Mexican and American Cultures - Essay Example

MEXICAN AMERICAN STUDIES Chicano is a Mexican American word that has widely been used to describe people of Mexican origin living in the United States. The Chicano community for several years was considered as the forgotten minority or rather referred to as one of the oppressed nationalities. This could be as a result of Mexican-American war as well as the subsequent 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It is in the treaty that Mexico ceded over of its territory to its northern neighbor and hundreds of thousands of former Mexican natives become US citizens. Unlike any other ethnic migrants to the United States, Mexican American became an ethnic minority through the direct conquest of their homeland and annexing half of it. The change of language and culture did not happen immediately with the change of the legal status of the land.However, the Chicanos embraced and developed a culture that neither belonged fully to neither United States nor to Mexico (Tatum, 2001). This culture developed in the social interstices flanked by Mexican and American cultures spheres thereby making that new cultural life clearly a product of both but also different in decisive ways from each (Valencia, 2008). The community was discriminated against institutionally as an ethnic entity, and suffered the expanding capitalism of United States into distinct oppression based on nationality. In the mid-1960s, Mexican-American activists widely used the term Chicano during the American civil rights movements. They attempted to reassert their civil rights, tried to do away with the word of its polarizing negative implication by reasserting an exclusive ethnic identity and political consciousness, proudly identifying themselves as Chicanos. These and many other more attempts led to the liberation of the natives who were demanding for equal right and the representation in the various spheres of life. Way back in 1492 when Columbus arrived, the Spain Catholic rulers were recapturing their country from the Moslems. He described this part of America to be the most primitive of all the parts. According to Colombus, the native inhabitants- the Indians who were planters still lived in a Paleolithic settings; with no great urban civilization.Besides, the initial impact of European conquest would be the decisive factor (Tatum, 2001). Columbus called this place San Salvador; that would be in the biblical understanding or context means; giving a name to gain dominion over what is named. During his conquest, he placed the natives under the charge of his people, commanding them to his royal patrons. It is very clear that Amerindia, the mother of Latin America has been browbeaten since the very start of Europe’s onset on the scene. The American Indian were subjugated their rights in the beginning; this brought about very significant manifestations in their way of life. Not to forget that the Spanish men arrived in America alone without their women; it was the Indian women of American origin who served as their concubines and as a result the gave birth to the mestizo, who is the true Latin American (Valencia, 2008). The European inversion did not only lead to the birth of the mestizo, but it also led to the acquisition of goods, expanding the natives Christian religion through forced conversions. This on the other hand resulted in the introduction of foreign culture upon the already established civilization that existed before their arrival. The indigenous people had their religious beliefs complete with their own rituals and Gods, but, unfortunately, the Europeans cared very little about their cultures. The natives were not happy being subjected to such kind of oppressions, and they organized a series of rebellions to be able to fight for their rights. After 1495 rebellion, the subdued natives were put under tribute in the form of specified amounts of products; they offered forced on the farms and other household chores (Tatum, 2001). In order to weaken them more, there was depopulation of the islands where most of them stayed. Many were slain of conquest and during rebellions, or died of starvation while in hiding. The result was that by 1514, the native population had been reduced to 14,000, and a similar reduction took place in many other places as well. In the United States, similar to the Spanish language, the word tortilla is related to Mexico and connotes a racialized non-white Mexican identity. This is to refer to them as people who are still in the way to progress and civilization; people subject to legal and extralegal isolation and prejudice. Many indigenous-based and indigenous people from Mexico and Central America identify as “Gente de maiz” or people of corn that scientists peg its date of birth to be 7,000 years ago (Valencia, 2008). However, given the geo-political background, Mexican identity in the United States is simply “other,” but in times of anti-immigrant hysteria, “rival.” They are viewed as cultural enemies of the United States way back in 1492 as was portrayed by Columbus when he set foot in the Americas and 1519 when Cortes set foot in Mexico. Quintessentially, maize symbolizes the indigenous American. A connection to maize culture should identify peoples with ancient cultures of Americans, over and over again, maize is well-known with foreign cultures, despite the fact that maize was much a part of original America in what is today United States as well as cultures of the south. Maize is what altered the continent and what also created Mesoamerican civilizations (Valencia, 2008). The cultures are contra-posed with Western cultures, popularly associated with wheat and bread. In the West, maize is traditionally and negatively associated with the lower class indigenous people and animals. These concepts do not make any sense at all going, by the definition of culture which is the generally accepted way of life and interactions and effective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization; that are able to identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those to other groups. It is wrong for people like Columbus who thought that some generations had no better cultures that only needed the advent of colonizers in order to manifest and positively change their way of thinking and doing different things. Probably they used these to enhance their personal, economic, social and political gain by oppressing the less fortunate in the society that is inhuman. References Tatum, C. M. (2001). Chicano popular culture: Que hable el pueblo. Tucson, Ariz: Univ. of Arizona Press. Valencia, R. R. (2008). Chicano students and the courts: The Mexican American legal struggle for educational equality. New York: New York University Press. Read More