Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies
UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
Vol. 39, No. 2,
Fall 2014
Aztlán presents original research that is relevant to or informed by the Chicano experience. An interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal, Aztlán focuses on scholarly essays in the humanities, social sciences, and arts, supplemented by thematic pieces in the dosier section, an artist’s communiqué, a review section, and a commentary by the editor, Charlene Villaseñor Black. Aztlán seeks ways to bring Chicano studies into critical dialogue with Latino, ethnic, American, and global studies.
The opening essays of the Fall 2014 issue explore the institutionalization of race and gender.
The first essay analyzes mid-century authorization records for compulsory sterilization in California, an effort that targeted women of Mexican origin. The second traces the history of colorism and examines the experiences of four women of Mexican descent whose narratives reveal that colorism is perpetuated in the family. The third essay relates the formation of the Association of Latin American Gardeners of Los Angeles and its remarkable victory for its working-class members. Rounding out the essay section is an analysis of the use of the butterfly as a metaphor for queer Chicanos and Latinos—mariposas—and how this imagery can facilitate the development of an empowering “mariposa consciousness.”
The dossier section honors Sal Castro, a major historical figure of the Chicano movement, who is perhaps best known for his role in the 1968 “blowouts,” when thousands of Chicana/o students walked out of their East LA classrooms to protest educational inequities. The artist’s communiqué features the work of Linda Vallejo.
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