Understanding Chicana
“Yo no soy americano
pero comprendo el ingles.
Yo lo aprendi con mi hermano
al derecho y al reves.
A cualquier americano
lo ago temblar a mis pies.”(d397)
Understanding Chicanos
“Chicanos” is a term with a strong political connotation and it mainly refers to all the Mexican Americans, in the sense of native born Americans of Mexican ancestry. The origin of this word is full of ambiguities, nevertheless it is supposed to date from the 1930s. Yet,the anthropologist Jose Limon published in 1911 an essay ,which Tino Villanueva claims to be the first document to have used the term. Most of the Mexican Americans believe that “Chicano” has been used for centuries as an indigenous self-identifying reference. Moreover there is enough evidence to prove that Chicano is a self-declaration as a large body of Chicano literature dating from the 1950s. The Handbook of Texas may clear the meaning of this term,with the following statement:
"According to one explanation, the pre-Columbian tribes in Mexico called themselves Meshicas, and the Spaniards, employing the letter x (which at that time represented a sh and ch sound), spelled it Mexicas. The Indians later referred to themselves as Meshicanos and even as Shicanos, thus giving birth to the term Chicano”.
It is a clear fact that “Chicano”is not a term used outside the Mexican American communities. Outside these communities it might be interpreted in subjective ways and, therefore, altering the basic meaning that of primarily a self-identifying description, a positive self-identifying social construction. The American Civil Rights movement is a crucial point in the evolution of Chicanos as a minority. It is also a stage that gave new meanings to the term. This movement used no violence and it struggled to bring equality for all Americans. Its main purpose was to put an end to legal racial segregation, especially in the U.S South. 1955 and 1968...
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