Garcia 1

YesicaGarcia
WRIT2
Wilson
07December2015
DiscourseCommunityofChicanoStudies
TheChicanoStudiesdepartmentwastheresultofthemobilizationofminoritystudents
inordertohavecoursesthatanalyzedtheissuesaffectingChicanosandotherethnicminorities.
Theseissueswerenotoftenaddressedbecausemostclassesfocusedonhistorythatwasbasedon
awhitemalesperspectivewhodidnotpresentminoritiesroleswithinUShistory.Theroles
andmovementsoftheChicanocommunitieshavenotbeenincludedinthehistoryoftheUS,
evenasminoritieswereoppressedanddiscriminated.UShistorydidnotincludetherolesand
movementsofChicanocommunitiesevenasminoritieswereoppressedanddiscriminated.
Becauseofoppressionandlackofrecognitionofahistorythatincludesminorities,isthatthis
particularcommunityanalyzesanddiscusseshistoricaleventsthatinvolveMexicanAmerican
movementsandtheircoalitionwithothergroupsthatcanbeseenintexts,likeSayinNothin
byCatherineRamirezandZoottoBoot:TheZootSuitasbothCostumeandSymbolbySarah
ElizabethHoward.Throughwhichscholarspresentanewoutlookonhistorythattakesinto
accounttheroleofminoritiesandtheimpactcreated.
Asaglimpsetothemajor,UCSBprovidesadepartmenthomepagethatisstructuredto
bedirectandconcisebymentioningthemajorsobjectives.Itstatesthatthecoursesprobethe
rootsoftraditionsbeginningintheindigenousculturesofMexicoandCentralAmericaand
extendingintothemanyareasofcontemporaryAmericansociety(Undergrad).Thisquote

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showsthatthecoursesfocusonbothChicanoandCentralAmericancultureandhowitwenton
toinfluencedAmericancultureinmoderntimes.BymentioningmorethanjustChicanoculture,
thediscoursecommunitybecomesbroaderbecauseotherminoritiesthathaveexperienced
similarunwantedinterferenceandcolonizationfromEuropeansandAmericansareincluded.By
historicallyanalyzingtheseexperiences,thediscoursecommunityisabletotakedifferent
accountsfromminoritiestoreinforcearguments.Myprofessorstatesonhissyllabus,theclass
isalsoaboutAfricanAmerican[s],NativeAmerican[s],AsianAmerican[s],U.S.,Latin
America,andworldhistory.WecannotunderstandChicana/ohistorywithoutunderstanding
thesehistories(4).Thisdemonstrateshowarticlesincludetopicsthatpertaintootherethnic
studiesintertwinebecauseofthecoalitionsandsimilarhistoriesbetweenminorities.The
syllabusandmyprofessormentionthecombinationofvariouscultureswithinthecourseand
explaintherelationshipthatshowhowtherecannotbeoneanalyzedwithoutfindingtracesof
supportfromtheothersbecauseofthecoalitionsthatwerecreatedinmovementslikeforthe
unionandduringotherevents.
MosttextsarebasedonanalyzinghistoricaleventsthathaveaffectedtheChicano
community.SayinNothinwrittenbyRamirez,beginsbypresentingastoryofaChicana
usingpathosandsettingthestagewithaclippedphototobringthecharactertolife,thendelve
deeperintothestoryofthemovementandstatetheirclaimwithinthefewsentences.Ramirez
usescourttranscripts,toanalyzethewayChicanawomenwereseenasunladylikeandun
Americanbecausetheyspokeinadifferentmanner.Herwordchoicecriticizedthewaywomen
wereportrayedandledtheaudiencetoagreewithmoreconvictionbecausediscriminationbythe
justicesystemthroughtheestablishedevocativetone.Theauthorgoesontoincludeacorrido,or

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ballad,whereshestatesthat,Idrawuponacorridoinordertobetterunderstandthelinguistic
varietiesofpachucosandpachucasinthe1940s(85).Theauthorusessourcesavailablebackin
thosetimestodrawabetterconclusionabouthertopicsinthiscasethelinguisticdiscrimination.
Forexample,thecorridossongswerewrittenforentertainment,butifanalyzed,theycontain
morethanjustabeat.Corridostoldstoriesandwereusedasawaytowriteaboutwhatwas
goingonintheircommunity,eventodaysongsarewrittentomakenoticeofaninjusticeora
wayoflife.Theuseofevidencewaspresentinthisarticlewhichleadtoaneffectivewayto
createcredibilityinsteadofjustbasingargumentsonsubjectiveideasbecausetheauthorstake
consideropposingarguments.Thiswaytheevidenceprovidesmoresubstantialfactsthatmake
thenewwrittenperspectiveclearerbecausenowculturalreferenceisincluded.
Inadditiontothefirsttext,ZoottoBoot:TheZootSuitasbothCostumeandSymbol,
usespathosasawaytopresentthedifferentoutlooksonthepachucossuitusedbypeopleof
color.Thisarticleanalyzedevidenceusingmoralreasonsthatmadetheauthorfeelrageatthe
injusticesthatwereoutwardlycommittedbythestate.Forexample,theauthorstates,ahandful
ofsailorsdrag[ed]thetwoboysontothestreetsandstrip[ed]themoftheirsignaturezootsuits
(Howard123).Theverbsdraggedandstrippedhaveharshconnotationsbecauseit
successfullydemonizesthewhitesailorsinsteadofthepachucosthatweredemonizedbythe
mediabecauseoftheirextravagantsuitsthatintheviewoftheChicanositwasaformof
identity.Theauthorusedthosewordstopresenttheideaofmediahypocrisyandoneway
argument,thatisalsopresentedinclass.
Throughthesyllabus,pathoscanalsobeseenastheinstructorstatesthatthefocusison
criticallyexamininghistory,withoureyesandheartsfixedoncreatingamorecompassionate

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andjustsocietyandworld(4).Hepresentsthisideausingpathosasawaytoinspirestudents,
althoughhiswordsaremoretotheidealisticside,theyessentiallyrepresenthowtheauthors
includeareflectivethoughtabouttheirsubject.Thelecturerdescribesandsummarizestheclass,
whileatthesametimetryingtoexplainhisperspectiveandgetotherstoagreewithhim.Heuses
quotesfrompeoplewhohaveledamovement,forinstanceasheexplainshowthedeclarationof
independenceisnothonoredheinterjects,MartinLutherKingssayingthatstatesBetrueto
whatyousaidonpaper(3).Thishappensregularlyandisevidencedthatisusedorally.The
additionofquotesgetstheaudiencethinkingandaddsemotionwhenreflectingonthe
discrimination.
Jargonisalsoaconventionthatisnotidenticalforeverycommunity.MostarticlesthatI
haveencounteredincludeawordormorewritteninSpanishthatarepartofthefieldsjargon
thatinturnaddmoremeaningtotheargument.Theworkisnowseenascrediblebecauseit
showshowtheauthorhadtoresearchthepeopleinordertobeabletoproperlyportraythe
cultureduringaspecifictimeframe.Alsobydoingsomereading,theprofessorusesjargon
pointsitoutonthereadingbydefiningitduringlecture.Bydefiningtheterminology,itdelves
usdeeperintothecommunityandgivesusabetterunderstandingofthetext.Forinstance,lines
likejuxtaposeslomexicanoylopocho(Howard127)areessentialtothetopicbecause
sometimesthesearewordsthatarenegativelyconnotedinthemediaorotherarticlesthatare
presentedinthemainstreamhistory,yetthesewordsprovideextensivemeaningwheretheauthor
canshadeanewlighttothemwiththeimportancetotheculture.
MostofthearticleswrittenexploreanewsideofaneventjustlikeinSayinNothin,
explorestheSleepyLagooncasefromtheperspectiveofthepachucasorananalysisofan

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importantculturalfeatureofatimethatwascriticized.However,theyprovideanewviewpoint
whentheywriteaboutthecultureandshedlightonthestrugglesminoritieshavefacedandtheir
resiliencetokeepongoingtofighttheoppressivesystem.

WorksCited
Armbuster,Sandoval.ChicanoStudiesSyllabus.2015.ChicanoStudiesDepartment,University
ofCalifornia,SantaBarbara,SantaBarbara,CA.MicrosoftWordFile.
ChicanoStudiesDepartment.UCSB.Undergraduate.Web.6Nov.2015.
Howard,SarahE.ZoottoBoot:TheZootSuitasbothcostumeandSymbol.StudiesinLatin
AmericanPopularCulture28.1(2010):112131.Web.6Nov.2015.
Ramirez,Catherine.SayinNothin.PachucasandtheLanguageofResistance.Frontiers:A
JournalofWomenStudies27.3(2006):133.Print.