Chicano San Diego

Cultural Space and the Struggle for Justice

Richard Griswold del Castillo

• Publisher: University of Arizona Press
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780816525683
• eBook ISBN: 9780816544561
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

The Mexican and Chicana/o residents of San Diego have a long, complicated, and rich history that has been largely ignored. This collection of essays shows how the Spanish-speaking people of this border city have created their own cultural spaces. Sensitive to issues of gender—and paying special attention to political, economic, and cultural figures and events—the contributors explore what is unique about San Diego's Mexican American history.

In chronologically ordered chapters, scholars discuss how Mexican and Chicana/o people have resisted and accommodated the increasingly Anglo-oriented culture of the region. The book's early chapters recount the historical origins of San Diego and its development through the mid-nineteenth century, describe the "American colonization" that followed, and include examples of Latino resistance that span the twentieth century—from early workers' strikes to the United Farm Workers movement of the 1960s. Later chapters trace the Chicana/o Movement in the community and in the arts; the struggle against the gentrification of the barrio; and the growth of community organizing (especially around immigrants' rights) from the perspective of a community organizer.

To tell this sweeping story, the contributors use a variety of approaches. Testimonios retell individual lives, ethnographies relate the stories of communities, and historical narratives uncover what has previously been ignored or discounted. The result is a unique portrait of a marginalized population that has played an important but neglected role in the development of a major American border city.

Table of contents

• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Introduction: A Border Region and People / Richard Griswold del Castillo
• 1. Natives and Settlers: The Mestizo Heritage / Richard Griswold del Castillo
• 2. The American Colonization of San Diego / Richard Griswold del Castillo
• 3. From Revolution to Economic Depression / Richard Griswold del Castillo
• 4. World War II and the Emerging Civil Rights Struggle / José Rodolfo Jacobo and Richard Griswold del Castillo
• 5. El Campo: Memories of a Citrus Labor Camp / María de la Luz Ibarra
• 6. “¡Sí, Se Puede!”: Chicana/o Activism in San Diego at Century’s End / Isidro D. Ortiz
• 7. Chicanas in the Arts, 1970–1995: With Personal Reflections / Rita Sánchez
• 8. The Struggle against Gentrification in Barrio Logan / Emmanuelle Le Texier
• 9. The Border and Human Rights: A Testimony / Roberto L. Martínez
• 10. Learning from the Past: Some Concluding Comments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index