In the Spirit of a New People: The Cultural Politics of the Chicano Movement

Reexamining the Chicano civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, a In the Spirit of a New People abrings to light new insights about social activism in the twentieth-century and new lessons for progressive politics in the twenty-first. Randy J. Ontiveros explores the ways in which Chicano/a artists and activists used fiction, poetry, visual arts, theater, and other expressive forms to forge a common purpose and to challenge inequality in America. a Focusing on cultural politics, Ontiveros reveals neglected stories about the Chicano movement and its impact: how writers used the street press to push back against the network news; how visual artists such as Santa Barraza used painting, installations, and mixed media to challenge racism in mainstream environmentalism; how El Teatro CampesinoOCOs innovative OC actos, OCO or short skits, sought to embody new, more inclusive forms of citizenship; and how Sandra Cisneros and other Chicana novelists broadened the narrative of the Chicano movement.a In the Spirit of a New People aarticulates a fresh understanding of how the Chicano movement contributed to the social and political currents of postwar America, and how the movement remains meaningful today. a Randy J. Ontiveros ais Associate Professor of English and an affiliate in U.S. Latina/o Studies and WomenOCOs Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park."

Author(s): Randy J. Ontiveros
Published: 2014
Categories: Social Science