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19: (Re)constructing Chicana Movimiento Narratives at CU Boulder, 1968–1974
- University Press of Colorado
- Chapter
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347 Introduction: Pedagogy and Movimiento Politics The project described in this chapter began during the 2000 spring semester in a class titled Chicana Feminist Thought. As a teacher, I was primarily concerned with deploying pedagogical practices and interrogating epistemological perspectives from a critical Chicana standpoint. I was not particularly interested in educational research per se but rather in using radical educational approaches to understand the noteworthy and significant herstory of Chicanas who attended the University of Colorado (CU) at Boulder from 1968–2000. As put forth by Alejandra Elenes, I attempted to teach and engage the class as an “activist insurgent educator who interrogates social theory and reproduction to create political and cultural projects to transform existing social inequalities and injustices. These spaces are referred to as pedagogies” (2001a:105). Adriana Hernandez speaks of “teaching and learning as a political practice intended to enhance personal and social possibilities while also interrogating social practices and forms of hierarchies-power within a political and economic context” (1997):13. This perspective resonates with Regina Austin, who names woman-ist instincts, sensibilities, and politics as “sources of inspiration for teaching and learning to resist (both personally and collectively) the (Re)constructing Chicana Movimiento Narratives at CU Boulder, 1968–1974 19 Elisa Facio 348 (Re)constructing Chicana Movimiento Narratives at CU Boulder racism, sexism, homophobia, and exploitation in the different spheres of our lives” (1995:427). In this project, I also recognize and honor the everyday spaces of learning and teaching. Ruth Trinidad proposes that pedagogical formations are tied to women’s ways of knowing and their everyday ways of being in the world (2001). To expand the understandings and workings of pedagogy, it is necessary to theorize “where” feminist pedagogies might take place, such as the kitchen table, church steps, local stores, and other locations. In my efforts to radically transform the classroom, I developed a collaborative class project focusing on the herstory of Chicanas at CU Boulder, which was nearly unknown to the students. Thus began a collective research effort to (re)construct the educational narratives of Chicana students who attended CU Boulder during the years 1968–2000.1 To date, we have identified our research intentions as threefold. First, in line with the works of Gloria Anzaldua (1999) and Dolores Delgado Bernal (2000), this project deconstructs the Chicano master narrative of Chicana student activity, protest, and power movements. Second, an obvious intention is to disclose, describe, and critically understand the educational experiences of Chicana students who attended CU Boulder during the 1968–2000 period. More specifically, the negotiation of Chicana subjectivity(s) and agency in relationship to the university is illuminated. Finally, our third objective is that the documentation of this research serve as a tool for the recruitment and retention of all Chicana/Latina and Chicano/ Latino students at CU Boulder and throughout the state of Colorado. This project is principally concerned with (re)constructing Chicana educational narratives by locating the historical presence and voices of Chicana undergraduate students, or the sitios y lenguas (spaces and languages) set forth by Emma Perez (1998). Perez argues for “marginalized lesbians and women of color to continue framing their decolonized spaces and languages, sitios y lenguas. These women have done so within designated, colonial spaces. They seek decolonized spaces beyond the third world spaces of White women’s kitchens and White men’s cotton fields where some Chicanas can be found today” (1998:91–92). We are also interested in recognizing the vital contributions made by these women in the establishment of Chicana and Chicano studies and the recruitment and retention of Chicana and Chicano students. In illuminating Chicanas’ silenced herstory, we intend to critically understand the implications of their negotiations of resistance, identity, and feminist consciousness for themselves as students at an elite university and for radical social change in the pursuit of educational justice and democracy. Interestingly but not surprisingly, students enrolled in the 2000 spring class Chicana Feminist Thought, many of whom were Chicanas and Chicanos, lit- [44.201.59.20] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 09:36 GMT) Elisa Facio 349 erally had no knowledge of CU Boulder’s arduous struggle to develop a program of Chicana and Chicano studies and to recruit Chicana and Chicano students. Even more disheartening was the lack of noteworthy political and educational information regarding Los Seis de Boulder, the six student activists killed during the pinnacle of CU Boulder’s Chicano Student Movement.2 This period has been described as one of the bloodiest...