Chicano San Diego: Cultural Space and the Struggle for Justice (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780816525683)

The Mexican and Chicana/o residents of San Diego have a long, complicated, and rich history that has been largely ignored. This collection of essays shows how the Spanish-speaking people of this border city have created their own cultural spaces. Sensitive to issues of gender-and paying special attention to political, economic, and cultural figures and events-the contributors explore what is unique about San Diego's Mexican American history.

In chronologically ordered chapters, scholars discuss how Mexican and Chicana/o people have resisted and accommodated the increasingly Anglo-oriented culture of the region. The book's early chapters recount the historical origins of San Diego and its development through the mid-nineteenth century, describe the "American colonization" that followed, and include examples of Latino resistance that span the twentieth century-from early workers' strikes to the United Farm Workers movement of the 1960s. Later chapters trace the Chicana/o Movement in the community and in the arts; the struggle against the gentrification of the barrio; and the growth of community organizing (especially around immigrants' rights) from the perspective of a community organizer.

To tell this sweeping story, the contributors use a variety of approaches. Testimonios retell individual lives, ethnographies relate the stories of communities, and historical narratives uncover what has previously been ignored or discounted. The result is a unique portrait of a marginalized population that has played an important but neglected role in the development of a major American border city.

Author: Richard Griswold del Castillo
ISBN-10: 0816525684
ISBN-13: 9780816525683
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Language: English
Published: 02/07/2008
Pages: 312
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 05/01/2008 pg. 95