Emerging from the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, Chicano nationalism aimed to reclaim political influence, cultural identity, and territorial recognition for Mexican Americans. Chicano nationalism expanded democracy by advocating for marginalized voices by manipulating and reconstructing traditional democratic frameworks.
Self-Determination within the Chicano Movement
Self-determination is the idea that a group/community has the right to govern themselves and determine their own political identity. Chicano nationalism embodied this principle by rejecting policies that pushed assimilation and challenging the current political and economic structures that excluded their community from full democratic participation. This led the the creation of La Raza Unida Party, asserting their place in the political sphere.
Chicano activists argued that democracy in the U.S. was inadequate as long as Mexican Americans continued to be treated as second-class citizens. By demanding bilingual education, labor protections, and land rights, they sought to make democracy more inclusive.
As a Chicana and a feminist, I must, like other Chicanas before me, examine the effects this myth has on my/our racial/sexual identity and my relationship with other Chicanas. There is hardly a Chicana growing up today who does not suffer under her name even if she never hears directly of the one-time Aztec princess.
-Cherríe Moraga
Aztlán and the Question of Sovereignty
Aztlán is known as the mythic homeland of the Aztecs and is used as a driving force to unify Chicanos. Activists claim there is historical and territorial legitimacy and that the land was stolen after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848). Part of the Chicano movement and their nationalism is demanding land rights and autonomy.
The idea of Aztlán raised questions from a democratic lens:
Is territorial sovereignty a must when advocating for self-determination?
Can ethnic nationalism exist within the U.S.’s democratic framework?
Chicano nationalism challenged the U.S.’s democracy and who it served. Although nationalism is known for being exclusionary, that is not what Chicano nationalism did. By fighting for political representation, labor rights, and cultural recognition, voting rights and protections for Latinos were implemented, and education policies were reformed. Chicano nationalism was not just a cultural movement, it was a democratic demand for recognition, representation, and justice.