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What is the Chicana Movement?

The Birth of Chicana Feminist Thought

Chicana Ideologies and Issues

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Bibliography

Ana Castillo archives at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "Bio", http://www.anacastillo.com/a/index.php?page_id=6

This is Ana Castillo's offical webpage. It includes various works, contact information, and an extensive bibliography.

Anderson, Karen. Changing Woman: A History of Racial Ethnic Women in Modern America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

This excellent sociological resource shows the progress of Mexican-American women through the last 100 years, from immigrant Mexicana to progressive Chicana. It details the macho culture inherited by Mexican-Americans from Mexico and the fight by American Latina women to break out of that gender role.

Arredondo, Gabriela F., et al., 2003.  Chicana Feminisms. 1st ed. Durham, NC:  Duke University Press. 

Chicana Feminisms  is a collection of essays  written by  scholars in many different fields--including psychology, anthropology, folklore and history.  Each essay  highlights the diversity of the chicana experience, and gives an analysis on a specific Chicana ideology/expression.  It also gives historical information about the Chicana Movement, and includes work by famous authors like Norma Alarcon, Aida Hurtado, Anna Nieto Gomez, Marcia Stephenson, and Jose Manuel Valenzuela.

Blea, Irene I. U.S. Chicanas and Latinas within a global context: women of color at the Fourth Women's Conference. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1977.

This book outlines the history of La Chicana,and how their ideologies have deviated from prescribed gender roles in their communities, to modern ideologies that have been influenced by the Anglo-feminist and the Chicano Movements. The text gives a historical timeline of their development, from the Mexican-American War era to the present. It further studies how racism, sexism, classism, and ethnicity have intersected their progress throughout history.

Cotera, Martha P. The Chicana Feminist. Austin, Texas: Information Systems Development, 1977.

This was the first book we read and proved to be a great jumping off point for all our research. Written by activist Marta Cotera in 1977, this book lays out excellently the contemporary Chicana feminist’s position. Describing their unique concerns as Chicana women, it discusses as well the politics involved with the Chicana and Anglo women’s feminist organizations. Interestingly, she also describes the need to get Chicana women into powerful positions, so as to be able to champion her cause to a greater audience. Her argument can be summed up on page 9, “With this intellectual freedom a Mexicana can continue to move more easily toward a positive, workable, one-to-one relationship with males. In other words, we feel we are progressing from a more advanced state than other women in other cultures toward a full development of women.”

Garcia, Alma M., ed. 1997.  Chicana Feminist Thought:  The Basic Historical Writings.  New York, NY:  Routledge.

This book gives an excellent chronological overview of the activism in the Chicana Movement.  It highlights the struggles and conflicts that Chicanas had to overcome in the Chicano Movement--including gender disparities, their relationships with Anglo-Feminists, and sexual politics.  In general, it gives a great overview of the formation of Chicana ideologies throughout history.

Garcia, Alma M.  “The development of chicana feminist discourse, 1970-1980.” Gender Society 3 (1989):  217-238.


This article discusses the broad history of the Chicana movement. It addresses such issues as race, class, and gender. It also talks about the tension between the Chicana feminists, the Chicano nationalist movement, and the women’s liberation movement. The article discusses idea of the mother and the wife, contrasted against the idea of the empowered women. A very good source that provides a nuanced account of Chicana thought.

Hernandez, Ester. "Bibliography", http://www.esterhernandez.com/Bio_1.htm

This website is the well-know artists Ester Hernandez's official page. It includes a small gallery, and a brief bibliography.

Vicki l. Ruiz, Ed., Las obreras: Chicana politics of work and family. Los Angeles: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Publications, 2000.

This book contains a collection of essays describing all spheres of the Chicana woman's life. Issues covered include: work, church, neighborhood, struggle within the movement, community organizaing, and politcal organizing. This well-researched book also has a multiplicity of quotes that would be usefull to anyone researching on Latina feminism.


Ortega, Mariana. "Being lovingly, knowingly ignorant: white feminism and women of color." Hypatia 21.3 (2006): 56-74.    

Discusses her idea of the “arrogant perceiver” or one who arranges the world to fit his/her needs, rather than seeing the relative objective truth. Mentions how white feminist women, still today, do not “truly” accept or understand minority women in the movement. She uses the idea of “listening,” but not “checking” and “questioning” to illustrate the problem of the lack of voice in the movement for minority women. The article discusses as well the history of Latina thought, such as their rejection of machismo in the Chicano movement.

Quintana, Alvina E. "Home Girls: Chicana Literary Voices." Philadelphia: Temple University Press, (1996): 7

In Alvina E. Quintana's Home Girls, she explores the literary works of Chicana writers, and how these works reflect the beliefs and culture of the movement. She analyzes various forms of literature, from poetry to drama. She looks at various topics such as sexuality, radicalism, and politics. By examining different genres, Quintana's book gives a holistic perspective on Chicana literature.