Topic Exploration: Chicano Movement

Saphire Miramontes

March 29, 2016

ENG 306

Topic Exploration

1.      What was the protest? If it was part of a larger movement, where are you drawing the boundaries (geographical, chronological, legislative, etc.) around your project?

The protest that I am focusing on for this research project is one that took place in Tucson, Arizona. The purpose of the protesters was to bring back Mexican American Studies (MAS) that were once taught and quickly terminated on January 10, 2012 officially by the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) administrators. This protest is believed to be a part of a larger movement that is known as the “Chicano Movement” that was founded in the 1960’s. This movement focused on bringing ethnic empowerment to the marginalized group of Mexican-Americans in the United States. Specifically, any marginalized high school and college student that feels oppressed by the lack of equal representation of their ethnic curriculum taught in school.

Geographically, the boundary of this research project will be the Tucson Unified School District. For further analysis, only schools with participating members of the Tucson MAS Protest will be referenced. Chronologically, the protest boundaries will be set for the month January 2012 as multiple protests took place by the student led group known as UNIDOS (United Non-Discriminatory Individuals Demanding Our Studies). Legislatively, the boundary will only extend to the Governor Jan Brewer and the TUSD school board; including the superintendent, teachers, students, and immediate community as they were directly involved in the protest. Finally, in regards to literature, a boundary around ethic studies and the Chicano Movement will be placed as it will capture the importance of Mexican-American culture and ethnic equality in education.

2.      Why do you believe that this identity is tied to this protest in a significant way? For whom is this tie significant?

The specific identity that is tied to this protest is “Chicano student.” I believe this identity is tied to the protest and the larger movement because it focuses on cultural pride and success. Moreover, this identity is important to the protest because it allows Chicano culture to be shared and enjoyed by Mexican-American students and their peers from other cultural backgrounds. This tie of identity to protest is important to not only students that do identify as Chicano, but TUSD as well as they are cultivating an environment that demotes diversity. Lastly, this tie of identity to protest is significant because it shows that these students believe in their cultural worth and academic ability to succeed.

3.      How did the group you’re looking at participate in the protest?

The student group, UNIDOS, participated in the protest in several ways. They were actively engaged in conversations of limiting and banning their MAS program, which allowed them to be educated on what was happening. Moreover, these students then met on weekends to discuss and study protest strategies that have been effective and ineffective in the past. Once the UNIDOS group created their plan, they agreed to focus mainly on hosting a walk-out with oppressed Chicano students across the TUSD. Leading from their walk-out, some of the UNIDOS attended the school board meeting and chained themselves to chairs so that their voices would be heard by the administrators. These students were eventually successful as they achieved their goal of bring back the ethnic studies years later.

4.      When you think about this project, what are you worried or concerned about? Do your worries have anything to do specifically with whether you can tie your identity to the protest clearly? Are there questions that you think it will be hard to answer? Do you have methodological concerns? What part of this project do you think will be the most difficult for you?

Being completely honest, I am the most worried and concerned about the length of the paper and the short time period to complete it. I am having a difficult time finding appropriate research that will tie to this specific protest as a secondary source. I think what I will do is use my secondary sources for the history section, and primary sources for the rhetorical section. Moreover, I think I am worried about identity being too broad; however, I plan to mention in the paper that the identity of “Chicano student” is an extension of Mexican-American which impacts a larger community. I am also having a difficult time answering these questions about the protest without being biased. Methodologically (if it is considered to be a concern of this sort) a concern I have is knowing that I will need to engage with at least twelve sources. Overall, the most difficult thing for me will be keeping up with the deadlines of this large project and balancing other assignments from other classes in a timely manner.

5.         Finally: if you are working on a topic that is similar to someone else’s, how will your projects be distinct from one another. (This will obviously require talking to/emailing with the other person/people about their projects.)

I do not think that my project is similar to anyone else’s research project so far. However, I will be on the lookout for any potential overlap that is shown on the class website.