What is Chicano Literature?
MA, Sociology (Freie Universität Berlin)
Date Published: 02.07.2024,
Last Updated: 03.07.2024
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Defining Chicano literature
Chicano literature is a literary genre that emerged as part of the Chicano Movement during the 1960s. Chicanos are people of Mexican descent residing in the United States and associated works of writing offer an exploration of this ethnic identity shaped by life in the borderlands between the two countries. The contributions of Chicano literature are also significant because they shed light on experiences of marginalization and discrimination within a dominant Anglo (white, English-speaking) America. As Sara E. Martínez reflects in The Chicano Movement,
The Chicano movement was born in the frustration and humiliation of veterans who had served their country only to be barred from businesses who would not serve Mexicans or dogs; it was born from the sweat, toil, blood, and tears of farmworkers who had been exploited and abused for too long; it was born in the thirst for justice of a people who had lost their land and been shunted off to the barrios; it was born of women finding themselves the victims of forced sterilization [...] It was nurtured by [...] wild creativity in music and literature; and by incremental successes and great challenges—marches, eloquent speeches, moratoriums, and solidaridad. (2017)
Sara E. Martínez
The Chicano movement was born in the frustration and humiliation of veterans who had served their country only to be barred from businesses who would not serve Mexicans or dogs; it was born from the sweat, toil, blood, and tears of farmworkers who had been exploited and abused for too long; it was born in the thirst for justice of a people who had lost their land and been shunted off to the barrios; it was born of women finding themselves the victims of forced sterilization [...] It was nurtured by [...] wild creativity in music and literature; and by incremental successes and great challenges—marches, eloquent speeches, moratoriums, and solidaridad. (2017)
In this study guide, we’ll explore key themes of this genre as exemplified in the music, literature, speeches and manifestos that shaped it. We’ll also delve deeper into the historical context that produced the borderland consciousness that distinguishes this literary subfield. Finally, we’ll conclude with some critical reflections on Chicano literature and why it remains influential today.
Historical context
While in simple terms, one could describe the Chicano people as those of Mexican descent now residing in the contemporary United States, this definition is somewhat misleading. This is because up until the mid-19th century, a large portion of the US was actually part of Mexico, including the states of Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, California, and significant portions of present-day Arizona, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming. Thus, Chicanos are not recent emigrants from Mexico now living in the US. Rather, their presence in these regions far outdates the existence of the latter nation.
This is a core tenant of the Chicano Movement, which advocates for a revival of the Aztec concept of Aztlán, which is understood as the ancestral homeland of the people of this region, predating the modern borders that bifurcate it. As Alfredo Mirandé explains in The Chicano Experience,
Beginning with the premise that Chicanos are not a recent immigrant group but native to the Southwest and the American continent, the relationship between Chicanos and the dominant society becomes one not of a voluntary, mobile immigrant group and a host society but of an indigenous people and an invading nation. The initial introduction of Chicanos into U.S. society was forced and involuntary, as in the case of Blacks and Native Americans, and came at the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848. [...] The birth of the Chicano, then, can be traced to the military conquest and forceful incorporation of Mexico’s northern territory and its inhabitants into the United States, ratified by the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. (2022)
Alfredo Mirandé
Beginning with the premise that Chicanos are not a recent immigrant group but native to the Southwest and the American continent, the relationship between Chicanos and the dominant society becomes one not of a voluntary, mobile immigrant group and a host society but of an indigenous people and an invading nation. The initial introduction of Chicanos into U.S. society was forced and involuntary, as in the case of Blacks and Native Americans, and came at the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848. [...] The birth of the Chicano, then, can be traced to the military conquest and forceful incorporation of Mexico’s northern territory and its inhabitants into the United States, ratified by the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. (2022)
It follows that Aztlán is an important theme in Chicano literature. Yet the realities of life on the borderland are equally so because it, in turn, produced a new kind of hybrid identity that could not be neatly reduced to Mexican or American. It was at these interstices that Chicano identity was born.
Chicano literature also deals with the remnants and impacts of Spanish colonialism (for more on this, see our study guide on postcolonialism), as well as the growing disparities between the Mexican and US sides of the border—for example between El Paso, Texas, and nearby Juaréz, Mexico as well as between San Diego, California, and the neighboring Mexican City of Tijuana. More recently, particularly following the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the borderland itself has been subjected to militarization that has affected the fluidity of the borderlands and those residing there. Crossing back and forth for work— or, indeed, even having families spread across both sides of the border—has become increasingly difficult in this context.
Themes and examples of Chicano literature
The aforementioned history, along with the resultant forms of fragmentation, hybridity, oppression, and resilience all play out in the Chicano identity, and therefore, are reflected in the literary movement. The genre engages with the pre-Columbian heritage of the Chicano people and explores the ways that the contemporary borderland complicates this identity. It also grapples with the forms of discrimination and social exclusion Chicanos experience, with a growing emphasis on the particular experiences of women and queer people in this regard. Finally, Chicano literature serves as a celebration and alternative canonization of Chicano experience outside of the Anglo-American cultural hegemony.
Pre-columbian heritage
Chicano literature serves as a celebration of Mexican-Americans’ pre-Columbian heritage, reconnecting with roots that date back to before colonization and the imposition of man-made borders. It is meant as a revival of concepts like Aztlán as a means of transcending the more recent geopolitical context following the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1858 and onward. Aztlán figures feature heavily in many key works of Chicano literature such as the manifesto, “El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán,” which opens with the following invocations,
In the spirit of a new people that is conscious not only of its proud historical heritage but also of the brutal “gringo” invasion of our territories, we, the Chicano inhabitants and civilizers of the northern land of Aztlán from whence came our forefathers, reclaiming the land of their birth and consecrating the determination of our people of the sun, declare that the call of our blood is our power, our responsibility, and our inevitable destiny.
[...] We are a bronze people with a bronze culture. Before the world, before all of North America, before all our brothers in the bronze continent, we are a nation, we are a union of free pueblos, we are Aztlán. (Rudolfo Anaya, Francisco A. Lomelí, and Enrique R. Lamadrid, Aztlán, 2017)
Edited by Rudolfo Anaya, Francisco A. Lomelí, and Enrique R. Lamadrid
In the spirit of a new people that is conscious not only of its proud historical heritage but also of the brutal “gringo” invasion of our territories, we, the Chicano inhabitants and civilizers of the northern land of Aztlán from whence came our forefathers, reclaiming the land of their birth and consecrating the determination of our people of the sun, declare that the call of our blood is our power, our responsibility, and our inevitable destiny.
[...] We are a bronze people with a bronze culture. Before the world, before all of North America, before all our brothers in the bronze continent, we are a nation, we are a union of free pueblos, we are Aztlán. (Rudolfo Anaya, Francisco A. Lomelí, and Enrique R. Lamadrid, Aztlán, 2017)
This manifesto was adopted by the 1969 Chicano Youth Conference and was influential on the Chicano movement more broadly.
The concept of Aztlán was also key in the broader ideology of “La Raza” (the race), which is a source of Chicano ethnic pride as a group that can trace its roots to this region. Aztlán is also referenced in other influential works of Chicano literature such as Message to Aztlán: Selected Writings (2001) by Rodolfo 'Corky' Gonzales and Borderlands/La Frontera (1987) by Gloria Anzaldúa. In addition, longstanding motifs from Mexican and indigenous folklore are also commonly present in Chicano literature. The legend of La Llorona, the prevalence of maize, and animals like the coyote all play symbolic functions in the genre. (If you find this topic interesting, check out our study guide on folk literature).
Hybrid identity of the borderland
Beyond the invocation of the mythical ancestral homeland, along with the aesthetics and motifs long associated with Mexican culture, the development of the Chicano identity is complicated by the concept of the borderland. Although it is a man-made construct that bifurcates the unity of the mythical Aztlán region, it is a source of fragmentation, liminality, and hybridity in shaping the daily experiences of the Chicano people. This is because the border has created a situation of internal colonization, where Chicanos are marginalized within the US, but over time, they have also developed a distinctive identity that can not merely be reduced to their Mexican roots.
As Gloria Anzaldúa describes in the preface of Borderlands/La Frontera (1987), the borderland is also a psychological and abstract condition that transcends the physical border between the two nations. Anzaldúa writes,
The actual physical borderland that I’m dealing with in this book is the Texas-US Southwest/Mexican border. The psychological borderlands, the sexual borderlands and the spiritual borderlands are not particular to the Southwest. In fact, the Borderlands are physically present wherever two or more cultures edge each other, where people of different races occupy the same territory, where under, lower, middle and upper classes touch, where the space between two individuals shrinks with intimacy. (Quoted in Grażyna Zygadło, Gloria E. Anzaldúa, 2023)
Grażyna Zygadło
The actual physical borderland that I’m dealing with in this book is the Texas-US Southwest/Mexican border. The psychological borderlands, the sexual borderlands and the spiritual borderlands are not particular to the Southwest. In fact, the Borderlands are physically present wherever two or more cultures edge each other, where people of different races occupy the same territory, where under, lower, middle and upper classes touch, where the space between two individuals shrinks with intimacy. (Quoted in Grażyna Zygadło, Gloria E. Anzaldúa, 2023)
In this sense, the borderland takes on both a place-specific meaning as well as a metaphysical one. For example, as Anzaldúa explains,
Living on borders and in margins, keeping intact one's shifting and multiple identity and integrity, is like trying to swim in a new element, an 'alien' element. (Quoted in Grażyna Zygadło, 2023)
What she means here is that the imposition of the borderland produces a hybrid Chicano identity that holds ethnically Mexican and Aztec roots, but has become something distinct. Chicano literature, therefore, is often the exploration of hybrid identities more broadly through the lens of Mexican-Americans residing at this particular border context. The experience of hybridity and fragmentation is also prevalent in the wider literary and theoretical current of postmodernism, which emerged in the second half of the 20th century. (Read more about it in our study guide, “What is Postmodernism?”)
In addition to being a prevalent theme, hybridity also plays out in the blending of various forms and stylistic techniques within Chicano literature. Often, there is a mixture between fiction and non-fiction, as well as between poetry and prose. Additionally, Chicano literature tends to use both Spanish and English interchangeably throughout a given piece of writing, an ode to the Spanglish many Chicanos commonly speak.
To learn more about hybridity, see our guide "What is Hybridity in Postcolonial Theory?"
Social oppression and structural exclusion
The reality of Chicanos living within the US borders is also one of discrimination and marginalization. Writers like Oscar Zeta Acosta, author of The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (1972), describe how often Chicanos were overlooked in discourses around inequality and oppression in the United States that date back centuries but continue into the present. (For more on this, see Madeline Ruth Walker, The Trouble with Sauling Around, 2011).
As Acosta explains in Brown Buffalo,
My father was an Indian from the mountains of Durango. Although I cannot speak his language ... you see, Spanish is the language of our conquerors ... English is the language of our conquerors. ... No one ever asked me or my brother if we wanted to be American citizens. We are all citizens by default. They stole our land and made us half-slaves. They destroyed our gods and made us bow down to a dead man who's been strung up for 2,000 years. (Quoted in Ilan Stavans, Bandido, 2021)
Ilan Stavans
My father was an Indian from the mountains of Durango. Although I cannot speak his language ... you see, Spanish is the language of our conquerors ... English is the language of our conquerors. ... No one ever asked me or my brother if we wanted to be American citizens. We are all citizens by default. They stole our land and made us half-slaves. They destroyed our gods and made us bow down to a dead man who's been strung up for 2,000 years. (Quoted in Ilan Stavans, Bandido, 2021)
Later in the text, he shares how despite being from the borderlands,
One sonofabitch tells me I’m not a Mexican and the other says I’m not American. I got no roots anywhere. (Acosta, 1972, [2018])
These experiences of rootlessness, dispossession, erasure, and exploitation are compounded for the realities of women and LGBTQ+ people who also identify as Chicanx. They simultaneously experience patriarchal oppression and even more exacerbated forms of marginalization, particularly as they were relegated to the home—making them even more vulnerable to being excluded from public life.
(We have a study guide on structural inequality if you’d like to learn more on the topic)
Resilience and resistance
As much as the Chicano experience has been shaped by marginalization within the broader context of Anglo-American culture, the Chicano Movement was also a collective celebration of this culture, as expressed through art, literature, and more. In the 1980s, this was particularly true for Chicana feminism. As Cherríe Moraga says of the Chicana feminist movement in the preface to the anthology, The Bridge Called My Back (1981),
In a real visceral way I hadn’t felt the absence (only assumed the fibers of alienation I so often felt with anglo women as normative). Then for the first time, speaking on a panel about racism here in San Francisco, I could physically touch what I had been missing. There in the front row, nodding encouragement and identification, sat five Latina sisters. [...] After the forum, the six of us walk down Valencia Street singing songs in Spanish. We buy burritos y cerveza from “La Cumbre” and talk our heads off into the night, crying from the impact of such a reunion. Sí, son mis comadres. Something my mother had with her women friends and sisters. Coming home. For once, I didn’t have to choose between being a lesbian and being Chicana; between being a feminist and having family. (1981, [2022])
Edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa
In a real visceral way I hadn’t felt the absence (only assumed the fibers of alienation I so often felt with anglo women as normative). Then for the first time, speaking on a panel about racism here in San Francisco, I could physically touch what I had been missing. There in the front row, nodding encouragement and identification, sat five Latina sisters. [...] After the forum, the six of us walk down Valencia Street singing songs in Spanish. We buy burritos y cerveza from “La Cumbre” and talk our heads off into the night, crying from the impact of such a reunion. Sí, son mis comadres. Something my mother had with her women friends and sisters. Coming home. For once, I didn’t have to choose between being a lesbian and being Chicana; between being a feminist and having family. (1981, [2022])
make visible the experiences of Chicanos in such a way that enabled a celebration and collectivization of this shared identity that had long been relegated to the margins of society.
Criticisms
While the Chicano Movement, including its literary current, enabled a recognition and celebration of Mexican-American heritage and culture, some have argued that it did so in ways that were, at times, pernicious. Specifically, notions of La Raza and a glorification of a narrative surrounding the mythic homeland Aztlán have been labeled as expressions of ethnonationalism and identity essentialism. As Francisco A. Lomelí points out in the introduction of Aztlán,
According to some critics, activists sometimes used myth to prevent expansion into a larger cultural agenda within the Chicano Movement, such as granting women a more central place in the Movement. By privileging a narrow nationalist agenda, they excluded those they meant to serve. (2017)
Thus, just like other forms of ethnonationalism associated with dominant groups, Chicano nationalism can function to exclude the experiences of those who may not fit into a narrow set of criteria—including those most marginalized members such as women and LGBTQ+ groups during the earlier days of the movement.
Regarding the mythic cultural narratives underpinning much of Chicano literature and the movement more broadly, in the same anthology, Lee Bebout also makes the point that,
it is critical to recognize that the nativist Aztlán occludes the contradictions and effects of capitalism, globalization, and neoliberalism. ("The Nativist Aztlán," Aztlán, 2017)
In other words, this kind of essentialist explanation based on mythic history as the basis for what unifies the Chicano people occludes the actual material realities of people who have been systemically oppressed, economically marginalized, subjected to a militarized border regime, and discriminated against across both racial and gender lines.
Closing thoughts
As part of the Chicano Movement, which emerged in the 1960s, Chicano literature helped to shed light on the unique experiences of Mexican Americans and the ways that the realities of the borderlands shaped their lives. It also served as a celebration of their heritage and an assertion that their lineages on the land go back much further than the manmade contours of the contemporary United States. In the 1980s, Chicano literature experienced a feminist and queer current that particularly elevated the experiences of women and LGBTQ+ Chicanos who had hitherto experienced multidimensional forms of oppression and marginalization.
Certain aspects of the Chicano Movement, which are also reflected in its literary narrative characteristics—particularly in terms of the concepts of Aztlán and La Raza—have been deemed by some to have perniciously essentialist and ethnonationalist characteristics. Still, Chicano literature remains popular and influential today, as the broader politics of Latinidad in the US remain complex and uneven. Chicano literature’s contributions are significant in the realms of borderland studies and have created dialogue with those living in other contested border contexts including in South Asia and the Middle East.
Further reading on Perlego
Performing the US Latina and Latino Borderlands (2012) by Arturo J. Aldama,Chela Sandoval,Peter J. García
Criticism in the Borderlands: Studies in Chicano Literature, Culture, and Ideology (1991) by Héctor Calderón, José David Saldívar, Stanley Fish, and Fredric Jameson
The Border and the Line: Race, Literature, and Los Angeles (2019) by Dean J. Franco
Chicana/o and Latina/o Fiction: The New Memory of Latinidad (2016) by Ylce Irizarry
Post-Revolutionary Chicana Literature: Memoir, Folklore and Fiction of the Border, 1900–1950 (2006) by Sam Lopez
Border Crossings and Beyond: The Life and Works of Sandra Cisneros (2009) by Carmen Haydée Rivera
What is Chicano literature in simple terms?
What is an example of Chicano literature?
Who are the figures associated with Chicano literature?
Bibliography
Acosta, O.Z. (2018) Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo. Tangerine Press.
Anaya, R., Lomelí, F.A., Lamadrid, E.R. (2017) Aztlán: Essays on the Chicano Homeland. Revised and Expanded Edition. University of New Mexico Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1588918/aztln-essays-on-the-chicano-homeland-revised-and-expanded-edition
Anzaldúa, G. (2021) Borderlands / La frontera: La nueva mestiza. CAPITÁN SWING LIBROS. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2086893/borderlands-la-frontera-la-nueva-mestiza
Anzaldúa, G. (1987) Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Aunt Lute Books.
Bebout, L. (2017) "The Nativist Aztlán," in Anaya, R., Lomelí, F.A., Lamadrid, E.R. (eds.) Aztlán: Essays on the Chicano Homeland. Revised and Expanded Edition. University of New Mexico Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1588918/aztln-essays-on-the-chicano-homeland-revised-and-expanded-edition
Gonzales, R. and Esquibel, A. (2021) Message to Aztlán. Arte Público Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2968681/message-to-aztln
Martínez, S.E. (2017) The Chicano Movement: A Historical Exploration of Literature. Greenwood. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/4183120/the-chicano-movement-a-historical-exploration-of-literature
Mirandé, A. (2022) The Chicano Experience: An Alternative Perspective. University of Notre Dame Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/3178503/the-chicano-experience-an-alternative-perspective
Moraga, C. and Anzaldúa, G. (2022) This Bridge Called My Back, Fortieth Anniversary Edition: Writings by Radical Women of Color. SUNY Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/3289945/this-bridge-called-my-back-fortieth-anniversary-edition-writings-by-radical-women-of-color
Stavans, I. (2021) Bandido: Oscar ""zeta"" Acosta And The Chicano Experience. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2843116/bandido-oscar-zeta-acosta-and-the-chicano-experience
Walker, M.R. (2011) The Trouble with Sauling Around: Conversion in Ethnic American Autobiography, 1965-2002. University Of Iowa Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2962175/the-trouble-with-sauling-around-conversion-in-ethnic-american-autobiography-19652002
Zygadło, G. (2023) Gloria E. Anzaldúa: Feminist Body Writing and Borderlands. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/4247185/gloria-e-anzalda-feminist-body-writing-and-borderlands
MA, Sociology (Freie Universität Berlin)
Lily Cichanowicz has a master's degree in Sociology from Freie Universität Berlin and a dual bachelor's degree from Cornell University in Sociology and International Development. Her research interests include political economy, labor, and social movements. Her master's thesis focused on the labor shortages in the food service industry following the Covid-19 pandemic.