Cynthia Ann Orozco | |
---|---|
Born | |
Academic background | |
Education | University of Texas, Austin (BA) University of California, Los Angeles (MA)(PhD) |
Thesis | The origins of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the Mexican American civil rights movement in Texas with an analysis of women's political participation in a gendered context, 1910-1929 (1992) |
Influences | Adela Sloss-Vento |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Eastern New Mexico University,Ruidoso |
Main interests | Mexican American women,League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) |
Cynthia Ann Orozco (also Cynthia E. Orozco) is a professor of history and humanities at Eastern New Mexico University known for her work establishing the field of Chicana studies.
Orozco was born in Cuero,Texas to community activist and writer Aurora E. Orozco and Primitivo Orozco. [1] Orozco attended Southwest Texas State University,and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. [2] Orozco earned her Ph.D. from the University of California,Los Angeles in 1992. [3]
Orozco is known for her work in Chicana Studies. [4] Orozco's work has been discussed by Ernesto Chávez who described the history of the movement in his 2013 article, [5] and by Sonia Hernández in her 2015 article on Mexican(a) labor history. [6] She served as a coordinator of the Women’s Unit of the Chicano Studies Research Center which advanced Chicana Studies courses and research at the University of California,Los Angeles. [7] She authored “Getting Started in Chicano Studies”for a women's studies journal, [8] and co-founded the Chicana Caucus of National Association for Chicano Studies. [9] Orozco spoke at the 1984 conference in Austin,its first conference focused on women,and the resulting essay “Sexism in Chicano Studies”was published in Chicana Voices. [10]
Orozco has taught at Eastern New Mexico University in Ruidoso since 2000 where she advocated for the establishment of tenure as university policy. [11] She wrote No Mexicans,Women or Dogs Allowed:The Rise of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement,the first scholarly history of the origins of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). [12] The book was reviewed by multiple journals. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] Orozco has written about the activist Adela Sloss-Vento, [18] [19] in a book that was reviewed by other journals. [20] [21] [22] In 2020,Orozco published a book about the civil rights activist Alonso Perales. [23]
In 2012 the Texas State Historical Association named Orozco a fellow, [24] [25] and New Mexico League of United Latin American Citizens named her Educator of the Year. [26] In 2015,she was one of the 'emerging leaders' named by the American Library Association. [27] In 2018,she received the Eastern New Mexico University-Ruidoso National Society of Leadership and Success "Excellence in Teaching Award". [28] In 2020,her book Agent of Change received the Liz Carpenter award from the Texas State Historical Association. [29]
Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label Chicano is sometimes used interchangeably with Mexican American, although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American identity was related to encouraging assimilation into White American society and separating the community from the African-American political struggle, Chicano identity emerged among anti-assimilationist youth. Some belonged to the Pachuco subculture, and claimed the term. The term Chicano was widely reclaimed by ethnic Mexicans in the 1960s and 1970s to express political empowerment, ethnic solidarity, and pride in being of Indigenous descent, diverging from the more assimilationist Mexican American term. Chicano Movement leaders collaborated with Black Power movement. Chicano youth in barrios rejected cultural assimilation into whiteness and embraced their identity and worldview as a form of empowerment and resistance.
The Brown Berets is a pro-Chicano paramilitary organization that emerged during the Chicano Movement in the late 1960s. David Sanchez and Carlos Montes co-founded the group modeled after the Black Panther Party. The Brown Berets was part of the Third World Liberation Front. It worked for educational reform, farmworkers' rights, and against police brutality and the Vietnam War. It also sought to separate the American Southwest from the control of the United States government.
Chicanismo is the ideology behind the Chicano movement. It is an ideology based on a number of important factors that helped shape a social uprising in order to fight for the liberties of Mexican-Americans. Chicanismo was shaped by a number of intellectuals and influential activists as well as by the artistic and political sphere, and the many contributors to the ideology collaborated to create a strong sense of self-identity within the Chicano community. Cultural affirmation became one of the main methods of developing Chicanismo. This cultural affirmation was achieved by bringing a new sense of nationalism for Mexican-Americans, drawing ties to the long-forgotten history of Chicanos in lands that were very recently Mexican, and creating a symbolic connection to the ancestral ties of Mesoamerica and the Nahuatl language.
The Chicano Movement, also referred to as El Movimiento, was a social and political movement in the United States inspired by prior acts of resistance among people of Mexican descent, especially of Pachucos in the 1940s and 1950s, and the Black Power movement, that worked to embrace a Chicano/a identity and worldview that combated structural racism, encouraged cultural revitalization, and achieved community empowerment by rejecting assimilation. Before this, Chicano/a had been a term of derision, adopted by some Pachucos as an expression of defiance to Anglo-American society. With the rise of Chicanismo, Chicano/a became a reclaimed term in the 1960s and 1970s, used to express political autonomy, ethnic and cultural solidarity, and pride in being of Indigenous descent, diverging from the assimilationist Mexican-American identity. Chicanos also expressed solidarity and defined their culture through the development of Chicano art during El Movimiento, and stood firm in preserving their religion.
Chicana feminism is a sociopolitical movement in the United States that scrutinizes the historical, cultural, spiritual, educational, and economical intersections in which Chicana women identify as. Chicana feminism is empowering and demands women within this movement to challenge institutionalized social norms that contribute to the stereotypes and oppressions of their ascribed identities. Most importantly, Chicana feminism is a movement, theory, and praxis that encourages women to reclaim their existence between and among the Chicano Movement and American feminist movement.
Chicana/o studies, also known as Chican@ studies, originates from the Chicano Movement of the late 1960s and 1970s, and is the study of the Chicana/o and Latina/o experience. Chican@ studies draws upon a variety of fields, including history, sociology, the arts, and Chican@ literature. The area of studies additionally emphasizes the importance of Chican@ educational materials taught by Chican@ educators for Chican@ students.
Las Adelitas de Aztlán was a short-lived Mexican American female civil rights organization that was created by Gloria Arellanes and Gracie and Hilda Reyes in 1970. Gloria Arellanes and Gracie and Hilda Reyes were all former members of the Brown Berets, another Mexican American Civil rights organization that had operated concurrently during the 1960s and 1970s in the California area. The founders left the Brown Berets due to enlarging gender discrepancies and disagreements that caused much alienation amongst their female members. The Las Adelitas De Aztlan advocated for Mexican-American Civil rights, better conditions for workers, protested police brutality and advocated for women's rights for the Latino community. The name of the organization was a tribute to Mexican female soldiers or soldaderas that fought during the Mexican Revolution of the early twentieth century.
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". Some may refer to Mexican American literature in part as Chicano literature, but it has roots going back further than the term’s origin.
Martha P. Cotera is a librarian, writer, and influential activist of both the Chicano Civil Rights Movement and the Chicana Feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Her two most notable works are Diosa y Hembra: The History and Heritage of Chicanas in the U.S. and The Chicana Feminist. Cotera was one of six women featured in a documentary, Las Mujeres de la Caucus Chicana, which recounts the experiences of some of the Chicana participants of the 1977 National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas.
The Chicano Art Movement represents groundbreaking movements by Mexican-American artists to establish a unique artistic identity in the United States. Much of the art and the artists creating Chicano Art were heavily influenced by Chicano Movement which began in the 1960s.
Francisca Flores was a labor rights activist, an early Chicana feminist, a journal editor, and an anti-poverty activist.
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.
Hijas de Cuauhtémoc was a student Chicana feminist newspaper founded in 1971 by Anna Nieto-Gómez and Adelaida Castillo while both were students at California State University, Long Beach.
The Chicana Rights Project(CRP) was a feminist organization created in 1974 to address the legal rights of poor Mexican-American women. The organization was guided by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and created by Vilma Martinez. The project was headquartered in San Francisco and San Antonio.
La Conferencia de Mujeres por la Raza was held in Houston, Texas between May 28 and May 30 in 1971. The conference marked the first time Mexican-American feminists came together within the state from around the country to discuss issues important to feminism and Chicana women. It was considered the first conference of its kind by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
Emma Pérez is an American author and professor, known for her work in queer Chicana feminist studies.
Mexican-American folklore refers to the tales and history of Chicano people who live in the United States.
Adela Sloss-Vento was born Karnes City, Texas to Anselma Garza and David Henry Sloss. As a young American woman of Mexican descent, she was determined to become a writer, hailing from southern Texas, educated in San Juan, later lived in Corpus Christi during World War II, and then settled in Edinburg, she used her pen as weapon for more than sixty years, countering racial discrimination and exploitation of laborers, all the while championing the civil rights of Mexican Americans through the written word.
The term Chicanafuturism was originated by scholar Catherine S. Ramírez which she introduced in Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies in 2004. The term is a portmanteau of 'chicana' and 'futurism', inspired by the developing movement of Afrofuturism. The word 'chicana' refers to a woman or girl of Mexican origin or descent. However, 'Chicana' itself serves as a chosen identity for many female Mexican Americans in the United States, to express self-determination and solidarity in a shared cultural, ethnic, and communal identity while openly rejecting assimilation. Ramírez created the concept of Chicanafuturism as a response to white androcentrism that she felt permeated science-fiction and American society. Chicanafuturism can be understood as part of a larger genre of Latino futurisms.
Alonso S. Perales was a Mexican American lawyer, diplomat, and civil rights activist based in Texas. He was a founder of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and served as the second president, helping write its constitution. Perales also served as a diplomat in the Eisenhower administration.
Among this group was Cynthia Orozco, who, while a UCLA history graduate student, wrote about this new perspective in the pages of La Red/The Net. While Chicanos in the previous generation had been influenced by social history and its focus on community studies, Chicanas were inspired by developments in U.S. women’s history. In her article, Orozco argued that ‘‘Chicano historians must pose new questions and reconsider traditional questions in light of women’s experiences.’
...newer works by historians Maylei Blackwell and Cynthia Orozco have recognized the way in which Chicanas in the 1960s and 1970s built upon the activism of their Mexicana predecessors in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
This article needs additional or more specific categories .(January 2022) |