University of California, Los Angeles

Csar E. Chvez Department of Chicana/o Studies

CCS10A: History, Culture and Identity

Fall 2015
Lecture 1
M &W: 10:00 11:50 a.m.
Broad 2160E
Professor Robert Chao Romero
Office: 7353 Bunche Hall
Phone: (310) 206-2813
E-mail: rcromero@ucla.edu
Office Hours: M 1-2, W 1-2
Course Description:
This course is an introduction to the history, culture, and identity of Chicanas/os. The
purpose is to familiarize students with the diversity and complexity of the Chicana/o
experience and to introduce some basic issues central to that experience. Beginning with
the initial contact between Europeans and indigenous peoples as part of the Spanish
conquest, we will examine the historical formation of Chicana/o identity through the
ongoing cultural process of mestizaje. Subsequently, well explore the changing
configurations and diverse expressions of Chicana/o identity across space and time.
Because this is a humanities-based course, the emphasis of readings and lectures is upon
culture and its relation to the historic development of legal, political, economic, and
sexual inequalities.
Course Requirements:
Midterm 30% (blue-book exam written in lecture)
Final 50% (take-home)
Participation 10% (discussion sections)
Creative Project 10%
Note on T.A. Sections: Section 1A is the honors section; section 1K is the Spanish
language section.
Required Texts:
The Chicano Studies Reader: An Anthology of Aztlan, 1970-2010. Chon Noriega.
Chicana Power!: Contested Histories of Feminism in the Chicano Movement. Maylei
Blackwell.

The Chinese in Mexico, 1882-1940. Robert Chao Romero

From Out of the Shadows: Mexican American Women in the Twentieth
Century. Vicki Ruiz
Crucible of Struggle: A History of Mexican Americans from the Colonial Period to the
Present Era. Zaragoza Vargas
In addition to the required texts, other readings are available online, for free. Some
require access through a UCLA proxy server.
Your T.A. will hold weekly office hours in 7339 Bunche Hall, check with her or
him for exact times.
Absences:
You are required to attend both lectures and discussion section on a regular basis. Failure
to do so will result in a lower grade. You will be allowed 1 free absence from your
discussion section. After the first absence, each unexcused absence will lower your
course grade by 1/3 of a grade (for example, from B to B-).
Midterm:
The midterm will be held in class on Monday, November 2 (6th week). The midterm will
consist of two essays which test your understanding of the lectures and readings for the
first half of the class. Bring two bluebooks.
Discussion Section Creative Project:
Students will complete a creative project as part of discussion section. Teaching assistants
will administer.
The Take-Home Final:
This is not a research paper, but an in-depth, well-written response to two questions that
ask you to analyze the readings and issues brought up in lecture throughout the term.
Your final exam must be typed, double-spaced, and clearly marked with
your section number and the name of your T.A. Final exams should be submitted through
Turn-it-In by Wednesday, December 9, at 11:59 p.m.
Week One: Introduction and Chicana/o Identity
September 28 Introduction: Who is a Chicana/o?; syllabus review
September 30 What is Chicana/o Identity? Introduction to Social Identity Theory
Readings:

Hurtado and Gurin. Social Identities -- A Framework for Studying the Adaptations of
Immigrants and Ethnics: The Adaptations of Mexicans in the United States.
http://wwow.jstr.org/stable/3096846?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
I Am Joaquin: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/latinos/joaquin.htm
Chicano Studies Reader: Refiguring Aztln. Rafael Prez-Torres
Week Two: Chicana/o Identity in Film and The Spanish Conquest
October 5
Film: Mi Familia
October 7 The Spanish Conquest and the Sistema de Castas
Readings:
Vargas, Chapter 1
Patricia Seed. "Social Dimensions of Race: Mexico City, 1753.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2514568?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Broken Spears:
http://www.lawndalehs.org/apps/download/2/cmhQfzf9984duOYq5yoAlx1fQFcd8s0
3YhuA4TuDdW4TYiIs.pdf/Aztec_Broken_Spears_Selection.pdf
Week Three: The Mexican-American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo;
the Great Migration
October 12 The Mexican-American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
October 14 The Great Migration, Labor, and Americanization
Readings:
Vargas, Chapters 3, 6
Manifest Destiny: The Mexican American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo. Richard Griswold del Castillo. http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?
handle=hein.journals/sjlta5&div=10&g_sent=1&collection=journals

Week Four: Latinos and the Law

October 19 Housing and Educational Segregation: Doss v. Bernal and Mendez v.
Westminster
October 21
Readings:
Vargas, Chapters 8,9
Robert Chao Romero, CSRC Research Note on Doss v. Bernal,
www.chicano.ucla.edu/press/reports/documents/RR14.pdf
Richard Valencia. The Mexican American Struggle for Equal Educational Opportunity
in Mendez v. Westminster: Helping to Pave the Way for Brown v. Board of Education.
http://www.school-diversity.org/pdf/Valencia_The_Mexican_American_Struggle.pdf
Week Five: The Rural Chicana/o Movement
Religion in Chicano Identity and the Civil Rights Movement
October 26 Csar Chvez, Dolores Huerta, and the United Farm Workers
October 28 Religion in Chicana/o Identity and the Civil Rights Movement
Readings:
Vargas, Chapter 10
Ruiz, Chapter 4
Chicano Studies Reader: A Perspective for a Study of Religious Dimensions in
Chicano Experience: Bless Me, Ultima as a Religious Text. David Carrasco
Film: Cesar Chavez
Week Six: The Urban Chicana/o Movement
November 2

Midterm

November 4 The East L.A. Blowouts; the National Chicano Liberation Youth
Conference of 1969
Readings:
Vargas, Chapter 10
Ruiz, Chapter 5
Chicano Studies Reader: The Folklore of the Freeway: Space, Culture, and Identity in
Postwar Los Angeles. Eric Avila
El Plan Espiritual de Aztln: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/00W/chicano1011/aztlan.htm
Week Seven: Chicanas and the Civil Rights Movement
November 9 Chicana Insurgencies: Anna NietoGomez and the Hijas de Cuahtmoc
November 11 Chicana Feminisms: Liberal Feminism, Insurgent Feminism, and Cultural
Nationalist Feminism.
Readings:
Blackwell, Chapters 1, 2,3,5
Chicano Studies Reader: Beyond Indifference and Antipathy: The Chicana Movement
and Chicana Feminist Discourse. Denise A. Segura Beatriz M. Pesquera
Week Eight: Chicanas and the Civil Rights Movement (continued)
Undocumented Immigration and Chicana/o Identity
November 16 Immigrant Contributions, Arizona SB-1070, and Comprehensive
Immigration Reform
November 18 IDEAS and the Undocumented Student Movement
Readings:
Ruiz, chapter 5
Chicano Studies Reader: Illegal Status and Social Citizenship: Thoughts on Mexican
Immigrants in a Postnational World. Adelaida R. Del Castillo

Leisy Abrego: I Cant Go to College Because I Dont Have Paper: Incorporation

Patterns of Latino Undocumented Youth.
http://erm387s2015.coursepress.yale.edu/wpcontent/uploads/sites/199/2015/02/INCORPORATION-PATTERNS-OF-LATINOUNDOCUMENTED-YOUTH.pdf
Film: Papers
Week Nine: Asians and Chicano/Latino Identity
November 23 The Chinese in Mexico
November 25 The Chinese in Mexico, Mexipinos, and Asian-Latinos
Readings:
Romero, Chapters 1,4,6,7
Week Ten: Central Americans and Chicana/o Identity
November 30 Central Americans and Chicana/o Identity
December 2

Conclusion.

Readings:
Leisy Abrego, Sacrificing Families: Navigating Laws, Labor, and Love Across Borders.
Introduction, Chapters 1-4. (Free online access through UCLA:
http://ucelinks.cdlib.org:8888/sfx_local?sid=SCP:DDA&genre=book&pid=
%253Cebrary%253E10834377%253C%252Febrary%253E)
Finals Week
Final Exams Due Wednesday, December 9 by 11:59 p.m. Submit via Turn-it-In.