¡Chicana Power! Contested Histories of Feminism in the Chicano Movement by Maylei Blackwell (review)

Containing six chapters, notes, appendix, bibliography, and an index, ¡Chicana Power! is based on archival research and oral histories on Hijas de Cuauhtémoc, a group that the author considers one of the first and most influential Chicana feminist organizations. Blackwell explains the methodology and theoretical approach used in the recovery of the data and activism of Hijas de Cuauhtémoc, how retrofitted memory fits within the salvaging of a history that has been erased, and how it transforms expunged or ignored experiences. She describes the conditions and atmosphere in which the interviews were conducted and the ages of her subjects, all born between 1946 and 1952. Blackwell states that the purpose of her book is to unveil the stories of individuals and organizations that will allow the reader to understand the history and political tradition of Chicana feminism. An excellent resource for oral historians and students, this book provides new interdisciplinary approaches, revealing to the expert and the novice alike innovative techniques. Likewise, the oral histories place women in the Mexican community as subjects of Chicana feminism and their place in US history.

Chapter 1, in particular, presents Blackwell’s approach to oral history as a memory performance and part of a repertoire where Chicana remembrances of themselves in specific times and spaces create new narratives and visions of Chicano history. For her, the oral histories of Hijas de Cuauhtémoc and the movement’s official narratives capture an untold history of the Chicano movement. She challenges the feminist movement and its lack of inclusion of women of color in activism during the 1960s and 1970s and proposes different approaches to the history of feminism. Blackwell highlights the participation of women in community and academic organizations and indicates that while researchers like Ernesto Chávez (“Mi Raza Primero!” Nationalism, Identity, and Insurgency in the Chicano Movement in Los Angeles, 1966–78 [Berkeley: California, 2002]) and George Mariscal (Brown-Eyed Children of the Sun: Lessons from the Chicano Movement, 1965–1975 [Albuquerque: New Mexico, 2005]) have started to chronicle the movement not as a men’s movement but as one that includes internal differences, no book exists that focuses on the participation of Chicanas as leaders and as individuals who challenge norms and traditions. In order to capture the women’s and community’s experiences, she utilizes methods used in testimonios, autoethnography, life narrative, and other forms of oral history used by women of color.

Chapter 2 documents youth activism, the early twentieth-century’s migration movements’ effect on the development of Chicana history, and how Hijas de Cuauhtémoc fits within the US historical experience. Blackwell chronicles Chicanas’ role in developing younger women within the movement and, importantly, connects print research with oral histories to demonstrate the way in which the Chicano movement represents a decisive moment in Chicanas’ lives, as they are forced to redefine themselves as women at all levels and learn to negotiate their relationship with family and society. NietoGómez’s remembrances, for example, salvage the experiences of young Chicanas performing self-abortions with coke bottles and hangers; her vivid images at the hospital provide the reader with the rewriting of the history of Chicanas within the movement. In addition, chapter 2 highlights how El Plan de Santa Barbara silenced the voice of women because, according to Blackwell, it lacked a structure that recognized women’s contributions and delegated them to subaltern positions. She further demonstrates the process of sexualization among older and younger Chicanas, their experience with chingón politics, and how they resorted to using strong language in order to gain some recognition.

Chapter 3 captures the name change of Las Chicanas de Aztlán to Hijas de Cuauhtémoc and their role in the creation of a space for Chicanas within the movement and cites both nationalism and machismo as mechanisms to restrain women within the Chicano movement. Chapter 4 focuses on print data...