Chicano San Diego: Cultural Space and the Struggle for Justice (review)

Despite the growing literature regarding Latino influences on the American landscape and evolving Hispanic settlement patterns across the country, the Mexican character of San Diego remains largely unexplored. Until recently, scholarship has focused either on locales with longstanding Hispanic traditions such as Tucson, San Antonio, northern New Mexico, or Los Angeles, or places with emerging Latino populations like Charlotte, Nashville, or rural communities in the Midwest. Whether the omission of San Diego is due to overshadowing by Los Angeles or Mexico proper, or a focus on burgeoning Latino populations in new destinations, the Chicano experience in San Diego is both enduring and dynamic, and deserves special attention. As such, Chicano San Diego: Cultural Space and the Struggle for Justice addresses this gap in the literature by chronicling the city's Mexican American community. Griswold Del Castillo's edited volume brings together scholars from history, anthropology, political science, and Chicano studies—as well as a community activist—to address diverse aspects and perspectives that elucidate San Diego's Latino character and Chicano heritage. Through these efforts, Chicano San Diego demonstrates not only the historical and regional significance of the city's Mexican Americans, but also their efforts to gain recognition, representation, and justice in a place that largely overlooks its Hispanic roots and downplays the vitality of its contemporary Chicano community.

Chicano San Diego includes ten chapters that are presented in chronological order. Chapter One establishes the origins of Mexican settlement in the area with particular attention to interaction between settlers and indigenous groups. The author articulates the genesis of San Diego's bicultural, mestizo heritage as well as noting the methodical subjugation of Native American tribes into the mission system. The second chapter outlines the defeat of the Mexicans and occupation of San Diego by American forces. The erosion of power among Mexican Californios is highlighted as well as the continued struggle of indigenous groups. In Chapter Three, Griswold Del Castillo chronicles the early twentieth century history of Chicano San Diego with a particular focus on the impact of the Mexican Revolution on the region as well as cultural and economic connections that link the city with the border communities of San Ysidro and Tijuana, the hinterland of the Imperial Valley, and events occurring in Baja California. This chapter also analyzes the impact of the Great Depression, especially its effect in fomenting anti-Latino sentiment resulting in the forced repatriation of Hispanics. The next chapter discusses the events of World War II documenting the contributions of Mexican-American military personnel in advancing the civil rights movement among Hispanics. Chapter Five is a departure from the earlier historical chapters and functions as an interlude. Here, María de La Luz Ibarra, now an anthropologist, details her early life in an agricultural labor camp on the edge of San Diego. The next chapter highlights the accomplishments of Chicano activism from 1960 until the present. While the emphasis is on San Diego, the author effectively situates local events within the larger state and federal context. Documenting Chicana struggles for representation, Chapter Seven describes the thirty year efforts of Latinas in the San Diego artistic community. Although encompassing both portrayals of the artistic productions and the influences on these works, this section most significantly captures the achievements of the Latina women's movement within the larger push for Chicano civil rights. Chapter Eight articulates community engagement within a Mexican American district by analyzing how residents in the Barrio Logan neighborhood have challenged the city's attempts to gentrify the area. San Diego's proximity to the U.S./Mexico border certainly has a profound impact on the city, and Chapter Nine addresses this topic through the experiences of Robert Martínez, an immigrant rights activist who seeks justice for those who have endured human and civil rights violations. The final chapter is more of an epilogue where...