Formation | 1972 |
---|---|
Founded at | San Antonio, Texas |
Type | Academic Organization |
Services | Serves "academic programs, departments and research centers that focus on issues pertaining to Mexican Americans, Chicana/os, and Latina/os." |
The National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS) is "the academic organization that serves academic programs, departments and research centers that focus on issues pertaining to Mexican Americans, Chicana/os, and Latina/os." [1] Unlike many professional academic associations, NACCS "rejects mainstream research, which promotes an integrationist perspective that emphasizes consensus, assimilation, and legitimization of societal institutions. NACCS promotes research that directly confronts structures of inequality based on class, race and gender privileges in U.S. society." [2] The association is based in San Jose, California.
NACCS was formed in 1972 in San Antonio, Texas, when attendees of the yearly meeting of the Southwestern Social Science Association discussed "the need for a national association of Chicana/o scholar activists." [2] Discussants proposed the foundation of a National Caucus of Chicano Social Scientists (NCCSS). The NCCSS held its first meeting in New Mexico, chaired by Jaime Sena-Rivera, in May 1973 to discuss the organization's structure, ideology, and to set up a coordinating committee. [3] Approximately fifty Chicano scholars were at this first meeting. [3] At another meeting at the University of California, Irvine in November of the same year, the organization was officially named the National Association of Chicano Social Scientists (NACSS).
NACSS became a place for Chicana/o scholars to share their work, research and help establish Chicana/o studies in higher education. [3] By 1975, it was still the only "national gathering of faculty, students and researchers specifically focusing on Chicano Studies and research." [3]
In 1976, members voted to rename the organization National Association for Chicano Studies (NACS). By 1977, the NACS was considered a very successful organization that was able to manage the growth of Chicana/o studies. [3]
In 1995, the organization was again renamed. Members chose the name National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies "in recognition of the critical contribution and role of Chicanas in the association." [2]
The association is led by a coordinating committee made up of representatives from nine regional "focos" and the chairs of 8 caucuses. The coordinating committee selects a national coordinator, secretary, and treasurer from among its ranks. In 2006, the membership began electing a chair, secretary, treasurer and three at-large representatives to the coordinating committee. The coordinating committee, reorganized as the national board, established a subgroup called "Research Divisions." In 2010 the divisions were voted out of the association.
NACCS hosts an annual conference at which scholars present research papers from the social sciences, humanities, and other fields of study. The first such conference was held in Irvine in 1974, and was titled "Action Research: Community Control." Today, conferences attract from 500 to 1000 participants and as many as 90-110 panels.
The association also awards an annual "NACCS Scholar Award," which is intended to honor a lifetime of accomplishment in the field of Chicano and Chicana studies. Notable past recipients include Carey McWilliams, Américo Paredes, Julián Samora, Tomás Rivera, Rodolfo Acuña, and Gloria Anzaldúa.
Each foco and caucus also has a listserve to keep members updated about association activities.
On its website, NACCS publishes a web-based Directory of Chicana/o, Latina/o, and Latin American Studies Program, Research and Policy Centers, a regionally-indexed list. [4] It also publishes the proceedings of its annual conferences, a quarterly newsletter,
Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for Mexican Americans in the United States. The identity has also evolved into Xicano or Xicana and, more recently, Xicanx. Chicano/a is sometimes used interchangeably with Mexican American, although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican American identity emerged to encourage assimilation into white American society and separate the community from African American political struggle, Chicano/a identity emerged among anti-assimilationist youth, some of whom belonged to the Pachuco/a subculture, who reclaimed the term. Chicano/a was widely reclaimed 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 identity. Chicano Movement leaders were influenced by and collaborated with Black Power leaders and activists. Chicano/a youth in barrios rejected cultural assimilation into whiteness and embraced their identity and worldview as a form of empowerment and resistance.
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 Hispanic 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, and experiences of Hispanic 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.
Norma Elia Cantú is a Chicana postmodernist writer and the Murchison Professor in the Humanities at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
Chicana feminism, also called Xicanisma, is a sociopolitical movement in the United States that analyzes the historical, cultural, spiritual, educational, and economic intersections of Mexican-American women that identify as Chicana. Chicana feminism challenges the stereotypes that Chicanas face across lines of gender, ethnicity, race, class, and sexuality. Most importantly, Chicana feminism serves as a movement, theory and praxis that helps women reclaim their existence between and among the Chicano Movement and American feminist movements.
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.
Elizabeth "Betita" Martínez is an American Chicana feminist and a long-time community organizer, activist, author, and educator. She has written 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 has been 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."
Juan Gómez-Quiñones was an American historian, professor of history, poet, and activist. He was best known for his work in the field of Chicana/o history. As a co-editor of the Plan de Santa Bárbara, an educational manifesto for the implementation of Chicano studies programs in universities nationwide, he was an influential figure in the development of the field.
Bilingual Review Press is an American publishing house specialising in the publication of scholarly and literary works by Hispanic and Latino American authors and researchers. It was founded in 1973 as the publisher of The Bilingual Review/La revista bilingüe, a new academic and literary journal with a focus on Spanish-English bilingualism, bilingual studies and Hispanic literature that was first issued in 1974. Under the imprint name Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe the press also publishes and distributes book titles by or about Hispanic and Latin American authors, covering literary fiction, poetry as well as non-fiction titles relating to Chicano and Latin American studies. Bilingual Press publishes from 8 to 10 titles annually, with an accumulated back catalogue of more than 150 titles under the imprint in both English and Spanish as well as some bilingual editions. The publisher is also a distributor of related titles from other presses, as of 2008 numbering over a thousand releases.
The Bilingual Review/La revista bilingüe is a triannual peer-reviewed open access academic and literary journal covering research on Spanish-English bilingualism, bilingual education, and Hispanic American literature. It was previously published by Bilingual Review Press, which is affiliated with the Hispanic Research Center at Arizona State University. The current publisher is the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Tara J. Yosso, Ph.D. is a professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Riverside. Dr. Yosso’s research and teaching apply the frameworks of critical race theory and critical media literacy to examine educational access and opportunity. She is specifically interested in understanding the ways Communities of Color have historically utilized an array of cultural knowledge, skills, abilities, and networks to navigate structures of racial discrimination in pursuit of educational equality. She has authored numerous collaborative and interdisciplinary chapters and articles in publications such as the Harvard Educational Review,International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education,Journal of Popular Film and Television, and The Blackwell Companion to Social Inequalities. She has been awarded a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship for Diversity and Excellence in University Teaching, and honored with a Derrick Bell Legacy Award from the Critical Race Studies in Education Association. She is extensively cited within and beyond the field of education.
María Guillermina (Guille) Valdes Villalva was a Chicana scholar and activist born in El Paso, Texas. She was considered an "authority" and "pioneer" on researching United States-Mexico border issues and had a "lifelong commitment to social justice."
Nancy “Rusty” Barceló is the former and infamous president of Northern New Mexico College, she is a leading figure with National Initiative for Women in Higher Education (NIWHE). She has chaired Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS) as well as the Washington State Native American Advisory Board (NAAB). In 2004, Barceló was awarded the Ohtli award, which is a special recognition presented by the Mexican government to Mexicans or Latinos whose work has benefited Mexicans living abroad. In addition, Barcelo was a University of Iowa alum who also held positions at the University of Iowa and later at the University of Minnesota, as well as the University of Washington.
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.
Yolanda Broyles-González is a Yaqui-Chicana professor, writer, and activist. Her teaching and research focus on Native American culture in addition the popular performance genres of the US-Mexico borderlands.
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.
Mexican American Women's National Association, known today as MANA, A National Latina Organization, advocates for equality and empowers Latinas through leadership development. MANA was founded in 1974, making it one of the oldest active Mexican-American advocacy organizations, and as of 2000, it is considered the largest Latina organization in the United States. The organization was formed to address the intersection of Mexican-American and women's needs for equal rights. The founders created MANA with the intent of having a Latina-oriented organization. MANA publicizes and addresses Latina perspectives and needs through Social movements, Leadership education, and Advocacy within federal, state, and local governments. They have been involved with multiple major social movements throughout their history. These include advocating for the Equal Rights Amendment and Reproductive rights, as well as social movements on education, leadership development, women's healthcare, and racial discrimination in the work. MANA currently operates from its home base in Washington, D.C. and has local chapters across the nation.
Emma Pérez is an American author and professor, known for her work in queer Chicana feminist studies.
Refugio I. Rochin is an American professor emeritus in agricultural and resource economics and Chicana/o studies at the University of California, Davis, director emeritus at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and instructor at Pennsylvania State University World Campus. He is an expert on rural Latinas/os and Latina/o Studies.
Monica Muñoz Martinez is the Stanley J. Bernstein Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University and an Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Her research has been supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and the Texas State Historical Association. She has received praise for her work on several public history projects and her first book, The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas was published in 2018 and received numerous awards.