abstract: My dissertation topic engages in the trajectory of Roma/Gitano culture and flamenco and its implications for Chicanx culture in New Mexico. New Mexicans have the reputation amongst US Chicanx as referring to themselves as Hispanic and aligning culturally with a Spanish sensibility. Historically in the larger US Chicanx community this type of popularity for flamenco would be described as typical of New Mexico’s wavering Chicanidad that yearns to be connected to a Spanish colonial past more than to its indigenous Mexican roots. However, I believe the reality is a bit different. What makes New Mexican Chicanx different from the larger US Chicanx community is that they utilize flamenco and its Gitano roots as a cultural example of their Chicanidad. There is scant research on how Chicanidad as a historical movement has been influenced by the flamenco culture that exists in New Mexico. This dissertation will begin a conversation that places flamenco and the precarious identity of Chicanx, Gitanos and Nuevomejicanos in dialogue through the body, the art form, and the cultural stylings of flamenco rooted in the Flamenco Festival Internacional de Albuquerque (FFI). / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Theatre 2019

The purpose of this article is to establish a textual parallel between Hunter S. Thompson`s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Ernest Hemingway`s Green Hills of Africa. Thompson took Hemingway’s novel as a challenge to write under extreme duress. Thompson twisted many passages from Green Hills to fit his own text. He used bitter irony to translate Hemingway`s text into his own “Gonzo” reportage. Thompson`s friend and traveling companion, Oscar Z. Acosta, is used as an example of how Thompson rewrote Hemingway. Acosta`s Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo is referenced as the nexus of the two novels, making Acosta the primary focus of Thompson`s rewrite. These men, their methods, and their works fit together under Thompson`s pen. Hemingway`s religious, racial, and bestial imagery are included in Thompson`s narrative. However, these images are made ironic and do not plagiarize the original copy.

The title of my manuscript, Americhicano¸ is a play on the words American,Americana, and Chicano. It was my goal to write poems that would capture the shared experiences of Chicanos, Latin Americans and the vast people group we identify as “American.” In the first part of my Statement of Purpose, I go into the politics and social commentary of why I chose this as the focus of my project. “Why I Write” is a continuation of that conversation, but more focused on my own personal experience and journey as a writer. In the Section titled, “On Narrative Poetry” I explore the tradition of narrative in poetry and culture and how the two come together within my own poetry. “Uncertainty and Possibility” talks about the duality of creation and the writer. Do we view the unknown as something scary or as an opportunity to be seized? “On Experimental Form: Erasures and the Avante-Garde” discusses the tension of pushing the boundaries as an artist while negotiating cultural tradition. The last section titled, “Imitation and True Voice” discusses the ways in which a writer grows and continues to grow. The idea here is that we do not have a “true” or “authentic” voice, but rather that we are the culmination of voices and identities that are constantly in flux. This last idea is an echo of all the other sections, and hopefully one that will resonate throughout my growth as a writer and as a person.

The 1960s and 1970s represent a pivotal period in US history and there is a growing body of critical research into how the massive changes of the era (re)shaped institutions and individuals. This dissertation furthers that research by focusing its attention on the creation of the Chicano Indian American Student Union (CIASU) at The University of Iowa in 1971 from an Interdisciplinary perspective. CIASU as the subject of study offers a site that is rich in context and content; this dissertation examines the ways in which a small group of minority students was able to create an ethnically defined cultural center in the Midwest where none had existed prior and does this by looking at the intersection of ethnic identity and student activism. Covering the years 1968-1972, this work provides a "before" and "after" snapshot of life for Chicano/a and American Indian students at Iowa and does so utilizing only historical documents as a way of better understanding how much more research needs to be done. I explore the way in which various social movements such as the Anti-War Movement, the Chicano Movement, the American Indian Movement, the Women's Movement and the cause of the United Farm Workers influenced founding members Nancy V. "Rusty" Barceló, Ruth Pushetonequa and Antonio Zavala within their Midwestern situatedness as ethnic beings. My dissertation draws from and builds upon the work of Gloria Anzaldua in Borderlands/La Frontera by interrogating the ways in which CIASU and its "House" acted as a self-defined "borderlands" for the Chicano/a and American Indian students. I examine the ways in which the idea of "borderlands" is not limited to any one geographical area but is one defined by context and necessity. Also interrogated is how performativity of ethnic identity worked as both cultural comfort and challenge to the students themselves as well as to the larger University community through the use of dress and language, especially "Spanglish". This dissertation examines the activism of CIASU within the University context and out in the Chicano/a and American Indian communities as liberatory practice and working to affect change. Specifically, presenting alternatives for minority communities through actions such as Pre-School classes and performances of El Teatro Zapata and Los Bailadores Zapatista and recruitment of Chicano/a and American Indian high school students. On campus, activism through publication is examined; El Laberinto as the in-house newsletter provides insight into the day-to-day concerns of the students and Nahuatzen, a literary magazine with a wider audience that focused on the larger political questions of the day, taking a broader view of the challenges of ethnic identity as a way to educate and inform. This dissertation views CIASU as a "bridge"; the students worked to create alliances between themselves and the larger University population as well as Chicano/a and American Indian communities. With the recent fortieth anniversary of CIASU it is evident the founding members' wish "to preserve our heritage and our identity" (Daily Iowan, November, 1970) continues and the organization they founded, now known as the Latino Native American Cultural Center, still serves the needs of Latino and American Indian students at Iowa.

Laura Aguilar, John Coplans, and Carla Williams explore, through photographic self-portraiture, the representation of unconventional bodies. Even though the images produced by these artists are quite different in style, they all reflect an interest in a representation of the nude human body that challenges the traditional concepts of beauty so prevalent in a Western society obsessed with physical perfection. Even though the three artists produced their photographic self-portraits at roughly the same time, using the traditional gelatin silver process and responding to standards of classical beauty, their divergent life experiences, education, and social backgrounds have led them to question an almost universal vision of the perfect body from a broad spectrum of perspectives.

This thesis analyzes resistance songs as key representations of the identity and political formation that took place during the 1960s Chicano movement. Examining particular musical traditions, this thesis highlights the value of placing songs of the Chicano struggle in national narratives of history as well as in the context of an enduring and thriving legacy of political and social activism that continues to allow the Chicano community to recognize and validate their current social realities.

This thesis contextualizes the work of artist Margarita Cabrera within Chicano, postcolonial, and feminist theories, and specifically places her work within discourses surrounding the United States-Mexico border. I address the evolution of Cabrera’s sculptural work from her initial Desert Plants to the collaborative, community-based workshop Space in Between, which prompted her incorporation of Florezca, a for-profit social enterprise. I discuss how Cabrera’s collaborative art-making process and founding of a corporation are strategic methods to challenge and attempt to change oppressive political systems in the United States that disenfranchise undocumented Latino immigrants. / text

Through fifty-three in-depth interviews with activists, community members, immigrants, students, and allies, this dissertation research explores the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition (AIRC), a nonprofit immigrant rights organization in Austin, Texas that formed as a response to the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act (H.R. 4437) in the spring of 2006. Three layers of questions guide this research: (1) How did AIRC emerge from the established organizations and activist networks in Austin, Texas? (2) What did AIRC do after the 2006 marches and what is its relationship with organizations in Austin? (3) What are the different ways AIRC has attempted to mobilize Latino(a) and pro-immigrant activism? My dissertation demonstrates that the 2006 mobilizations in Austin, Texas were part of a concerted effort by non-profit organizations, grassroots groups, activists, allies, and college and high school students. Amongst these many active participants, Latinas took a lead. The prominence of the work of similar coalitions throughout the U.S. during La Primavera Latina of 2006 and the lack of prominent male leadership suggests that across the nation, as in Austin, a new type of organizational lead is emerging in the Immigrant Rights Movement (Ramírez Perales-Ramos, Arellano 2010). The 2006 mobilizations reveal a different type of leadership, not an absence of one. In Austin, Latinas took on various leadership roles to move the AIRC forward during and beyond the 2006 marches. This dissertation explores the significance of new leadership, a process approach to leadership which I term “doing leadership.” The four processes of doing leadership embody shared leadership, leadership that serves the community, leadership that leads by obeying, and leadership unfolds behind the scenes. / text

This dissertation presents two participatory action research case studies focusing upon how students viewed the influence of the pedagogy and curriculum of the Chican@ Literature, Art and Social Studies (CLASS) program upon their personal, ethnic, and academic identities. In addition, these studies examined the various ways that youth perceive their role in addressing critical issues in their lives. I conducted this study as a teacher researcher in collaboration with my students. The first study focuses upon eight of the students in the CLASS program as a collective, and the second study is concentrated upon the only student in CLASS who was not of Chican@/Latin@ descent. Both case studies were ten months in duration where I used ethnographic research methods for data collection, which included transcripts from one-on one interviews with the students, as well as artifacts they produced during CLASS. The eight students in this study were an average age of 18.5 years old and all but one had experience in the now defunct Mexican American Studies (MAS) program in Tucson; a program that produced positive educational outcomes in terms of graduation rates and state standardized tests through culturally responsive and critical pedagogy rooted in Indigenous epistemologies (Cabrera, Milem, Jacquette, & Marx, 2014). CLASS was a similar in structure and practice to MAS since I was a teacher in both programs. However, due to unprecedented legislation in Arizona banning Mexican American Studies, CLASS became the last vestiges of the former program outside of public school spaces in order to adhere to the law (Acosta, 2014a; 2014b). Implications include the impact of Indigenous epistemologies, decolonizing and humanizing methodologies and theoretical frameworks upon teaching practices for Chican@ students and other students of color. Furthermore, culturally sustaining pedagogies and critical multicultural and responsive curriculum can increase student engagement and the formation of a positive academic identity (Banks, 2005; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Paris & Alim, 2014; Valenzuela, 1999). Finally, counter narratives (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001), ethnic studies, and social justice curricula (Sleeter, 2011) coupled with Indigenous epistemologies can assist in the development of critical consciousness in students, and serve as a guide to taking collective action in their community and lives.

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