Albert Michael Camarillo | |
---|---|
Born | |
Occupation(s) | Historian, author and academic |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles |
Thesis | The Making of a Chicano Community: A History of the Chicanos in Santa Barbara, California, 1850-1930 (1975) |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Stanford University |
Albert Michael Camarillo is an American historian,author and academic. He is the Leon Sloss Jr. Memorial Professor,emeritus,in the department of history at Stanford University,and holds a courtesy appointment as a professor in the graduate school of education. [1]
Camarillo's research spans 20th-century U.S. history with a focus on the experiences of Mexican Americans and other communities of color in American cities. [2] He is widely regarded as a founding scholar in the field of Mexican American history and Chicano/Latino Studies. [2] He has authored,edited,and co-edited seven books,including Chicanos in a Changing Society:From Mexican Pueblos to American Barrios and Chicanos in California:A History of Mexican Americans.
Camarillo is the past president of the Organization of American Historians,and past president of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association. [3] [4]
Camarillo was born in Compton,California on February 9,1948,to Benjamín T. Camarillo and Rose López Camarillo. His father,at age nine,immigrated to Compton from Michoacán,Mexico in 1911 and his mother was born on Santa Catalina Island in 1911. His parents and grandparents were among the earliest Mexican immigrants to settle permanently in Compton. [5] [6]
After attending public schools in Compton,Camarillo was admitted to the University of California,Los Angeles in 1966. He graduated with a major in history in 1970 and was admitted to the doctoral program in U.S. history at UCLA upon graduation. He received a Ph.D. in history in 1975,under the direction of Juan Gómez-Quiñones. His dissertation was titled "The Making of a Chicano Community:A History of the Chicanos in Santa Barbara,California,1850-1930." [7]
While working on his Ph.D.,Camarillo was a lecturer in the history department and Chicano studies department at the University of California,Santa Barbara,in 1971–72. Upon completion of his Ph.D. in 1975,he joined Stanford University as assistant professor of history,and was named the Mellon Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies in 1991. [8] From 2002 to 2010,he served as the Miriam and Peter Haas Centennial Professor in Public Service before his appointment in 2011 as the Leon Sloss Jr. Memorial Professor,the endowed professorship he held until his retirement in 2017.
From 1980 to 1985,he served as the founding director of the Stanford Center for Chicano Research,and the founding executive director of the inter-university program in Latino research from 1985 to 1988. Later,in 1992,he held an appointment as associate dean and director of undergraduate studies in the school of humanities and sciences at Stanford University. In 1996,he was appointed as founding director of the Center of Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) and chair of the CSRE undergraduate degree program. From 2007 to 2016,he was special assistant to the provost for faculty diversity. He was a member of the history department of the Stanford University for over forty years. [9]
Camarillo's broad contributions as a public intellectual and as an academic who has promoted understanding and appreciation of the history of Mexican Americans in American society have been recognized by many academic and civic organizations. [10] In addition,his work in writing reports as an expert witness in several Voting Rights Act and affirmative action legal cases was pivotal:Department of Justice,Civil Rights Division,Garza v Los Angeles County of Board of Supervisors (1990),Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund,Ruiz v City of Santa Maria (2000),University of Michigan,Gratz v Bollinger (2000),Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund,Luna v Kern County Board of Supervisors (2018). His work in public history includes serving as a board member and vice-chair of the California Historical Society and the California Council for the Humanities from 2011 to 2017 and from 1985 to 1988,respectively. He was a member of the Juana Briones Heritage Foundation's board from 2004 to 2009 and acted as Guest Curator for the Juana Briones Exhibition sponsored by the California Historical Society in 2013. [1]
With his research in Mexican American history and Chicano Studies,Camarillo's body of work helped establish the foundations for understanding the history of Mexican-origin people in the United States. [11] He has authored numerous publications,including peer-reviewed articles,and is the recipient of Scholar Award by National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies. [12]
Camarillo's Chicanos in a Changing Society:From Mexican Pueblos to American Barrios in Santa Barbara and Southern California,1848-1930 traces the social,cultural,economic,and political changes that shaped the lives of three generations of Mexican Americans after California's annexation by the U.S. following the War with Mexico in 1848. [13] His second book,Chicanos in California:A History of Mexican Americans,is the first historical overview about the state's largest ethnic group [14] In related research,he addressed the projected increase in the Hispanic/Latino population in America,and the potential implications of this group becoming the largest minority by 2050. Specifically,he examined whether Latinos would have access to crucial opportunities,such as education and employment,or if they would continue to face economic marginalization. [15] In 2013,he revisited the subject and provided his personal perspectives on the maturation of Chicano/Mexican American history. [16]
Camarillo has written about the comparative history of various immigrant groups and communities of color in American cities. In a 2007 study,he analyzed the demographic changes and explored the conflict and cooperation among non-whites and whites in Compton and East Palo Alto. [17] In a broader historical study,he examined the history of segregated life in American neighborhoods. Coining these urban/suburban places as "racial borderhoods",he highlighted the racial discrimination and economic disparities as factors that created an unequal environment for different groups over time [18]
Camarillo has been married to Susan Garb Camarillo for over fifty years and has resided in Menlo Park,California since 1975. Together they have three children. [19]
Chicano or Chicana is an ethnic identity for Mexican Americans who have a non-Anglo self-image,embracing their Mexican Native ancestry. Chicano was originally a classist and racist slur used toward low-income Mexicans that was reclaimed in the 1940s among youth who belonged to the Pachuco and Pachuca subculture. In the 1960s,Chicano was widely reclaimed in the building of a movement toward political empowerment,ethnic solidarity,and pride in being of indigenous descent. Chicano developed its own meaning separate from Mexican American identity. Youth in barrios rejected cultural assimilation into the mainstream American culture and embraced their own identity and worldview as a form of empowerment and resistance. The community forged an independent political and cultural movement,sometimes working alongside the Black power movement.
M.E.Ch.A. is a US-based organization that seeks to promote Chicano unity and empowerment through political action. The acronym of the organization's name is the Chicano word mecha,which is the Chicano pronunciation of the English word match and therefore symbolic of a fire or spark;mecha in Spanish means fuse or wick. The motto of MEChA is 'La Union Hace La Fuerza'.
El Plan de Santa Bárbara:A Chicano Plan for Higher Education is a 155-page document,which was written in 1969 by the Chicano Coordinating Council on Higher Education. Drafted at the University of California Santa Barbara,it is a blueprint for the inception of Chicana/o studies programs in colleges and universities throughout the US. The Chicano Coordinating Council expresses political mobilization to be dependent upon political consciousness,thus the institution of education is targeted as the platform to raise political conscious amongst Chicanos and spur higher learning to political action. The Plan proposes a curriculum in Chicano studies,the role of community control in Chicano education and the necessity of Chicano political independence. The document was a framework for educational and curriculum goals for the Chicano movements within the institution of education,while being the foundation for the Chicano student group Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA).
Latino studies is an academic discipline which studies the experience of people of Latin American ancestry in the United States. Closely related to other ethnic studies disciplines such as African-American studies,Asian American studies,and Native American studies,Latino studies critically examines the history,culture,politics,issues,sociology,spirituality (Indigenous) and experiences of Latino people. Drawing from numerous disciplines such as sociology,history,literature,political science,religious studies and gender studies,Latino studies scholars consider a variety of perspectives and employ diverse analytical tools in their work.
The Chicano Movement,also referred to as El Movimiento,was a social and political movement in the United States that worked to embrace a Chicano/a identity and worldview that combated structural racism,encouraged cultural revitalization,and achieved community empowerment by rejecting assimilation. Chicanos also expressed solidarity and defined their culture through the development of Chicano art during El Movimiento,and stood firm in preserving their religion.
Ester Hernández is a California Bay Area Chicana visual artist recognized for her prints and pastels focusing on farm worker rights,cultural,political,and Chicana feminist issues. Hernández' was an activist in the Chicano Arts Movement in the 1960's and also made art pieces that focus on issues of social justice,civil rights,women's rights,and the Farm Worker Movement.
Chicano studies,also known as Chicano/a studies,Chican@ studies, or Xicano studies originates from the Chicano Movement of the late 1960s and 1970s,and is the study of the Chicano and Latino experience. Chicano studies draws upon a variety of fields,including history,sociology,the arts,and Chicano literature. The area of studies additionally emphasizes the importance of Chicano educational materials taught by Chicano educators for Chicano students.
The UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) was founded in 1969 to foster multidisciplinary research efforts at the University of California,Los Angeles (UCLA). It is one of four ethnic studies centers established at UCLA that year,all of which were the first in the nation and have advanced our understanding of the essential contributions of people of color to U.S. history,thought,and culture. The centers remain the major organized research units in the University of California system that focus on ethnic and racial communities and contribute to the system's research mission.
Rodolfo "Rudy" Francisco Acuña is an American historian,professor emeritus at California State University,Northridge,and a scholar of Chicano studies. He authored the 1972 book Occupied America:A History of Chicanos,an approach to the history of the Southwestern United States with an emphasis on Mexican Americans. An eighth edition was published in 2014. Acuña has also written for the Los Angeles Times,The Los Angeles Herald-Express,La Opinión,and other newspapers. Acuña is an activist,and he has supported numerous causes of the Chicano Movement. He currently teaches an online history course at California State University,Northridge.
Barrioization is a theory developed by Chicano scholars Albert Camarillo and Richard Griswold del Castillo to explain the historical formation and maintenance of ethnically segregated neighborhoods of Chicanos and Latinos in the United States. The term was first coined by Camarillo in his book Chicanos in a Changing Society (1979). The process was explained in the context of Los Angeles by Griswold del Castillo in The Los Angeles Barrio,1850-1890:A Social History (1979). Camarillo defined the term as "the formation of residentially and segregated Chicano barrios or neighbourhoods." The term is used in the field of Human Geography.
Elizabeth "Betita" Martínez was an American Chicana feminist and a long-time community organizer,activist,author,and educator. She wrote numerous books and articles on different topics relating to social movements in the Americas. Her best-known work is the bilingual 500 years of Chicano History in Pictures,which later formed the basis for the educational video ¡Viva la Causa! 500 Years of Chicano History. Her work was hailed by Angela Y. Davis as comprising "one of the most important living histories of progressive activism in the contemporary era ... [Martínez is] inimitable ... irrepressible ... indefatigable."
Mexican American literature is literature written by Mexican Americans in the United States. Although its origins can be traced back to the sixteenth century,the bulk of Mexican American literature dates from post-1848 and the United States annexation of large parts of Mexico in the wake of the Mexican–American War. Today,as a part of American literature in general,this genre includes a vibrant and diverse set of narratives,prompting critics to describe it as providing "a new awareness of the historical and cultural independence of both northern and southern American hemispheres". Chicano literature is an aspect of Mexican American literature.
Lorna Dee Cervantes is an American poet and activist,who is considered one of the greatest figures in Chicano poetry. She has been described by Alurista as "probably the best Chicana poet active today."
Laura Aguilar was an American photographer. She was born with auditory dyslexia and attributed her start in photography to her brother,who showed her how to develop in dark rooms. She was mostly self-taught,although she took some photography courses at East Los Angeles College,where her second solo exhibition,Laura Aguilar:Show and Tell,was held. Aguilar used visual art to bring forth marginalized identities,especially within the LA Queer scene and Latinx communities. Before the term Intersectionality was used commonly,Aguilar captured the largely invisible identities of large bodied,queer,working-class,brown people in the form of portraits. Often using her naked body as a subject,she used photography to empower herself and her inner struggles to reclaim her own identity as "Laura"- a lesbian,fat,disabled,and brown person. Although work on Chicana/os is limited,Aguilar has become an essential figure in Chicano art history and is often regarded as an early "pioneer of intersectional feminism" for her outright and uncensored work. Some of her most well-known works are Three Eagles Flying,The Plush Pony Series,and Nature Self Portraits. Aguilar has been noted for her collaboration with cultural scholars such as Yvonne Yarbo-Berjano and receiving inspiration from other artists like Judy Dater. She was well known for her portraits,mostly of herself,and also focused upon people in marginalized communities,including LGBT and Latino subjects,self-love,and social stigma of obesity.
Cecilia Preciado de Burciaga was a Chicana scholar,activist and educator. Burciaga worked for over twenty years at Stanford University where she was the "highest ranking Latino administrator on campus." She advocated for the university to hire more women and people of color when she was a high-ranking administrator at Stanford. She was also extremely committed to enrolling more Chicano students,especially in graduate studies. Burciaga served on the National Advisory on Women with President Jimmy Carter and for President Bill Clinton as a member of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. An award named after her and her husband,JoséAntonio Burciaga,is given at Stanford to students who show significant contributions to the community.
This is a Mexican American bibliography. This list consists of books,and journal articles,about Mexican Americans,Chicanos,and their history and culture. The list includes works of literature whose subject matter is significantly about Mexican Americans and the Chicano/a experience. This list does not include works by Mexican American writers which do not address the topic,such as science texts by Mexican American writers.
Carmen Tafolla is an internationally acclaimed Chicana writer from San Antonio,Texas,and a professor emerita of bicultural bilingual studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Tafolla served as the poet laureate of San Antonio from 2012 to 2014,and was named the Poet Laureate of Texas for 2015–16. Tafolla has written more than thirty books,and won multiple literary awards. She is one of the most highly anthologized Chicana authors in the United States,with her work appearing in more than 300 anthologies.
Patricia Zavella is an anthropologist and professor at the University of California,Santa Cruz in the Latin American and Latino Studies department. She has spent a career advancing Latina and Chicana feminism through her scholarship,teaching,and activism. She was president of the Association of Latina and Latino Anthropologists and has served on the executive board of the American Anthropological Association. In 2016,Zavella received the American Anthropological Association's award from the Committee on Gender Equity in Anthropology to recognize her career studying gender discrimination. The awards committee said Zavella’s career accomplishments advancing the status of women,and especially Latina and Chicana women have been exceptional. She has made critical contributions to understanding how gender,race,nation,and class intersect in specific contexts through her scholarship,teaching,advocacy,and mentorship. Zavella’s research focuses on migration,gender and health in Latina/o communities,Latino families in transition,feminist studies,and ethnographic research methods. She has worked on many collaborative projects,including an ongoing partnership with Xóchitl Castañeda where she wrote four articles some were in English and others in Spanish. The Society for the Anthropology of North America awarded Zavella the Distinguished Career Achievement in the Critical Study of North America Award in the year 2010. She has published many books including,most recently,"I'm Neither Here Nor There,Mexicans"Quotidian Struggles with Migration and Poverty,which focuses on working class Mexican Americans struggle for agency and identity in Santa Cruz County.
Vicki Lynn Ruiz is an American historian who has written or edited 14 books and published over 60 essays. Her work focuses on Mexican-American women in the twentieth century. She is a recipient of the National Humanities Medal.
A Chicano mural is an artistic expression done,most commonly,on walls or ceilings by Chicanos or Mexican-American artists. Chicano murals rose during the Chicano art movement,that began in the 1960,with the influence of Mexican muralism and the Mexican Revolution. The murals are an illustration of Chicano’s ethnic pride or a form of activism against police brutality,social issues,political issues,and civil rights issues. It started being done by young Chicano artists in commonly marginalized neighborhoods,schools,and churches,demonstrating cultural art and ideas. The murals are characterized by their art style of bright color,religious symbols,and cultural references to Mexican and Mexican American history. Chicano murals have been and are historically found in the Southwest states like Texas,Colorado,and most famously,California,where the national landmark Chicano Park is located. The popularity of the Chicano Murals has allowed a sense of community,culture,activism,and storytelling about elements of being Chicano. Various states are currently looking to preserve and restore some murals as they carry historical meaning for the geographical community and the Mexican-American community.