essay
The anthropology and sociology of the Mexican-Americans: the distortion of Mexican-American history
voices ; readings from el grito, a journal of contemporary mexican american thought, 1967-1971 • Berkeley, Calif. • Published In 1971 • Pages: 26-39
By: Romano-V., Octavio Ignacio.
Abstract
This essay is a critique of the books by William Madsen, Ruth Tuck, Lyle Sunders, Munro Edmonson, Rockwood Kluckhohn, Fred L. Strodbeck, Celia S. Heller, Julian Samora, and Richard A. Lamanna, for their prejudicial and racist depiction of the Mexican-American national character, and traditional culture. The author states that the views of Mexican-Americans as expressed in the works listed above '…are precisely those held by people during the days of the American frontier. In short, there has not been any significant change in views toward Mexican-Americans for the past 100 years….What we have, instead, are contemporary social scientists busily perpetuating the very same opinions of Mexican culture that were current during the Mexican-American War. These opinions were, and are, pernicious, vicious, misleading, degrading, and brainwashing in that they obliterate history and then re-write it in such a way as to eliminate the historical significance of Mexican-Americans, as well as to simultaneously question the legitimacy of their presence in contemporary society' (p. 37).
- HRAF PubDate
- 2002
- Region
- North America
- Sub Region
- Regional, Ethnic and Diaspora Cultures
- Document Type
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- Analyst
- John Beierle ; 2001
- Field Date
- no date
- Coverage Date
- 1880s - mid twentieth century
- Coverage Place
- United States
- Notes
- Octavio Ignacio Romano-V.
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 39)
- LCCN
- 79168569
- LCSH
- Mexican Americans