Based on your reading of Takaki chapter 12, Canvas Reading 15 and your viewing of “Chicano!: Quest for a Homeland,” address the following questions in your essay:
1) Based on your reading in Takaki, how did “el barrio” reflect a “Mexican-American world”? How does Takaki describe life in the barrio? How did the people living in it relate to each other? What customs/traditions were retained and practiced? Do you believe such ethnic enclaves are necessary or do you believe they promote exclusion? Support your analysis using examples raised in the text.
2) Based on your reading of “Merton E. Hill Outlines a Program for Americanizing the Mexicans” (Canvas Reading 15), in your own words summarize the curriculum that was to be taught to Mexican-Americans. What did the program focus on teaching them? How was the program gendered? Do you believe this program was created in the best interest of Mexican-Americans? If so, why? If not, why not? Support your analysis using examples raised in the text.
3) Based on your viewing of “Chicano! Quest for a Homeland,” compare the activist approaches of Reies Lopez Tijerina and Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales.” Who do you believe was more effective in the Chicano Movement and why? Why was ‘Aztlan’ so important to the Movement? Why were Chicanos engaged in the anti-Vietnam War protests? Do you believe the death of Ruben Salazar was an accident or a homicide? Support your answers using examples raised in the film.