American Women Changing Images

Mexican American Women Changing Images Item Type Article Authors Garcia, Juan R.; Gelsinon, Thomas Publisher Mexican American Studies & Research Center, The University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ) Journal Perspectives in Mexican American Studies Rights Copyright © Arizona Board of Regents Download date 27/09/2021 02:34:08 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/624824 ive Mexican American Studies MEXICAN AMERICAN WOMEN CHANGING IMAGES Perspectives in Mexican American Studies is an ongoing series devoted to Chicano /a research. Focusing on Mexican Americans as a national group, Perspectives features articles and essays that cover research from the pre - Colombian era to the present. All selections published in Perspectives are refereed. Perspectives is published by the Mexican American Studies & Research Center at the University of Arizona and is distributed by the University of Arizona Press, 1230 N. Park Avenue, Tucson, Arizona 85719. Individual copies are $15. Subscriptions to Perspectives (2 issues) are $25 for individuals and $35 for institutions. Foreign individual subscriptions are $28 and foreign institu- tional subscriptions are $44. For subscription orders, contact the Mexican American Studies & Research Center, 315 Douglass Building, the Univer- sity of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721. Manuscripts and inquiries should be sent to Professor Juan R. García, De- partment of History, the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721. For additional information, call MASRC Publications (520) 621 -7551. Perspectives is abstracted and indexed in Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life. Copyright© 1995 by The Arizona Board of Regents. All rights reserved. ISSN 0889 -8448 ISBN 0- 939363 -05 -4 PERSPECTIVES IN MEXICAN AMERICAN STUDIES Volume 5 1995 Mexican American Studies & Research Center The University of Arizona Tucson MEXICAN AMERICAN WOMEN CHANGING IMAGES $dator Juaí . García Associa -it Thomas Gelsinon TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction vii Cynthia E. Orozco Beyond Machismo, La Familia, and Ladies 1 Auxiliaries: A Historiography of Mexican - Origin Women's Participation in Voluntary Associations and Politics in the United States, 1870 -1990 Gilberto García Beyond the Adelita Image: Women Scholars 35 in the National Association for Chicano Studies, 1972 -1992 Yolanda Chávez Leyva "Faithful Hard -Working Mexican Hands ": 63 Mexicana Workers During the Great Depression Richard Santillán Midwestern Mexican American Women and 79 the Struggle for Gender Equality: A Historical Overview, 1920s -1960s María Ochoa Cooperative Re/Weavings: Artistic Expression 121 and Economic Development in a Northern New Mexican Village María Cotera Deconstructing the Corrido Hero: Caballero 151 and Its Gendered Critique of Nationalist Discourse Isidro D. Ortiz The Rearguarders Thesis and Latina Elites: 171 A Case Study INTRODUCTION This issue of Perspectives in Mexican American Studies is devoted to Mexican American women. Although Chicano scholarship has grown significantly, the research on women of Mexican descent remains sparse. The reasons for the lack of published scholarship, as well as new directions and paradigms for research, are among the major issues explored in this volume of readings. In the first essay, Cynthia Orozco assesses the literature about Chicanas in voluntary organizations during the 19th and 20th centuries. She finds that women have been actively engaged in a broad range of activities and organizations. However, because most of the studies about organizational activism are male- oriented and focused, the role of women has been subjected to number of assumptions that have ignored or minimized their contributions. This also, in part, explains the paucity of research on women in voluntary organizations. Orozco concludes her article, "Beyond Machismo, La Familia, and Ladies Aux- iliaries," by delineating research directions that address women and gender roles in such groups. In "Beyond the Adelita Image," Gilberto García studies the role and participation of women in the National Association for Chicano Studies (NAGS) between 1972 and 1992. Using the conference programs and the works published by Chicanas in that time period, he seeks to assesses their impact on the association and Chicana /o scholarship. During the 1970s, Chicanas were pe- ripheral to the organization and its conferences. As such, their participation was minimal. The number of Chicanas increased significantly during the 1980s, and so did their activism and participation. This had a positive impact on the kinds of scholarship presented, as Chicanas applied gender- specific analyses to the study of Chicanos and Chicanas, raised new questions, opened up new fields of study, and challenged traditional male- oriented paradigms. Chicanas had the greatest influence in literature. Although the number of Chicanas has increased, and the scholarship they present at NAGS conferences is significant, García found that they have not fared as well in publishing their research. The organization and activities of women in El Paso during the 1930s is the subject of Yolanda Leyvas article, "`Faithful, Hard -Working Mexican Hands'." The Great Depression further intensified the poverty and discrimination faced by Mexicans and Mexican Americans. In communities throughout the United viii PERSPECTIVES IN MEXICAN AMERICAN STUDIES States, they became convenient scapegoats for the economic problems that plagued the country. This only added to the already complex issues surround- ing citizenship and ethnic identity However, just as the Depression Era was one of hardship, it was also a time of transformation for Mexicans and Mexican Americans. Despite the difficulties, challenges, and dangers of confronting these issues, Mexicans and Mexican Americans actively worked to address them. Women were central players in these efforts to achieve equality for their communities. For the women of El Paso, the characterization of the "Mexican worker," and all that it entailed -lower wages, discrimination, and a devalua- tion of the kind of work they did because of their gender and ethnicity -was at issue. As long as these attitudes and practices remained intact, there was little hope of progress or change for them and their community. Thus, their struggles entailed fighting for their rights as women, workers, citizens, and members of an ethnic group. Much of the research about Mexican American women has focused on the Southwest. Yet Richard Santillán reminds us that women also played a vital role in the communities that developed in the Midwest after World War I.In a broad survey, titled "Midwestern Mexican American Women and the Struggle for Gender Equality," Santillán discusses the various experiences and roles of Mexican American women who sought to achieve social, political, and economic equality in the Midwest between the 1920s and the 1960s. Much of the information in the article is drawn from interviews conducted by the author with more than 150 women. What emerges is a story about the central role they played in a wide variety of social and political activities on behalf of their communities and families. World War II was especially significant in their lives because it contributed to a redefinition of gender roles. For them, the war pro- vided unprecedented opportunities in helping them develop independence, political awareness, economic self -reliance, and heightened expectations. After- wards, women drew upon the lessons and experiences derived from the war to work for the betterment of their communities. In "Cooperative Re /Weavings," María Ochoa examines the establishment of Tierra Wools, a business operated by women of Mexican descent that had multiple purposes. The enterprise sought to ensure economic survival, and cultural reclamation and preservation within their New Mexican community. The women involved in the Tierra Wools project were actively engaged in seeking INTRODUCTION ix solutions and ways to improve their lives and the well -being of their community. To do so they adopted a process and a product that allowed them to em- brace and promote their cultural expression and engage in cooperative behav- ior. The venture, however, was not without its problems. This process entailed a galaxy of complex interrelationships that included global economics, gender roles, tradition, colonization, and environmental issues. The interconnectedness of these relationships, their impact on the women and community, and how these issues were addressed form the basis of this essay. A major point in Cynthia Orozco's essay is that there is a need to move away from the patriarchal, heterosexual, and male- oriented paradigm that has ex- cluded the activities of women in voluntary organizations. Gilbert García argues that Chicanas have applied and used new analytical tools in the assessment and analysis of literature. María Coteras essay, "Deconstructing the Corrido Hero," illustrates both points by analyzing the unpublished (and only recently discovered) novel, Caballero. Cotera believes that many of the concerns being raised by contemporary women researchers were also raised by women in ear- lier epochs. She argues that Caballero, written by Joyita González de Mireles and Margaret Eimer in 1938, is an important work because it illustrates the refusal of a male- dominated industry to publish a novel written by women, even though one of them, González, had impressive academic credentials. In part she attributes this refusal to the challenges this work posed to existing scholarship.

Load more