Chicanismo in the New Generation: "Youth, Identity, Power" in the 21st Century Borderlands Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Stauber, Leah S. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 28/09/2021 21:25:48 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/223346 CHICANISMO IN THE NEW GENERATION: “YOUTH, IDENTITY, POWER” IN THE 21 ST CENTURY BORDERLANDS by Leah S. Stauber _____________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF ANTHROPOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2012 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Leah S. Stauber entitled Chicanismo in the New Generation: “Youth, Identity, Power” in the 21 st Century Borderlands and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 12/8/11 Julio Cammarota _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 12/8/11 Drexel Woodson _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 12/8/11 Mamadou Baro Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: 12/8/11 Dissertation Director: Julio Cammarota ________________________________________________ Date: 12/8/11 Dissertation Director: Drexel Woodson 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Leah S. Stauber 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I first would like to acknowledge my committee, whose breadth of backgrounds and depth of insights rendered this dissertation the fuller and richer. Drexel Woodson offered a meticulous read of my theories of globalization and transnationalism, in particular, and didn’t hesitate to push me to my most sophisticated and careful analyses. Mamadou Baro: for your embodiment of compassion and dedication to both your students and the communities of your study, I am honored to be your student. We should all have such models of deeply engaged public anthropologists to guide and inspire us. Julio Cammarota: When I began my research of youth, fifteen years ago, I was convinced that I would study anything but education! But in the ten years that I have known and worked alongside you, you’ve subtly challenged me to move deeper and deeper into an exploration of education, broadly, and youth-as-students, specifically. For that, I am deeply grateful. My thinking around issues of youth, identity, and power has also benefitted tremendously from the insights and challenges of other scholars at the University of Arizona, including Jen Roth-Gordon – who put considerable time into reviewing an early draft of this dissertation; Norma González; and Norma Mendoza-Denton. Norma M.D.: Your words of support and encouragement during a chance run-in at the coffee shop could not have come at a more opportune time. I was also fortunate to have some lively conversations with Tom Sheridan about the youth actions in Tucson as the Ethnic Studies ban was going into effect, and have benefitted enormously from his deep historical analyses of Tucson and Arizona history and politics. My very presence in Tucson, both the site of my graduate studies and my fieldwork, owes in multiple ways to the very early influence of Richard Handler, my first anthropology professor, and later – I am so proud to say – a friend and colleague. Richard: You offered an 18-year old college freshman a radical glimpse into cultural anthropology, broadly, and theories of power, culture and the state, specifically. It feels so very fitting that, almost twenty years later, I will have finished my tenure at the University of Arizona – the graduate program that you recommended – writing about nationalism and cultural nationalism. Also at the University of Virginia was Gertrude Fraser, who was not only my first model of an applied and public anthropologist, but who profoundly shaped my foundation as a feminist theorist. The most profound forms of support, guidance, intellectual solidarity and deep, authentic caring have, over the past decade, come from my colleague-friends, most particularly Tara Deubel Boyer, Michelle Hale, Kim Abraham, and Gillian Newell Gallaga. Gillian: Your relentless encouragement gave this exhausted mama, still trying to find her footing as a mother-academic, the energy and faith she needed to start up the writing process. Michelle: I cannot imagine finishing this process, after our decade of highs and lows together, without you! Tara and Kim: your endless personal kindnesses and intellectual insights have inspired and sustained me, and have without a doubt shaped me as a scholar and an individual. Shaping figures also have included my mother and father, Barbara Stauber and Larry Stauber, who were my earliest examples of concern and engagement with varied 5 topics of social justice. For this modeling, as well as the many other forms of support they have provided me over the years, I am deeply indebted. The practical and symbolic, identity challenges of simultaneously moving through the writing process and raising a baby were repeatedly mitigated and eased for me by the amazing women in my life. My sister, Rebecca Stauber, has been as devoted and loving as a tía could be – both to my son and his mother. My sisters-in-spirit, Courtney Sheets, Marcela Esquer, Stephanie Stark Mehrabani: I am proud that Sebas has you as his tías , too. Beatriz Camacho: Has trabajado incansablemente cuidando a mi hijito como si fuera tuyo, para que yo pudiera completar esta tesis. Mil gracias . The mujeres of the SJEP and other communities of the local movimiento : You continue to inspire and excite me with your vision, commitment, and deep humanity. I owe so much to so many of you, and regret that I cannot name you here as you have been not only sources of deep and abiding inspiration but also the “anonymous” subjects of this ethnography. Your colleagues and teachers in the Tucson Unified School District, however, I can, thankfully, name. Raza Studies arrived in the TUSD the same year I arrived in Tucson, 1999, and I was lucky to be able to watch it grow, nurtured as it was by the organic intellectualism of its founders and teachers. Over the course of many years, Sean Arce, Sally Rusk and Amy Rusk (among others) gave to me freely and graciously of their time in both formal and informal settings, and I am honored to call them my colleagues and friends. Larry López: In my opinion, you are one of the unsung heroes of the Raza Studies curriculum in Tucson – you are next up in the Ph.D. circuit, brother! And Tomás Mártinez: I can scarcely imagine moving through the past ten years of study and engagement in the SJEP and Raza Studies classroom without your endless support, solidarity, and ridiculously sharp memory for dates and details behind me. Gracias, gracias, gracias . In my final hours of writing, several colleagues stepped in to assist with reading and commenting on revised chapters, as well wrangling my bibliography: Kim Abraham, Christopher Basaldu, and Julie Armin: your contributions are what “academic community” is all about! And finally, Robert Ojeda: You have expanded my thinking about “community” and “organizing” tremendously, and continue to sweetly and patiently tolerate my debates about the nature and forms of political action. I am blessed to be raising the next generation of our own little community with you, amor. 6 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to the students, teachers, and activists of TUSD MAS: El pueblo unido jamás será vencido And to my bilingual, tricultural border boy, Sebastian Amaru who loves Saya Morena , 102.1 La Caliente , and You Are my Sunshine equally 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................. 14 INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH ................................................................... 14 Expanded Abstract ........................................................................................................