Сontext of the Mexican-American Community

Chicano or Chicana are synonymous terms in the domain of Mexican American presence. These can be prescribed as the chosen identity for a sect of the Mexican Americans within the purview of the United States. Commonly, the term Chicano is used alternatively for the general Mexican-American population. Both the names, Chicana or Chicano, are considered to be the chosen identities placed within the Mexican-American community in the boundaries of the United States. However, the terms have been known to depict arange of varied meanings withinthe context of the different parts of the Southwest of America. The Chicano term has gained widespread usage during the Chicano Movement. The movement marks an expression of price by the Mexican Americans. It aims to express pride in the virtue of shared cultural, community identity and ethnicity.

Chicano, as a term, had assumed negative connotations prior to the Chicano Movement. In the current day also, it is viewed in a negative light with respect to the archaic philosophies of the conservative members of the community. With the passage of time, the term has gained a measure of acceptance in the form of an identity of pride, within the context of the Mexican-American community in the United States.

It is to be noted that the pro-indigenous or the Mestizo nature of the domain of Chicano nationalism has been cemented within the idea of mestizaje. As an ultimatum, it has been stated as theexperience of the Mexican Americans within the geography of the United States. The entire movementconcludedwith the creation of a unique Chicano identity. The other crucial aspect of Chicano is that of Chicana feminism. Also called as Xicanisma. it has beendefined as a sociopolitical movement within the United States which aims to analyze the cultural, historical, educational, spiritual, and the vast range of economic intersections within the Mexican-American women, who have been identified as Chicana. The domain of Chicana feminism has challenged the unique stereotypes faced by the Chicanas, across the boundaries of gender, race, sexuality, ethnicity, and class. Importantly, the aspect of Chicana feminism has served as a movement, in theory and praxis which helps the women in reclaiming the entire existence between and amongst the Chicano Movement and the different American feminist movements.

The artistic works related to the Chicana settlements emerged out of the identity movements of the period of the 1960s. As part of this movement, the Chicana feminists played an instrumental role in the creation of a unique trajectory for the mapping of the feminist political thoughts and practices. These thoughts and practices were centered around the unique experiences associated with their respective gender, class, race, and sexuality. It has been seen that many feminist methodologies are quite similar in practice. Hence, the Chicana feminists distinguished their own variant from the other feminists by placing the center of their unique and live experiences with the precincts of gender, class, race, nationalism, and sexuality. These factors offer the critiques and responses to their respective exclusion from the mainstream Chicano nationalist movement and unique aspect of the second wave feminist movement. One of the primary ways in whichthe Chicana feminists were able to do this was with the inclusion of varied varieties of the Spanish language. The Spanish language was a vital component which was used to preserve the uniqueness of the Chicano culture.Chicana feminism has been able to maintain this aspect throughout history. This has been signified by the fact that the women have been oppressed, and abused, in the different societies across the world. Many women were treated with discrimination event by their fathers and brothers, in Latin America. The situation was the same in Europe, Asia and Africa. On the same lines, the women in Latin America, including Mexico, were potrayed as child-bearers, caregivers and homemakers. The primary role of these women was to watch their children, execute the household chores, and work in the kitchens for their husbands. Apart from these activities, the women were not considered to be capable of any other activities. The men had strong prejudices against the women that they would not be capable of working beyond the boundaries of the home. Owing to this, the word “weaker sex” was coined.

The women were dominated by the social standards, in Latin America. These social standards were highly archaic and outdated in most cases. For instance, the women were disregarded in cases where they were found speaking to other men. The situation was pre-dominant in Latin America. On the other, prostitution was accorded a legal status in various parts of the Latin American countries. Hence, the men were considered to be heroic if they were seen with multiple girls, in spite of the fact being that they were married.