Reframing Latin America: A Cultural Theory Reading ... - BGSU Blogs

film foray: MI FAMILIA 317
States by young male migrants from El Paso: Pasuco → pachucho. Typical
pachuquismo behavior that develops to protect the vato (a homeboy
or man in pachucano) from the harsh life of the barrio is the formation of
gangs and the cultivation of reputations as being tough fi ghters as evidenced
by their violent deeds. See Rosaura Sánchez, Chicano Discourse: Sociohistoric
Perspectives (Houston: Arte Público, 1994) 128–129; Luis Valdez
and Stan Steiner, eds., Aztlán: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature
(New York: Random House, 1972) 174.
4. Chicano is a term of identity used by politically active or conscious
Mexican Americans. It is a word with indigenous, not Spanish, roots, and
thus is meant to refl ect the pride of Mexican Americans in their indigenous
heritage. One of its fi rst and most recognized users was César Chávez, the
leader of the United Farm Workers in the 1960s. The term is used to defi ne
Mexican Americans who are born in the United States, are U.S. citizens,
and whose families have been in the United States for a long time. In its
political context it is not used to describe recent, undocumented Mexican
immigrants.
5. For further reading on Chicano identity politics refl ected in fi lm, see
Rosa Lina Fregoso, “Zoot Suit: The ‘Return to the Beginning,’” ed. John
King, Ana Lopez, and Manuel Alvarado, Mediating Two Worlds: Cinematic
Encounters in the Americas (London: British Film Institute, 1993) 269–278.