UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Chicana/O Indigenous Affirmation As Transformational Consciousness
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Chicana/o Indigenous Affirmation as Transformational Consciousness: Indigeneity and Transnational Human Rights Advocacy since the Chicana/o Movement A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by José Luis Serrano Nájera 2015 © copyright by José Luis Serrano Nájera 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Chicana/o Indigenous Affirmation as Transformational Consciousness: Indigeneity and Transnational Human Rights Advocacy since the Chicana/o Movement by José Luis Serrano Nájera Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Juan Gómez-Quiñones, Chair Indigenous social movements in the Americas have multiple sources, but in regards to Mexican Americans, my focus considers Chicana/o Indigeneity of particular importance to decolonization efforts because of its density, scope, and breadth, as well as spatial location. My dissertation answers the following question: how are Chicana/o assertions of cultural Indigeneity, intrinsically parallel and related to Chicana/o participation in Indigenous transnational struggles? The underlying premises for my investigation of Chicana/o Indigeneity are the following subquestions: how do transnational these efforts enrich our understanding of the respect of human rights, and what are the bases of Chicana/o Indigeneity? I explicate how Chicana/o historic consciousness is influenced by the complex transnational activism with Indigenous Peoples to decolonize the Americas and contend that Chicana/o Indigenist activists, informed by trans-border interactions, cultural practices, and long oral traditions challenged hegemonic constraints of Indigeneity constructed by Mexican and U.S. pro-western domination premised ii assimilationist projects. These challenges have resulted in Chicana/o participation in broader challenges to the prominence of western cultural hegemony in the nation-states of the Americas. I depict groups and organizations comprising a specific activism that challenge assimilation and contribute to the prominence of contemporary Indigenismo or Indigenism as a cultural and political ideology. This activism, which seeds and stimulates Indigenism, instills calls for cultural assertion within international human rights advocacy. I focus on Chicana/o activists, activist organizations, and cultural groups that demanded the right to revive their Indigenous culture, and in doing so, aligned their cultural revival with the right to cultural survival that is integral to the demands of Indigenous Peoples. Since the late 1960s, the objective of Chicana/o statements on Indigeneity have provided the forum for a discussion regarding a culturally autonomous trajectory for Chicanas and Chicanos free of colonial logics, hegemonic cultures, and oppression. By no means has this road been straight forward and without equivocations. Nevertheless, by the 1980s and well into the twenty-first century, most Chicana/o and Indigenous activists stood generally unified by certain precepts and agreements despite national borders in their efforts to redress the violation of human rights in the Americas. iii This dissertation of José Luis Serrano Nájera is approved. David Delgado Shorter Kevin Terraciano Juan Gómez-Quiñones, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2015 iv DEDICATION Para mis ancestros, abuelos, tíos, tías y mi papá que han cruzado al otro lado Para mi mamá, Gloria, Finalmente, para Liz v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii VITA xii INTRODUCTION 1 A Movement in Progress: Contribution of Study 5 Methodology 5 On Periodization(s): Dialectical and Intersecting Contexts 8 Summary of Chapters 12 CHAPTER 1: Chicana/o Indigeneity as a Process of Decolonization 18 Definitions 20 Revealing the Colonial Logic of Power 25 The Decolonial Challenges and Nuances of Chicana/o Indigeneity 36 Chicana/o Indigeneity and Consciousness in the Context of Rights 45 Conclusion 54 CHAPTER 2: ¡Aztlan y Que!: Chicana/o Cultural Survival as a Civil Rights Claim during the Chicana/o Movement 55 Colonial Conflict and Intersections before 1960 56 Civil Rights Era Activism and The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 59 Intersections of Cultural Survival and Land Rights 61 ¿Los Herederos de Que?: La Alianza and the Question of Land 65 A Doctrine of Rediscovery?: The Colonial Precedent of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 69 The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo as a Land and Human Rights Guarantee 71 Intersections of Chicana/o and Native American Land Rights Activism 76 Culture and Self-determination: The Crusade For Justice 82 Creating a National Base 85 Indigenous Alliances and Supporting Sovereignty 88 Conclusion 91 CHAPTER 3: Pedagogical Legacies: Indigenous Consciousness, Critical Pedagogy and Steps to Ensuring Paths to Decolonization 95 Critiques of Critical Pedagogy: Indigenous Sovereignty vs. Individual Rights 99 Phase One: Cultural Revitalization and Educational Civil Rights 100 Chicana/o Movement Alternative Schools 102 Indigenous Consciousness Leads to Critical Indigenous Pedagogies 110 Indigenous Curriculum and Pedagogy at Los Centros Culturales 118 Phase Two: Transnational Chicana/o Indigenismos and Pedagogies 126 Laying the Seeds: The Xinachtli Project’s Nahuatl Education 127 Towards Peace and Dignity: Tonantzin Indigenous Youth Group 132 Conclusion 138 vi CHAPTER 4:“Pensamiento Serpentino:” Chicana/o Movement Teatro Cultural Empowerment Strategies, 1970-1978 142 Art of the Chicana/o Movement 145 Towards an Alternative Vision: El Teatro Campesino’s Cultural Philosophy 151 Teatro Nacional de Aztlan 158 Los Festivales de Teatros 160 Performing Heritage: El Quinto Festival in México 163 TENAZ in the Late 1970s and 1980s 167 Conclusion: The Legacy of Chicana/o Teatro 171 Cultural Legacy 172 Historical Consciousness 174 New Directions 176 CHAPTER 5: Danza Mexica and the Peace and Dignity Journeys: Chicana/o Historic Indigenous Consciousness through Ritual 178 The Historical Background of Danza in México 181 Recovering Chicana/o Indigenous Ritual 186 Indigenizing the European: The Influence of Andrés Segura 188 A Rejection of the Colonial: The Appeal of Florencio Yescas 202 Running for the Future: The Peace and Dignity Journeys 208 Forgetting Columbus and Honoring 500 Years of Resilience 210 Enacting Indigenous Unity for the Next 500 Years: 1992 and Beyond 213 Conclusion: The Implications of Chicana/o Ceremony for the Next 500 Years 217 CHAPTER 6: From Chicano to Xicano: Indigenous Chicana/o Transnational Advocacy for the Respect of Human Rights 220 Chicana/o and Native American Transnational Indigenous Peoples Advocacy 222 Quito 1990 and Burying Columbus 500 Years Later 223 International Indian Treaty Council 226 The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Project and the National Chicano Human Rights Council 232 Local Foundations to Chicana/o Transnational Organizing 241 Tonantzin Land Institute 242 Tonatierra Community Development Institute 248 Conclusion 259 CONCLUSION: Critical Indigenous Practice: Advocating the Respect of Cultural Rights as Human Rights 263 Indigenous Chicanas and Chicanos: Past and Future Trajectories 270 BIBLIOGRAPHY 272 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Although I did not know it at the time, this dissertation began in 2004 when I traveled to Morelos, México for a weeklong course in Nahuatl philosophy with temachtiani Martha Ramírez-Oropeza at Nahuatl University in Ocotepec. That trip awoke in me a desire to understand Mexican Indigeneity and put together fragmented memories of my own cultural history back together. After returning from this trip, my interest in Indigeneity coalesced with my desire to teach history while working with high-school youth as part of MEChA de UCLA’s Xinachtli outreach program. These early years were the foundation of my trajectory as an educator and historian. I first began asking questions about Indigeneity and Chicana/o social movements in my undergraduate seminar on the History of the Chicana/o Movement led by Professor Juan Gómez- Quiñones. He has helped guide my research since then, and along with Professor Irene Vásquez, helped realize the first stage of this project, which eventually became my master’s thesis while a student at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). I thank both professors Gómez-Quiñones and Vásquez for their mentorship that continues today. Along with Professor Munashe Furusa, professors Gómez-Quiñones and Vásquez helped be begin to elaborate my arguments about Indigeneity during the Chicana/o Movement. The research for expanding my focus of Chicana/o Indigeneity in the context of transnational Indigenous Peoples movements would not have been possible without the financial support of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and the UCLA American Indian Studies Center. Through grants from the UCLA Institute of American Cultures, these centers helped make possible my travel to archive repositories across the Southwestern U.S. and Mexico City and for me to interview prominent activists involved in these movements. I want to thank Armando Rendón, David Luján, Alurista, Ernesto Vigil, and José Flores for taking the time to viii conducting an interview with me and sharing your insights, analysis, and reflections of Indigenous Chicana/o activism. Although conducting an interview during research for this project was not possible, I would also like to thank Tupac Enrique Acosta for pointing me in the direction of recorded interviews available online. I also want to acknowledge Raul Salinas, Gustavo Gutiérrez,