In the early 1970s, it was not difficult for the American public to identify the Latino civil rights movement and what it stood for. On the West Coast, antiwar activists were leading the Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War, and on the East Coast, the Young Lords of New York were setting fire to trash the sanitation department had neglected…

The story of Latinas/os in higher education in the United States is often one of exclusion and erasure. In this essay, Arelis Hernandez argues that, from grade school to college, there is rarely an occasion for Latinas/os to learn their history and to produce scholarship based on their communities. Instead, they are pressured to subscribe to a…

Chicana/o Studies has fallen victim to the contradictions of challenging the academic apparatus from within. In this article, I argue that Chicana/o Studies and its scholars are still struggling with the most basic issues introduced in the early 1970s. This is of grave concern because a race war is now being fought in U.S. academia and Chicana/o…

The development and present status of "Chicano Calo," a mixture of Spanish and English spoken in Mexico and the Southwestern United States, is surveyed. Originally a Romany (Gypsy) language, it is preeminently oral and has become fashionable in most sociocultural strata, but particularly among younger males to reflect mild rebellion.…

Examines Latina/o expressions and ethnic identities in reader letters to "Low Rider Magazine." Argues that articulations of Latina/o identity are complexly expressed as a means of establishing viable subject positions for these subaltern subjects. Concludes that communication scholarship should be cautious and careful in its explorations…

We concentrate on four questions among the many posed by this special collection of papers on Pragmatism and the Hispanic world. They are, first, what took pragmatism beyond the borders of the United States and into the Hispanic world? Next, what are the ideas of Dewey (or pragmatism) that have had the greatest impact on Hispanic culture? Third,…

An examination of bilingual education in Colorado Springs (Colorado) reveals that the program has become as much a political as an educational issue. (Author/WD)

This article features the life of Robert "Cyclona" Legorreta and his Fire of Life/El Fuego de la Vida Collection. In this article, the author critically deploys "homosexual" not only to capture Legorreta's self-identification but also to argue for the importance of "situated knowledges" about same-sex desire in relation to art, political action,…

Discusses the way that the concept of biculturalism was conveyed in a Title VII elementary school classroom with Mexican American and Anglo students. Holds that the concept of culture was oversimplified, emphasizing regalia (flags, posters, etc.), and obscuring social processes such as racial discrimination. (GC)

A model for training leaders in Hispanic communities must take into account the cultural context: the extended family, patriarchal family structures, history and cultural mores. Although leaders need conceptual, technical, and human relations skills, emphasis on the conceptual area in terms of these cultural factors is most important. (SK)

Presents four narrative portraits of what the author experienced during a two-day visit to Pharr-San Juan-Alamo-North High School in Pharr, Texas near the border with Mexico. Describes his experiences with the high school's production of the play "Our Lady of the Tortilla" by Luis Santeiro, and discusses various ways that culturally…

The ascendance of Menudo, the Puerto Rican rock group, was the most significant cultural event in the Hispanic community in the last eight years. As a phenomenon of popular culture, Menudo is worthy of study because of its main audience (Hispanic) and because it illustrates the dialectical interplay of gender, class, Hispanic ethnicity, and…

Draws from hearings and testimony regarding Hispanic experiences with the Catholic Church and Catholic schooling. Highlights Hispanics' feeling of non-acceptance by the church; interest in Catholic schooling; support of biliteracy and bilingual education; and concerns regarding cultural and religious maintenance, family, the law, leadership…

The dropout problem among Hispanics may be less severe than it appears, since many Hispanics have arrived here very recently. Given time, funding, and a willingness to join the mainstream, Hispanics should progress as have other groups. (DM)

The hybrid music of the group "Kid Creole and the Coconuts" shows traces of every popular music style that has aroused New York City during the past 40 years--big band swing, Latin dance music, calypso, reggae, disco, funk, soul, rock, and movie pop. The fictitious characters the members of the band assume on stage, together with their…