more independent and realize themselves as independent, sexual and worthy human beings.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Research Questions
Limitations
Literature Review
Factors That Influence Sexuality and Self Worth
Female Sexuality and Self Development in Chicana Culture
Methodology
Conclusion
References
From the Paper "Much of the information available regarding Chicana culture is evident in the form of fictional stories, which depict the Chicana girl or woman as someone who is constantly searching to identify her role, her purpose in society and her sense of self. Other works of fiction address the Chicana as someone reflecting on her life experiences to learn from them. In times of old much of the literature available with regard to Chicana women suggested that women were subordinate, however more recent works suggest that Chicana women are starting to take a more aggressive and assertive role in society, and they are starting to recognize their sexuality and right to be sexual, alive, and important human beings."
Abstract This paper takes a look at the history of the Chicana, or Mexican-American woman, who has been treated as a person with no value, useless in the society and with deprive moral. This paper reviews the struggle of the Chicana for liberation and basic human rights to be free and to be treated equally.
From the Paper "Chicanas today are struggling for their liberation especially in the society and they are aware that they are being maltreated and it should be stop because they believe that every human being have the right to be free and to be treated equally. They are now involving themselves in fighting for freedom and for the rights of the women, they are confronting institutions that deprived them and maltreated them especially their employer, the church and the society. They raise issues about equality of men and women, depriving them from education, the belief of the Catholics, and the domination of men. "
Tags: maltreated, abuse, legal, organization, women's, rights, career, dirty, work
Abstract This paper discusses how Chicana authors such as Julia Alvarez and Edwidge Danticat seek to gain a voice and have it heard by expressing the meaning of their lives and celebrating the lives of others from the same social order that people otherwise marginalize and ignore. The paper looks at how these authors create a narrative space that includes gender issues and how they reveal their role in the preservation of national identity.
From the Paper "Louis Gerard Mendoza writes about the same topic in his book Historia, in which he offers "an extended analysis of the link between historical narratives and the representation of the historical in fictional narratives and poetry" (Mendoza 38). Mendoza finds that the nature of Chicana and Chicano narratives have changed in recent years in response to contemporary ideas and changing social circumstances, and these changes have also altered "the very substance of past narratives" (Mendoza 38) by expanding our knowledge by which we make decisions. Mendoza also points out that this literature has been largely unexamined, as might be expected for a literature featuring a minority population that itself is often marginalized and ignored. "
Abstract This paper provides a depiction of the diverse aspects of the Chicanas' experiences as women of color in the United States today, through an exploration of Mexican-American women's conditions and struggles in relation to issues of race, ethnicity, class and gender. The paper discusses acts of domination, such as the cultural representations of Chicanas in America (in media, history, fiction, etc.), the institutional practices that have traditionally been used to reinforce structures of inequalities, the political exploitation and the economic subjugation of women in the labor market.
Table of Contents:
Chapter One
Introduction
Statement of the Problem
Purpose of Study
Overview of Study
Chapter Summary
Chapter Two
Preliminary Literature Review
Cultural Representations of Chicanas in America
Institutional Practices that Reinforce Structures of Inequality
Chicanas' Acts of Resistance
Construction a Modern Chicana Identity
Chicana Feminism in a Global Context
Chapter Summary
Chapter Three
Proposed Methodology
From the Paper "History has shown time and again that when people have been oppressed long enough, they will rise up and slay their oppressors. Although the Chicana resistance did not reached this level in the past, it would seem that this population is at a distinct disadvantage in attempting to prosecute any meaningful reform because mainstream Americans simply do not want to hear about them, and if they do, the government has managed to place a sinister "spin" on these activities. According to Urrieta (2004), the Mexican American community has always been active seeking improvements in the educational conditions of their children, including the successful litigation of court cases against segregation a decade prior to Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. During this early period of Chicana movimientos in the 1960s, an estimated 10,000 Chicana/o students walked out of classes on March 3, 1968 in East Los Angeles to protest the unequal nature of their schooling (Urrieta, 2004)."
Abstract In this paper I will discuss the role the poem by Corky Gonzales and the film "I am Joaquin" had on the Chicano Movement. Within the paper these important questions will be asked: Why were these texts important? What were they seeking to create? What were their limitations? Also, within the paper I will integrate the film "Chicana" by Morales and how it relates to the movement.
Abstract This paper examines how Sandra Cisneros stands as one of the most formative Chicana writers of her generation. She has inspired many other Chicano novelists, poets, and essayists because of the critical and popular success of her first novel, "The House on Mango Street". It analyzes how, despite the book's attempt to give validity to a more positive view of Latin American culture as it exists in the United States, Cisneros's novel and her subsequent works have not limited their criticism of certain aspects of Hispanic life and reality, such as the inequality between the sexes.
From the Paper "The media itself is not all to blame, however. Cisneros believes that a girl, from birth, is raised with a different set of expectations in a Hispanic household. Within the common and accepted cultural framework, the father emerges as an unquestioned patriarch of the Latino household. Women's education is not valued on the same level as male education. Even girls who desire to better themselves through education are forced, because of cultural stereotyping, to assume care-taking functions that their brothers do not. Family relations inevitably affect the life of children in the school system when girls must do chores before their homework, or stay inside to preserve their safety and chastity, rather than wander where they might fall prey to young men."
Abstract In this article, the writer studies the story 'So Far From God' by Ana Castillo. The writer notes that in "So Far From God", Castillo sets her work in Chicana country, and creates a mystical work of fiction that draws the reader into the story, making it nearly impossible to set down. The writer looks at the various characters in the book and then discusses the different themes of the story. Further the writer notes that the style of writing is somewhat disjointed and strange, almost like Castillo is just telling a story aloud to a friend instead of creating a novel. The writer concludes that the endurance of the human spirit and the female spirit, is what Castillo is trying to show to the readers of this particular book.
From the Paper "The themes that are presented in the book must be discussed in some detail, because they are very important and significant. Each theme of the book revolves around one of the five female characters. Sofia, the mother, embodies the great wisdom that is seen in some individuals. She goes through so much, but she manages to retain her sanity and her sense of humor, both of which she feels are very important. The wisdom theme appears to be at the core of what Castillo is trying to show. There are, however, other themes and ideas that are embodied by the four daughters."
"Esperanza, who is the most liberated of all of the sisters, spends her college years involved with the Chicano movement and tries to better many people's lives. Despite how helpful and kind she is, she is killed covering the Gulf Crisis as a reporter for a television station. Her death is largely meaningless, and it leaves the reader without any kind of way to find redemption in the death of this character."
Abstract In this article, the writer studies the book 'Massacre of the Dreamers' by the novelist, poet, and Chicana activist, Ana Castillo. The writer notes that Castillo offers an explicitly nationally and ethnically based form of feminism for Latina women that the author calls Xicanisma. The writer discusses that over the course of Castillo's historiography of the Chicana and feminist movements, Castillo combines personal as well as historical testimony to create a political and spiritual manifesto for Latina women today. Further the writer shows that Castillo condemns both the racism and negative assumptions that have limited Latina women from assuming power within their culture, even while she pays tribute to the considerable successes and accomplishments of Latinas in various Mexican activist movements.
From the Paper "Castillo is equally unsparing when condemning the misogyny of Mexican culture, even in its most radical forms, such as the American Chicano Movement. Beyond the ideologies of Catholicism and Communism that have denied the gender imbalance within the Mexican community and society, Castillo believes Chicana women must band together to articulate and find ways of healing and addressing their unique difficulties as a community. Only then will the feminine principle as well as machismo endemic to contemporary Mexican life once again find its space within Latino culture and spirituality."
"Castillo, however, does not deny the common assertion of the American women's movement that the personal is political. She states she had to look within herself to get beyond the dichotomies of masculine and feminine that hampered her ability to see herself fully as an activist, sexual being, and a spiritual female being."
From the Paper "This Bridge Called My Back has the subtitle "Writings by Radical Women of Color," and this is precisely what is contained in this volume. The writings include poems, short stories, and various types of nonfiction demonstrating the range of interests in this particular segment of the population and the different modes of expression used by black, Asian, and Chicana women writers in addressing their role in the world, the state of society today, and their relationship to that society.
The book is edited by Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua. Anzaldua is a Chicana poet, and Moraga describes herself as "a very tired Chicana/half-breed/feminist/lesbian/writer/teacher/
talker/waitress" (248), born in Los Angeles and productive first in San Francisco and then Boston. The editors brought the writings in this book together first beginning in 1979, and this..."
Abstract Analyzes a coming-of-age story narrated by Cece, a young Chicana from Los Angeles. Discusses her personal and ethnic identity. Discusses the structure of the novel, which is divided into three parts: Cece's early life, high school years and early adulthood, and her move to San Francisco.
From the Paper "Laura Del Fuego's Maravilla is a coming-of-age novel about Cece, a young Chicana from Los Angeles. The story is narrated by Cece and includes examples of her dreams, visions, and writings. The novel is structured in three parts: a brief section dealing ..."
Abstract In the novel, "Peel My Love Like an Onion" by Ana Castillo, the author addresses a number of issues related to immigration and the position of minorities in American life. In addition, she addresses issues of loss and separation from both people and other aspects of life. The paper shows that the love referred to in the title is both the love the protagonist has had for the two men in her life and also the love she once had for her chosen profession of Flamenco dancer, a love lost because of her polio and its crippling effects. The paper shows how she, in fact, becomes separated from everything she values in life, suggesting much about those in society who are cast aside for any reason and who then live desperate lives simply trying to survive.
From the Paper "There is a great difference between the working conditions Carmen experiences as a dancer and those she encounters in a series of smaller jobs she has to take later in order to survive, but there are similarities a well. There is a metaphor of servitude that runs through the novel, whether it be servitude to a demanding teacher like Agustin or to the system itself as she tries to survive in low-paid jobs in a society that places little value on people from Mexico, little value on women, and little value on those who have to do these low-paid and dead-end jobs that society may need but never really values."
Abstract This paper discusses and analyzes the book "The House on Mango Street" written by Sandra Cisneros. Specifically, it examines the theme of search for self-definition. The paper introduces the protagonist of the novel, Esperanza, who narrates a series of 'chapters' concerning her life, her world and the barrio as she sees it happening around her. The paper highlights the fact that while self-definition is a compelling theme of the novel, it also shows the difficulties many young Latinas face as they come of age in America.
From the Paper "Published in 1984, many critics believe "The House on Mango Street" is one of the best Chicana stories written. Author Sandra Cisneros writes with knowledge and pathos of growing up Latina in America because she herself experienced the difficulties of growing up in multi-cultural family. Her mother is Mexican-American and her father is Mexican, and she spent her childhood "commuting" between homes in Mexico and Chicago (Kevane 47). She graduated from Loyola University in 1976, and attended the Iowa Writers Workshop in 1978, where she wrote the draft for this novel about coming of age and multi-culturalism in American barrios."
Abstract The Mexico/American border has historically been opened and closed depending on the standing of the United States workforce. When additional labor is in demand, the U.S. enacts legislation to loosen the borders, bringing in Mexican immigrants for cheap labor. However, when unemployment rates are high, the U.S. often curbs immigration and deports immigrant workers. Such was the case with the Bracero Program of the 1940s. This paper examines this guest worker program and its varying effects on the border and on Mexican contract workers.
From the Paper "The Bracero program failed Mexican workers in many ways. First of all, the treatment of these workers was anything but fair. At a time when unionization had long been established as a method of worker protection, the Bracero agreement concerning unionization was limited. While the original version allowed workers the right to self-organize, soon the United States government added a provision for the Braceros to maintain their original work contract. (Cockcroft, 68)"
Abstract This paper presents a close reading of the poem "Elena" by Chicana poet Pat Mora. It examines the images, symbols, allusions and poetic devices used by Mora in the poem and the meaning of the title name.
From the Paper "The Chicana poet Patricia Pat Mora is known for her poetry dealing with the issues of being Mexican and female in the United States and her writing often reflects the struggle of a woman as she tries to balance one against the other. "
Abstract This paper explains that the first article is on miscegenation law and race. The author relates the second article about the cosmetics industry and the cultural construction of gender. The paper includes a third article is on politics, Chicano history and the dream of equality and a fourth article centered on sexual geography and gender economy.
Tags:Chicanas, Social, mores, Miscegenation, Cosmetics, industry
