Aztlán: How a Journal Built a Discipline

An exploration of the history of the journal Aztlán: Chicano Journal of the Social Sciences and Arts between 1970 and 1985, which played a central role in the development of Chicano studies as an academic discipline. The author argues that the editors and many of the essayists of the journal searched for a paradigm that would explain the nature of white supremacy, U.S. exceptionalism, imperialism, and the condition of Mexican Americans. This intellectual model would be the basis of the emerging discipline of Chicano studies. It contemplates the limitation of the search for a paradigm and the impact academic institutionalization had on the journal, its participants, and the making of Chicano studies.