Chicana/o Art Since the 1960s

Barrio Streets, Museum Walls, and Gallery Spaces

Mas Rudas Collective, Detail from Becoming the Spectacle: The Virgen de
Guadalupe, Aztec Goddess, the Mariachi, and the Donkey Lady, 2011.
Photo: Chad Gomez, SA.

ARTH 27517
Instructor Josh T Franco
MW 4 5.15, G115
[email protected]
Office Hours: Wed 1.45 3.45, by appointment

Description________________________________________
Chicano

is

self-description

taken

on

by

some

Mexican Americans initially in the 1960s to signal dissent

of conventional organizations of government, education, and
labor in the US. From its inception, demonstrations of this
dissent have always included visual elements prominently
and often exclusively. Posters, graffiti, and murals from
this

period

have

since

been

absorbed

by

major

museums

throughout the world.

The initial development of images put to work in la
lucha, the struggle, took place in homes, streets, and
makeshift cultural centers. Subsequent generations further
developed Chicano / a aesthetics through MFA programs and
similar venues, leading to the gallery representations and
circuits of museum inclusion more typical of the art world.
As a class, we will ask whether or how these artists works
have tested the limits of those institutions.
This class will be organized chronologically in themes
each week, tracking these institutional paths of different
aspects of Chicano / a art, including the moments of crises
it

has

encountered

throughout.

These

crises

are

both

internal and external to Chicano / a communities. We will

see

how

feminist

movements,

indigenous

figures,

and

conflicting notions of nationalism, liberty, and modernism

/ postmodernism have shaped both these critical moments and
the trajectory of art called Chicano / a in their wake up
to today.

Schedule___________________________________________
Aug 28

Introductions. What is Ch(X)icano/a/@? View

Rodolfo Corky Gonzalez, I Am Joaquin
Read Alurista, El plan spiritual de Aztln

Week 1 United Farm Workers & Teatro Campesino

Sept 2

No Class Labor Day

Sept 4

Goldman, Shifra and Tomas Ybarra-Frausto, The

Politics and Social Contexts of Chicano Art,
CARA Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, pp.
83 95.

Week 2 -

Aztln

Sept 9

Anzalda, Gloria, The Homeland,Aztln / El Otro

Mexico, Borderlands / La Frontera, The New
Mestiza, pp. 23 35.

Sept 11

Prez-Torres, Rafael, Refiguring Aztln, The

Chicano Studies Reader, pp. 197 222.

Week 3 -

Rasquachismo

Sept 16

Ybarra-Frausto, Tomas, Rasquachismo: A Chicano

Sensibility,Chicano Art: Resistance and
Affirmation. 1965 1985, pp. 155 62.

Sept 18

Gaspar de Alba, Alicia, A Theoretical

Introduction: Alter-Native Ethnography, a lo
rasquache, Chicano Art Inside / Outside the
Masters House, pp. 1 28.

Week 4 Language (Spanish, English, Nahuatl, Calo)

Sept 23

View Jose Montoya reading El Louie:

http://vimeo.com/20187019 (Instructor will bring
printouts to class)

Arteaga, Alfred, An Other Tongue, An Other

Tongue: Nation and Ethnicity in the Linguistic
Borderlands, pp. 9 33.
Sept 25

Anzalda, Gloria, How to Tame a Wild Tongue,

Borderlands / La Frontera, The New Mestiza, pp.
75 86.

Week 5 Murals
Nov 18

Goldman, Shifra, Mexican Muralism: Its SocialEducative Roles in Latin America and the United
States, The Chicano Studies Reader: An Anthology
of Aztln, 1970 2000, pp. 257 74.

Nov 20

Neumaier, Diane, Judy Baca: Our People Are the

Internal Exiles, Making Face, Making Soul:
Creative and Critical Perspectives by Feminists
of Color, pp. 256 270.

Week 6 Chicana Feminism I

Oct 7

Gaspar de Alba, Alicia, Out of the House, the

Halo, and the Whores Mask: the Mirror of
Malinchismo, Chicano Art Inside / Outside the
Masters House, pp. 1 28.

Oct 9

Martinez, Elizabeth Betita, The Story of La

Chicana Begins, 500 Years of Chicana Womens
History, pp. 2 25.

Week 7 Midterms
Oct 14

No Class; come to instructors office at

scheduled time for individual midterm interview

Oct 16

See above.

Week 8 Chicana Feminism II

Oct 21

Mesa-Bains, Amalia, Domesticana: The Sensibility

of Chicana Rasquachismo, Chicana Feminisms: A
Critical Reader, pp. 298 315.

Oct 23

Prez, Laura E., Body, Dress, Chicana Art: the

politics of spiritual and aesthetic altarities,
pp. 50 90.

Week 9 The Sacred

Oct 28

Lopez, Alma, The Artist of Our Lady (April 2,

2001), Our Lady of Controversy, pp. 13 16.
Calvo, Luz, Art Comes for the Archbishop: The
Semiotics of Contemporary Chicana Feminism and
the Work of Alma Lopez, Our Lady of Controversy,
pp. 96 120.

Oct 30

Prez, Laura E., Spirit, Glyphs, Chicana Art:

the politics of spiritual and aesthetic
altarities, pp. 17 - 49.

Week 10 Altares
Nov 4

Gonzalez, Jennifer, Amalia Mesa-Bains: Divine

Allegories, Subject to Display: Reframing Race
in Contemporary Installation Art, pp. 120 163.

Nov 6

Prez, Laura E., Altar, Alter, Chicana Art: the

politics of spiritual and aesthetic altarities,
pp. 91 - 145.

Week 11 Collectives
Nov 11

Chavoya, C. Ondine and Rita Gonzalez, ASCO and

the Politics of Revulsion, ASCO: Elite of the
Obscure, pp. 37 85.

Nov 13

Skype with Ms Rudas Collective (San Anto)

Week 12 The Border

Sept 30

Anzalda, Gloria, To live in the Borderlands

means you, Borderlands / La Frontera, The New
Mestiza, pp. 216 17.
Anzalda, Gloria, Chicana Artists: Exploring
Nepantla, el lugar de la Frontera, The Latino
Studies Reader, pp. 163 9.

Oct 2

Kun, Josh, Playing the Fence, Listening to the

Line: Sound, Sound Art, and Acoustic Politics at
the US Mexico Border, Performance in the
Borderlands, pp. 17 36.

Week 13 Mexico
Nov 25

Maciel, David, Mexico in Aztln, Aztln in

Mexico: The Dialectics of Chicano-Mexicano Art,
Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, pp. 109
19.

Nov 27

Mccaughan, Edward J., Signs of Citizenship, Art

and Social Movements: Cultural Politics in Mexico
and Aztln, pp. 20 56.

Week 14 Studio Crit/Writing Workshop Week

Dec 2

Class time devoted to collaboratively discussing

final projects (artworks or research papers)

Dec 4

See above.

Week 15 Inside/Outside? Questioning Art World(s)

Dec 9

Sanchez-Tranquilino, Marcos and John Tagg, The

Pachucos Flayed Hide: The Museum, Identity, and
Buenas Garras, Chicano Art: Resistance and
Affirmation, pp. 97 108.

Dec 11

Noriega, Chon A., The Orphans of Modernism,

Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano
Movement, pp. 16 45.

Assignments, Midterm, & Final______________________

- 1 - 2 page (double-spaced 12pt Times New Roman), informal
written responses will be due each Wednesday.
- Midterm will take the form of an interview with the
instructor in which key concepts will be reviewed.
Interviews to be scheduled for the week of October 14.
- Final will have two options:
1) 8-10 page research paper (Chicago Manual of Style);
topic to be discussed individually with instructor.
Or
2) A visual, performance, or conceptual artwork and 45 page paper theorizing the piece using concepts
from the course.

Academic Honesty___________________________________
Academic honesty is a cornerstone of the mission of the
College. Unless it is otherwise stipulated, students may
submit for evaluation only that work that is their own and
that is submitted originally for a specific course.
According to traditions of higher education, forms of
conduct that will be considered evidence of academic
misconduct include but are not limited to the following:
conversations between students during an examination;
reviewing,
without
authorization,
material
during
an
examination (e.g., personal notes, another student's exam);
unauthorized collaboration; submission of a paper also
submitted for credit in another course; reference to
written material related to the course brought into an
examination room during a closed-book, written examination;
and submission without proper acknowledgment of work that
is based partially or entirely on the ideas or writings of
others. Only when a faculty member gives prior approval for
such actions can they be acceptable.
(Article 7.1.4 Ithaca College Policy Manual)

Evaluation_________________________________________
25%
25%
25%
25%

Attendance (One unexcused absence allowed w/o penalty)

Weekly Writing Assignments
Midterm Interview
Final

Required Texts_____________________________________
Anzalda, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza,
4th edition. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 2012 (1987).
Gaspar De Alba, Alicia. Chicano Art Inside/Outside the
Masters House: Cultural Politics and the CARA Exhibition.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998.
Prez, Laura E. Chicana Art: the Politics of Spiritual and
Aesthetic Altarities. Durham: Duke Univeristy Press, 2007.

Bibliography_______________________________________
Alurista. As our barrio turnswho the yoke b on? San Diego:
Calaca Press, 2000.
______. El Plan Espiritual de Aztln. Delivered at First
National Chicano Liberation Youth Conference, March 1969.
Anzalda, Gloria, ed. Making Face, Making Soul: Creative
and Critical Perspectives by Feminists of Color. San
Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1990.
_______, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza,
4th edition. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 2012 (1987).
Arredondo, Gabriela F., Aida Hurtado, Norma Klahn, Olga
Najera-Ramirez,
and
Patricia
Zavella,
eds.
Chicana
Feminisms: A Critical Reader. Durham: Duke University
Press, 2003.
Arteaga, Alfred, Ed. An Other Tongue: Nation and Ethnicity
in the Linguistic Borderlands. Durham: Duke University
Press, 1994.
Arteaga, Alfred. Chicano of Poetics: Heterotexts and
Hybridities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Burciaga, Jos Antonio. Drink Cultura: Chicanismo. Santa
Barbara: Joshua Odell Editions, 1993.
Chavoya, Ondine C., Rita Gonzalez, David E. James, and
Amelia Jones, eds. ASCO: Elite of the Obscure: A
Retrospective 1972 - 1987, Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz
Verlag, 2011.

Coltharp, Lurline. The Tongue of the Tirilones: A

Lingusitic Study of a Criminal Argot. University, Alabama:
University of Alabama Press, 1965.
Cuba, Nan and Riley Robinson, Eds. Art at Our Doorstep: San
Antonio Writers + Artists. San Antonio, TX: Trinity
University Press, 2008.
Darder, Antonia and Rodolfo D. Torres,
Studies Reader. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.

eds.

The

Desahogate! Growing up xicana/o. Vol. 1. No.

Antonio, TX: In Tlilli, In Tlapalli Press, 2004.

Latino
1.

San

Elam, Harry Justin. Taking it to the Streets: the Social

Protest Theater of Luis Valdez and Amiri Baraka. Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 2001.
Galindo, D. Leticia. Speaking Chicana: Voice, Power, and
Identity. Eds. D. Leticia Galindo and Maria Dolores
Gonzales Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1999.
Gaspar De Alba, Alicia. Chicano Art Inside/Outside the
Masters House: Cultural Politics and the CARA Exhibition.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998.
Gaspar de Alba, Alicia. "From CARA to CACA: The Multiple
Antinomies of Chicano/a Art at the Turn of the New
Century." Aztln: A Journal of Chicano Studies 26, no. 1:
205-31.
Gaspar de Alba, Alicia and Alma Lopez, eds. Our Lady of
Controversy: Alma Lopezs Irreverent Apparition. Austin:
University of Texas Press, 2011.
Gomez, Ernesto and Gilberto Cerda. The Social Significance
and Value Dimension of Current Mexican American Dialectical
Spanish: A Glossary for the Human Service Professions. San
Antonio: Worden School of Social Service, Our Lady of the
Lake University, 1976.
Gonzalez, Jennifer. Subject to Display: Reframing Race in
Contemporary Altar Art. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008.
Griffith, Beatrice. American Me. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Co., 1998.

Griswold del Castillo,Richard, Teresa McKenna, and Yvonne

Yarbro-Bejarano
eds.
Chicano
Art:
Resistance
and
Affirmation, 1965 1985. Los Angeles: Wight Art Gallery,
University of California, Los Angeles, 1991.
Hebdige, Dick. Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London:
Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1979.
Herrera y Lozano, Lorenzo, Ed. Queer Codex: Rooted! Austin,
TX: Evelyn Street Press, 2008.
Latina Lesbians, Sinister Wisdom no. 74. Berkeley: Sinister
Wisdom Inc., 2008.
Lima, Lzaro. The Latino Body: Crisis Identities in
American Literary and Cultural Memory. New York: New York
University Press.
Lujn, Ida M. Speaking Chicana: Voice, Power, and Identity.
Eds. D. Leticia Galindo and Maria Dolores Gonzales Tucson:
The University of Arizona Press, 1999.
Montoya, Jose. In Formation: 20 Years of Joda. San
Francisco: Chusma House Publications, 1992.
Madrid-Barela, Arturo. In Search of the Authentic Pachuco:
An Interpretive Essay. In Aztln, vol. 5, no. 1 (Spring
1973), 31-60.
Martinez, Elizabeth Betita. 500 Years of Chicana Womens
History/500 Aos de la Mujer Chicana. New Brunswick, NJ:
Rutgers University Press, 2008.
Mccaughan, Edward J. Art and Social Movements: Cultural
Politics in Mexico and Aztln. Durham: Duke University
Press, 2012.
Mendoza, Louis G., Ed. Raulrsalinas and the Jail Machine:
Selected Writings by Raul Salinas. Austin: University of
Texas Press, 2006.
Moraga, Cherre L. Heroes and Saints
Albuquerque: West End Press, 1994.

and

Other

Noriega, Chon A. The Orphans of Modernism.

Journal of Chicano Studies 32, no. 2.

Plays.

Aztln:

______, Chon A., Rita Gonzalez, and Howard N. Fox eds.

Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement. Los
Angeles: University of California Press, 2008.
______, Eric Avila, Karen Mary Davalos, Chela Sandoval, and
Rafael Prez-Torres, eds. The Chicano Studies Reader: An
Anthology of Aztln, 1970 2010. Los Angeles: UCLA
Chicano Studies Research Center Press, 2011.
Paz, Octavio. The Labyrinth of Solitude and the Other
Mexico. New York: Grove Press Inc., 1985.
Prez, Emma. The Decolonial Imaginary: Writing Chicanas
Into History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999.
Prez, Laura E. Chicana Art: the Politics of Spiritual and
Aesthetic Altarities. Durham: Duke Univeristy Press, 2007.
Polkinhorn, Harry, Alfredo Velasco, and Malcolm Lambert,
Compilers. El Libro de Calo: The Dictionary of Chicano
Slang. Floricanto Press, 2005.
raursalinas. Un Trip Through the Mind Jail y Otras
Excursiones. Houston: Arte Pblico Press, 1999.
________. Indio Trails: A Xicano Odyssey Through Indian
Country, Poems By raulrsalinas (Autumn Sun). San Antonio,
TX: Wings Press, 2006.
Rivera-Servera, Ramon H. and Harvey Young, eds. Performance
in the Borderlands. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
Salas, Elizabeth. Soldaderas in the Mexican Military: Myth
and History. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990.
Tezozomec.
Xicano
with
an
X.
View
http://www.soychicano.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39400

at:

Valdez, Luis. Luis Valdez Early Works: Actos, Bernabe and

Pensamiento Serpentino. Culture and Society. San Juan
Bautista, CA: Arte Publico Press, 1994 (first edition:
1974).

Electronic Devices_________________________________
- Laptops and tablets are welcome for taking notes and to
facilitate any discussion in conversation with topic at
hand
- Please turn off or silence cell phones during class and
keep out of sight to avoid disruptions

Mental Health and Disabilities Policies____________

- Diminished mental health, including significant stress,
mood changes, excessive worry, or problems with eating
and/or sleeping can interfere with optimal academic
performance. The source of symptoms might be related to
your course work; if so, please speak with me. However,
problems with relationships, family worries, loss, or a
personal struggle or crisis can also contribute to
decreased academic performance.
Ithaca College provides cost-free mental health
services
through
the
Center
for
Counseling
and
Psychological Services (CAPS) to help you manage personal
challenges that threaten your personal or academic wellbeing.
In the event I suspect you need additional support,
expect that I will express to you my concerns and the
reasons for them. It is not my intent to know the details
of what might be troubling you, but simply to let you know
I am concerned and that help (e.g., CAPS, Health Center,
Chaplains, etc.), if needed, is available.
- In compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, reasonable
accommodation will be provided to students with documented
disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Students must
register with Student Disability Services and provide
appropriate documentation to Ithaca College before any
academic adjustment will be provided.