Anything But Mexican: Chicanos in Contemporary Los Angeles
Paperback, 352 pages
ISBN: 9781859840313
July 1995
$24.95 / £25.99
Reviews
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“Anything But Mexican challenges neo-liberal interpretations of the history of Los Angeles which blame Mexicans and other immigrants of color for the decline of the city. Acuña’s provocative work confronts these historical myths, signalling that Latinos will not be dismissed.”
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“Required reading on Chicanos in the Southwest. This book will stand amongst the classics in Chicano Studies.”
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“This book defines important political and social space for Latinos in what has become the capital of Mexicans in the US. Anything But Mexican is a sensitive and often pointed discourse.”
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“Rodolfo Acuña is one of the foremost scholar/activists in the country, bridging the gap between the Chicano movement and a multi-racial left that is often uninformed about the growing strategic importance of Latinos in the US.”
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“A political and social history every bit as insightful and powerful as the earlier works by a pioneering Chicano scholar dubbed by some the ‘W.E.B. Dubois of Chicano Studies.’”
Blog
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Suffering from the "benign neglect" of others
Amid the Tucson Unified School District's recent attempts to remove Mexican American Studies and works by Latino American authors from its schools' curricula, Wordstrike has been providing invaluable coverage and ongoing commentary by several activists, journalists and community members for its "Saving Ethnic Studies" series. In a recent installment, scholar and activist Rodolfo F. Acuña offers readers a reflection on the longstanding and deep-seated disavowals of America's Latino heritage by American culture at large. Touching on both its larger manifestations—especially within the broader context of public education—as well as his own personal experiences, he poignantly recounts the various forms of resistance he has battled throughout his life. In particular, he mentions the difficulties he had to overcome as a graduate student and faculty member in the face of what he terms the "benign neglect" of others, and the palpable feeling of invisibility that worked to marginalize Latino Americans in general.
As he writes,
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"Avoiding Race, Ethnicity and Oppression"
Over the last week, CNN, Salon, Wordstrike and various other media outlets have been providing ongoing coverage of the Tucson Unified School District board's recent decision to shut down Mexican American Studies in its public schools. The governing board, which voted in a 4-1 decision to indefinitely suspend the programs, made their decision on the basis of the unbelievable recent state ruling that Mexican American Studies "promote resentment towards a race or class of people" and in the face of the threatened loss of $15 million in state funding.