Looking Inward to Move Forward: A Critical Examination of 20th Century Chicanx Studies Programs

• In Event: Latinx Educational Activism During the Civil Rights Era

Abstract

Using archival data from the 1960s Ethnic Studies Movement, this paper examines the origins of Chicanx studies programs in U.S. colleges and universities. Specifically, this paper explores three major questions: 1) What mission did Chicanx studies programs attempt to fulfill?; 2) What desired results were established for students in these programs?; and 3) What was omitted in the construction of these programs? The findings reveal a paradox in motion: the birth of the “Chicano experience” laid the foundation for Chicanx studies programs to exist while simultaneously reproducing structures of power. Ultimately, this paper affirms the continued use of intersectional scholarship as a means to attend to the shifting needs of the field of ethnic studies.

Author

• Jasmin Patron-Vargas, Michigan State University