Ethnic Identity and Chicano Literature: How Ethnicity Affects Reading and Reading Affects Ethnic Consciousness
In this article, author Jessica Vasquez explains the affects that Chicano literature has on Chicano students, and how this literature affects their feelings about themselves. Before seeing themselves in literature Chicano students reported feeling as though they had a lower view of themselves. Some students were even embarrassed to talk about their Mexican-American culture. After reading Chicano literature the students reported as feeling confident and having pride about their Mexican-American culture. Students said, seeing themselves within literature helps them to appreciate their culture(what their ancestors went through) and not be ashamed of it. Many students felt happy to finally be an insider and be able to relate to the Chicano protagonist. Many times within Chicano literature Spanish is used within the English text, and students whose first language was Spanish enjoyed that because they knew that not every word can be translated into English. You do not always get the same meaning expressed in English so it is important to leave the word in its original language. Reading the literature that had a lot of Spanish within the English text was very easy for the Chicano students because many of them were use to code-switching; changing back and forth from speaking English to speaking Spanish.
Although this article focused on Chicano students at a college level the same principals can be applied to any minority student no matter what grade level they are in. It is one thing to repeatedly read books that were written by the majority. It is another thing to actually be able to see yourself within literature and be able to relate to the characters within the stories. It is important for all minority groups to see themselves in a positive way within literature and other forms of media. So often society is only shown negative portrayals of minorities. These negative portrayals can have negative affects on the people viewing (or reading) this media. Continuous negative portrayals can result in stereotypical views towards the minority, hatred or fear towards the minority. It can also cause the minority to have a poor self image. More literature written by and about members of underrepresented groups needs to be more available to readers. This is vital for those readers who are apart of that group and who are not apart of that group. Outsiders need positive portrayals of their group just as much as insiders.
Vasquez did a great job of displaying the information from these studies, and accurately explaining Chicano students views towards Chicano literature. Educators and non educators alike can use this information within their classrooms and throughout society. Knowing how important literature written by and about underrepresented books is for the reader can have nothing but positive affects. This means that we as a society need to get more books in the libraries and bookstores so that every minority whether it be with race, disability, religion etc. can be able to see someone else who shares their same story or feelings.
Vasquez,Jessica. "Ethnic Identity and Chicano Literature: How Ethnicity Affects Reading and Reading Affects Ethnic Consciousness." Ethnic and Radical Studies, 28:5 (2005), 905-924
Although this article focused on Chicano students at a college level the same principals can be applied to any minority student no matter what grade level they are in. It is one thing to repeatedly read books that were written by the majority. It is another thing to actually be able to see yourself within literature and be able to relate to the characters within the stories. It is important for all minority groups to see themselves in a positive way within literature and other forms of media. So often society is only shown negative portrayals of minorities. These negative portrayals can have negative affects on the people viewing (or reading) this media. Continuous negative portrayals can result in stereotypical views towards the minority, hatred or fear towards the minority. It can also cause the minority to have a poor self image. More literature written by and about members of underrepresented groups needs to be more available to readers. This is vital for those readers who are apart of that group and who are not apart of that group. Outsiders need positive portrayals of their group just as much as insiders.
Vasquez did a great job of displaying the information from these studies, and accurately explaining Chicano students views towards Chicano literature. Educators and non educators alike can use this information within their classrooms and throughout society. Knowing how important literature written by and about underrepresented books is for the reader can have nothing but positive affects. This means that we as a society need to get more books in the libraries and bookstores so that every minority whether it be with race, disability, religion etc. can be able to see someone else who shares their same story or feelings.
Vasquez,Jessica. "Ethnic Identity and Chicano Literature: How Ethnicity Affects Reading and Reading Affects Ethnic Consciousness." Ethnic and Radical Studies, 28:5 (2005), 905-924
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