Chicano poetry

Chicano poetry is a branch of American literature written by and primarily about Mexican Americans and the Mexican-American way of life in society. The term "Chicano" is a political and cultural term of identity specifically identifying people of Mexican descent who are born in the United States. In the same way that American poetry comprises the writing of the offspring of English and other European colonists to North America, so Chicano poetry and literature comprises the writing of the offspring of Latinos who either emigrated to the United States or were involuntarily included in the country due to the Mexican–American War of 1848.

Chicanos have been writing poetry in these lands that became the United States since the late-sixteenth century. Despite their having cultivated all types of written and oral literature, many of their literary traditions persisted in order to preserve their cultural identity within an expanding and overwhelmingly aggressive "national" culture that did not recognize Spanish speakers as part of an ever-evolving "America."[1]

Chicano poetry is different from other types of poetry in that there is a certain Chicano voice being told. This voice is the Chicano culture that is being highlighted throughout the poem. Chicano poetry is diverse, but roots back to the same element of culture. Chicano poetry becomes its own genre according to Pérez-Torres when a similar structure is represented throughout the poems. There is a similar terrain in the work, but each may offer different elements to the work like sexuality. Core values of the Chicano community includes culture and is often highlighted in Chicano poetry.[2]

History

Origins

Chicanismo is a cultural movement begun in the 1930s in the Southwestern United States by Mexican Americans to recapture their Mexican, Native American culture. The four major themes of Chicanismo are generally considered to be: (1) the power of the creative earth and labor upon it; (2) political transformation through collective efforts; (3) strong familial ties extending back into Mesoamerican pre-history; and (4) spiritually-influenced creative artistic imagination as reflected in the visual ARTS.

There are several theories concerning the origin of the term Chicano. The most prominent is that it is derived from Mexicano, which comes from Mexica (pronounced "meshica"). Whatever its origin, the term was in widespread use by the 1950s and gained popularity in the 1960s. It is also during this time that the label Black gained popularity in place of the terms Negro and Colored People. It was the young Black community angry at the racism that was being perpetuated against them who burned and destroyed several cities. However, many older black people wanted to be called Negro or colored because they did not wish to be identified with the word black which for some represented the turmoil of the times. So too, many older Mexican-Americans refused to accept the term Chicano, instead proudly identifying themselves as Mexicano.

Many Chicanos and Mexicanos born on the American side of the border, suffered an identity crisis, they did not want to throw away their proud Mexicaness instilled by their parents and yet they were not from Mexico. Building on that cultural pride many responded by identifying themselves as Chicano.[3] From this cultural phenomenon stemmed what we now know as Chicano poetry. The literary movement was gained notoriety in spite all of the hostility of the early 1900s to give a voice to Chicanos.

Mexican American cultural resistance

Many working class and second generation Mexican Americans began to rebel from discrimination by wearing a zoot suit. This act was seen as unpatriotic during the 1940s as World War II demanded precious materials like fabric be used for the war and zoot suits used a substantial amount of cloth. This suit was popular among youth of various races and ethnicities in cities all over the United States.[4] According to Pérez- Torres, cultural resistance is represented by wearing a zoot suit.[2] This wardrobe style was called a zoot suit and consisted of, for men, large hats, a draped coat and high waisted baggy bottoms; accessorized with a watch chain or pompadour (a specific hairstyle).[4] The women's version of this suit consisted of a broad shouldered fingertip coat, a knee length skirts and large hair styles that helped hide small knives. The men and women who participated in this wardrobe statement were called Pachucos/as. Zoot suits signified rebellion, differences and even un-Americanism[4] According to Pérez- Torres, cultural resistance is represented by wearing a zoot suit.[2] due to the amount of fabric used while in a war. The young Mexican American community used this suit to identity show others they were fighting for equality for their community.

The zoot suit functioned as a way of changing the social order. Young Mexican American women wore this suit to diverge from the barriers that encased them due to their ethnicity, gender, and class. The zoot suit symbolized meanings of youthfulness or uprising.[4] According to Pérez-Torres, by wearing a zoot suit, there is a cultural division.[2]

Chicana poetry and literature

The 1970s was a critical time period for ethnic minorities and women in the United States. An out pour of writing and creativity was the result of the intellectual and political climate of the time. For the first time in history, people of Mexican descent in the United States were able to produce a large body of emerging literature that offered a new way of seeing the world. Chicanas in the 70s faced a double set of social racism; Chicanas experienced racial discrimination like Chicanos, and also sexual discrimination, like white women experienced. Thus, this double identity supported the Chicano struggle for racial equality as well as supporting the women's movement. The support for the women's movement inspired Chicana's to search for new definitions of the feminine identity as well as bringing awareness to their own cultural heritage. [5]

Chicanas often used poetry in the 1970s to express their views of aggressive masculine pride. This is known as machismo which is used to portray male gender roles.[6] In the poem "Machismo Is Part of Our Culture" by Marcela Christine Lucero-Trujillo, she emphasizes her viewpoint of machismo.[7]

Chicanas have played an active role in all aspects of political, economic and cultural life, yet their contributions have not been part of official history.[8]

Pachucas in Poetry

Pachucas is a lifestyles that some Chicanos chose during the chicano movement. They were often young women who rebelled against Mexican and American norms.[7] Pachucas were described wearing short, tight skirts with sheer tops and their hairdos high. Women who chose to take on this way of living were often faced with much criticism from inside and outside their community. Inside the community, the women were seen as traitors to the Mexican-American code of feminine conduct, or as ‘las malinches’, as described by ‘La Opinion, a Spanish-language newspaper based in Los Angeles, California, USA. The following days after the newspaper published, a group of East Los Angeles teens wrote a letter to ‘Eastside Sun, Stating that the women who affirmed their virginity and patriotism.

Females who dressed as pachucas were often looked down upon due to the nature that the Poetry was a prominent role in the Chicano movement. Poems relating to the pachuca lifestyle were mostly written by Pachucos or former Pachucos. Their poems contributed to an important part of movement-era cultural production.[4] Pachuca poems often related to pachuquismo.

During the 1960s language and the zoot suit became a big part of the chicano movement for a number of Chicana and Chicano writers.[4] Dressing like a Pachuco signified a refusal to conform to the status quo and style of urban, working class youth. It meant resistance, showed style, and showcased resistance in style.

An example of the poetry would be “La Nueva Chicana” by poet Viola Correa,

Hey

She that lady protesting injustice,

Es mi Mamà

The girl in the brown beret,

The one teaching the children,

She’s my hermana

Over there fasting with the migrants,

Es mi tía.

These are the women who worry,

Pray, iron

And cook chile y tortillas.

The lady with the forgiving eyes

And the gentle smile.

Listen to her shout.

She knows what hardship is all about

All about.

The Establishment calls her a radical militant.

The newspapers read she is

A dangerous subversive

They label her name to condemn her.

By the FBI she’s called

A big problem.

In Aztlàn we call her

La Nueva Chicana.

Pioneers and forerunners

Notable Chicano poets who were instrumental in creating a niche both in American and Latin American literature and developed an impetus were early writers such as Abelardo "Lalo" Delgado, Trinidad "Trino" Sánchez, Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales. Delgado wrote "Stupid America", Sánchez wrote "Why Am I So Brown?" and Gonzales authored the epic "Yo Soy Joaquin." Gonzales' "Yo Soy Joaquin" has been acknowledged as the Chicano epic poem. Self-published in 1967, it reviewed the exploitation of the mestizos from colonial times to the present.

Yo soy Joaquín,

perdido en un mundo de confusión:

I am Joaquín, lost in a world of confusion,

caught up in the whirl of a gringo society,

confused by the rules, scorned by attitudes,

suppressed by manipulation, and destroyed by modern society.

My fathers have lost the economic battle

and won the struggle of cultural survival.[9]

Another early pioneer writer is the Poet/Painter and gypsy vagabond of the national community, Nephtalí De León, author of "Hey, Mr.President, Man!", "Coca Cola Dream," and "Chicano Popcorn." The latter part of the 20th century saw the emergence of Juan Felipe Herrera as a dominant force in the genre. In Herrera's works, cultural expression is shown from the 1960s to the present. His poetry is most known for being willful, expressing a unique voice.[10] The early literature of the movement was characterized by indigenismo, or looking to the ancient past for the roots that would inform modern Chicano/Chicana identity. La Raza, as the central Chicano activist group of the time was called, sought to shape and solidify a national and cultural identity based on the history of the Azteca people and their legendary homeland, Aztlán. The surge of creative literary activity among Chicano authors in the 1960s and 1970s became known as the Florecimiento, or Renaissance.[11] Notable Chicana poet Lucha Corpi published a collection of poetry that emphasizes the theme of culture and authored "LLuvia/Rain." This work creates a framework on Mexican cultural remembrance with an emphasis on the sensuality of rain that offers a sense of Mexican arts culture using the Nahua god of rain.[2]

Major poets for Pachuca poetry are Alurista, José Montoya, and raúlrsalinas, who chose to share their poems at festivals, marches, rallies, and festivals. Poems such as “Los Corts (5 voices)” and “and when I dream dreams” by Carmen Tafolla, “Para Teresa,” by Inés Hernández and “Later, She Met Joyce” by Cherríe Moraga are one of the earlier known works to include the pachuca character.[4]

Historic milestones

After winning the National Book Critics Circle award for poetry in 2008, Juan Felipe Herrera became the first Chicano to be appointed United States Poet Laureate.[12]

Important publishers

A handful of U.S. publishers specialize in Chicano poetry, including the following:

Unifying concepts

These poems primarily deal with how Chicanos deal with existence in the United States and how Chicanos cope with marginalization, racism and vanquished dreams. Many Chicano writers allude to the past glory of the Mesoamerican civilizations and how the indigenous people of those civilizations continue to live through the Chicano people who are predominantly of mestizo (mixed) ancestry.

Chicana (female) writers have drastically expanded on the theme of marginalization. They have added a feminist component to the overall Chicano poetry movement. Chicana poets have pursued such themes as sexual abuse, marginalization of women, and the creation of complex Chicana identity. Overall, this literary movement has seen great thematic diversity which can be accredited to different Chicano/a writers throughout American history.[11]

Chaperoning

When it comes to young, unmarried Mexican American women wanting to attend the night out they are accompanied by a male, who watches over them throughout the night. Many young, unmarried, women felt confined in their own homes and unable to enjoy a night out due to familial oligarchy, a way families would structure power to the adults and maintain control over certain things, such as what their daughter would be allowed to do. A female's purity was linked to the family's reputation. Sending along a chaperone was a way for the family to keep an eye on their daughter's activities in an attempt to shape their daughters into ‘sheltered young matrons.[7]

Chaperonage often caused many women to question their own self-determination and autonomy. They sought freedom while still being able to be viewed as dutiful daughters to their families.[7] Many daughters often challenged the views of their families by sneaking out to attend events. Older Mexican generations often assumed responsibilities for what their children/grandchildren would do. Mexican American coming of age during the interwar period sought to end the practice of chaperonage. In the 1950s chaperonage had become a generational marker as later generations started to not attack the familia oligarchy but the manifestations of it.[7] Poem ‘“Pueblo, 1950” by Bernice Zamora, a Chicana poet who emerged during the Chicano Movement in the 1960s, showcases the consequences young, unmarried, Mexican-American women would face from a simple kiss:

I remember you, Fred Montoya

You were the first vato to ever kiss me

I was twelve years old.

my mother said shame on you,

my teacher said shame on you, and

I said shame on me, and nobody

said a word to you.

List of major Chicano poets

Notes

Nicolas Kanellos "An Overview of Latino Poetry: The Iceberg below the Surface." American Book Review. 2002
Pérez-Torres, Rafael (1995). Movements in Chicano poetry : against myths, against margins. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521470196. OCLC 30783346.
Introduction to Chicano Poetry http://teachart.msu.edu/chicano.html Archived 2012-04-01 at the Wayback Machine
Ramírez, Catherine Sue (2009). The woman in the zoot suit : gender, nationalism, and the cultural politics of memory. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822342861. OCLC 272303247.
Sanchez, Marta, E. (1992). Contemporary Chicana Poetry: A Critical Approach to an Emerging Literature. Berkeley: University of California Press. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
Bui, Ngoc H.; Diaz, Tanya (2017-04-01). "Subjective Well-Being in Mexican and Mexican American Women: The Role of Acculturation, Ethnic Identity, Gender Roles, and Perceived Social Support". Journal of Happiness Studies. 18 (2): 607–624. doi:10.1007/s10902-016-9741-1. ISSN 1573-7780.
Ruíz, Vicki (2008). From out of the shadows : Mexican women in twentieth-century America (10th anniversary ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195374773. OCLC 555994926.
Sandoval, Anna Marie (2008). Toward a Latina Feminism of the Americas: Repression and Resistance in Chicana and Mexicana Literature (1st ed.). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales. "Yo Soy Joaquin." 1967.
Rodriguez, Andres (1996). "Contemporary Chicano Poetry: The Work of Michael Sierra, Juan Felipe Herrera and Luis J. Rodriguez". Bilingual Review. 21 – via Academic Search Complete.
"Contemporary Chicano/a Literature" Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. 2008 Detroit: Gale.
"Juan Felipe Herrera Named U.S. Poet Laureate". Retrieved 2015-10-06.

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[1] Nicolas Kanellos "An Overview of Latino Poetry: The Iceberg below the Surface." American Book Review. 2002

[:0-2] Pérez-Torres, Rafael (1995). Movements in Chicano poetry : against myths, against margins. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521470196. OCLC 30783346.

[3] Introduction to Chicano Poetry http://teachart.msu.edu/chicano.html Archived 2012-04-01 at the Wayback Machine

[:1-4] Ramírez, Catherine Sue (2009). The woman in the zoot suit : gender, nationalism, and the cultural politics of memory. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822342861. OCLC 272303247.

[5] Sanchez, Marta, E. (1992). Contemporary Chicana Poetry: A Critical Approach to an Emerging Literature. Berkeley: University of California Press. Retrieved 2017-10-25.

[6] Bui, Ngoc H.; Diaz, Tanya (2017-04-01). "Subjective Well-Being in Mexican and Mexican American Women: The Role of Acculturation, Ethnic Identity, Gender Roles, and Perceived Social Support". Journal of Happiness Studies. 18 (2): 607–624. doi:10.1007/s10902-016-9741-1. ISSN 1573-7780.

[:2-7] Ruíz, Vicki (2008). From out of the shadows : Mexican women in twentieth-century America (10th anniversary ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195374773. OCLC 555994926.

[8] Sandoval, Anna Marie (2008). Toward a Latina Feminism of the Americas: Repression and Resistance in Chicana and Mexicana Literature (1st ed.). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[9] Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales. "Yo Soy Joaquin." 1967.

[10] Rodriguez, Andres (1996). "Contemporary Chicano Poetry: The Work of Michael Sierra, Juan Felipe Herrera and Luis J. Rodriguez". Bilingual Review. 21 – via Academic Search Complete.

[ReferenceA-11] "Contemporary Chicano/a Literature" Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. 2008 Detroit: Gale.

[12] "Juan Felipe Herrera Named U.S. Poet Laureate". Retrieved 2015-10-06.