Chicano Studies 141B

The Core Zones

Central Mexico, West Mexico, Oaxaca, and the Maya zone.

La Reconquista

Christian kingdoms to the north regained power in holy wars, driving the Moors southward. By the 1000s, Christians were gaining an upper hand and by the 1200s, they had driven the Muslims into the Granada region of the peninsula.

the mission myth and reality

In principle, the missions were supposed to prepare the natives for a self-rule. This did not happen in the Spanish or Mexican periods. Because of the friars puritanism and harsh treatment, they drove the indigenous populations to rebellion.

paradigm Acuna's essay

Kuhn defines paradigm as a set of theories, standards, methods, and beliefs which are accepted as the norm by most scientists in a particular field of study. It relates to this class as part of history.

The Maya Occupied America

Mayan agricultural villages appeared about 1800 BC. The Maya formed a trade network that increased with other chiefdoms in the Gulf Coast, Oaxaca, and Central Mexico. The Maya experimented with advanced forms of agriculture, dug irrigation canals, and reclaimed wetlands by constructing raised fields.

manifest destiny

Regligous doctrine with roots in Puritan ideas which continue to influence U.S. policy to this day. According to this theory, the U.S. was the embodiment of the city of god on earth and the european race were chosen people predestined for salvation.

Cordova Revolt

Revolted against the Lone star republic because they were tired of being treated like dogs. Cordova undoubtedly expected help from mexico, but it was not forthcoing. The wounded Cordova retreated to Matamoros and the surviving families fled to the woods. Cordova contitnued his war against the republic of texas, attracting, native, mexican, blac, and even white followers.

The texas revolt: the alamo and san jacinto

Santa Anna and his troops were attacked while they were sleeping by the fillibusters. Santa Anna knew Houston had an army of 1,000 yet the surprise attack caught him totally off guard. Houston's men captured Santa Anna, who signed the territory away.

Articles VIII, IX, and X

articles that specifically referred to the rights of mexicans in what became the united states. under the treaty, they had one year to choose whether to return to mexico or remain in "occupied mexico".

The Valley of Oaxaca

original occupants of the Valley of Oaxaca were the Zapoteca. About 4000 years ago, Oaxaca's people settled in agricultural villages.

limpieza de sangre

purity of blood, that is, they were not of jewish or Moorish blood.

Miguel Hidalgo

sparked a social revolution on september 16, 1810

The Olmeca Occupied America

1500 - 500 BC. History shows the development of civilization occurring at about the same time as in North African and Asia, where the "cradle of civilization" is traditionally believed to have been located. Mesoamerican identity had already begun to form, marked by a dependence on corn agriculture and a growing population.

the san patricio batallion

A sizable number of Irish immigrats as well as some other Euro-Americans, deserted to the Mexican side., forming the san patricio batalliian. Many Irish were catholics and resented the protestants ill treatment of catholic priests, nuns, churches and other institutions.

academic department Acuna's essay

Acuna writes that in order to give good history there is a need for a department where the different disciplines come together and organically interrelate.

role of geocide in colonization of Native Mesoameria

After the conquest of Tenochtitlan, smallpox and other epidemics spread throught the countryside, subsiding and recurring, untill eventually as many as 24 million died in what is Mexico.

Mexican independence in 1821

As Mexico gained indepedence from Spain, the Euro-Americans were expanding.

Ballad of Gregorio Cortez

Banditry in Texas was caused in great part by racism and brutality. On June 12, 1901, Karnes Country Sheriff Morris went to the Cortez farm to investigate a horse theft. Deputy Boone Choate, acting as an interpreter, misunderstood Gregorio Cortez's answers to Sheriff Morris's question whether he had recently acquired a caballo, which means stallion in spanish. Cortez answered that he had bought a yegua, a mare. Believing that Cortez was lying, Morris drew his gun and shot Cortez's brother, provoking Cortez, who shot the sheriff. The incident made Cortez an outlaw and he was hunted by several posses comprised of hundreds of men. Cortez was betrayed by a friend and was captured. He faced numerous trials.

The Azteca

Between ad 1325 and 1345, the Azteca founded their capital of Tenochtlitlan on an island in Lake Texcoco. The Azteca confederation of city states reached a population of more than 350,000. The Azteca farm surpluses underwrote a highly advanced craft-manufacturing economy.

Juan Cortina

Born on the Mexican side of the river, his parents were upper class and his mother owned a land grant in brownsville. After his alliance with Glavecke came to an end the two became bitter enemies Glavecke carried a personal vendetta against Cortina and played a major role in building the legend of Cortina as a dangerous bandit. Cortina's career as a revolutionary began accidentaly one hot july morning, when he saw a marshal pistol whip a drunk mexican. The victim worked for his mother, so Cortina offered to take responsibility for the prisoner. But Spears' uncooperative response made Cortina respond by firing a first shot into the air and then shot one into the shoulder of the marshal, he then rode off with the victim.

Slave Trade

During the initiation of sugar growing plantations, Arabs required immense captive labor force of African slaves. By 1440 the Portuguese through "raid and trade" techniques, expanded down the West African Coast.

Hayden Edwards

Edwards arbitrarily attempted to evict colonists from his land grant before Mexican authorities had the opportunity to resolve conflicting claims. As a result, the Mexican goverment nullified his contract and ordered him out of the territory.

La Virgen de guadalupe

For many Mexicans today, the appearance of the Virgen de guadalupe to an indigenous person is proof of the Church's benevolence. For others it is the symbol of Spanish social control, representing a passive female role model, subservient to male authority.

Cristobo Colon

In 1492, Columbus landed in what are now the islands of the Carribean. When he could not find sufficient gold and wealth, he turned to trading in slaves.

caciques

Indian chiefs, who ran the local system and were loyal to the Spaniards.

Mexica

Late 1510s, hernan Cortes landed on the mainland that was to become Mexico. On the island of Cozumel, Cortes encountered the Maya. In 1519, Cortez sailed to what today is Veracruz, and within two years Cortes's forces conquered the great Aztec empire.

corridos

Mexicans did record their story in corridos (ballads), which celebrated the deeds of men who stood up to the oppressors. These corridos are still sung in the Rio Grande Valley and elsewhere in the Southwest.

the treaty of guadalupe hidalgo

On february 2, 1848, the mexican congress ratified the treaty of guadalupe hidalgo, with mexico accepting the rio grande as the texas border and ceding almost half of its territory to the united states in return for $15 million. (this incorporated the present day states of California, New Mexico, Nevada, and parts of Colorado, Arizona, Utah and even Oklahoma.)

James K. Polk

President of the United States. In 1845 he sent John Slidell on a secret mission to Mexico to negotiate for the disputed area. The mexican's government refused to accept Polk's minister's credentials, although they did offer to give him ad hoc status. Slidell declined anything less than full recognition and returned to washington, convinced that Mexico would have to be "chastised" before it would negotiate. By March 28, Polk ordered Taylor to Rio Grande with an army of 4000. When Polk learned of the Mexica attack on Taylor's troops in the disputed territory, he seized the opportunity and began to draft a declaration of war, which claimed Mexico had attacked the United States and had "shed American blood upon American soil".

Hernan Cortes

Spanish conquistador who along with hundreds of spaniards, invaded and conquered the great Azteca Empire. Weaponry, disease, and snarling dogs were no match for the Native Americans.

The Tolteca

dominant force during the period from about AD 900 to 1150. A subgroup of the Chichimeca, a Nahua-speaking people from the northern desert, the Tolteca controlled the Valley of Mexico.

history Acuna's essay

good history reduces everything to it's lowest common denominator in order for the historian to determine what facts are most reliable in his or her own narrative. Relates to this class as this being part of our history.

encomiendas

large tracts of land with native subjects, an institution that was established in Spain during the Reconquista and also used in the Caribbean islands.

casta

mixed race that spoke spanish

Texas Rangers

reestablished after the frontier protection act of 1874

Teotihuacan Occupied America

the "city of the gods", located in the valley of Teotihuacan in a pocket-like extension of the Valley of Mexico, became the primary center of Mesoamerican civilization around 200 BC.

Juan Diego

the supposed appearance of the virgen, is an example of a substituion by church authorities of the virgen de guadalupe for the indigenous goddess Tonantzin, mother of gods.

El Plan de la Santa Barbara Acuna's essay

written in the spring of 1969, reputedly a plan to implement Chicana/o studies nationally. The ability of Chicana/o scholars to resist the social control of the Academy which the latter's interest conflict with those of the community is small.

1492

year the united kingdoms of Castile and Aragon conquered the last Moorish kingdom, Granada (the eastern half of present day Andalusia). That same year they expelled between 120,000 and 150,000 Spanish Jews. These events set the stage for "Occupied America".