Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. [Vol. 3.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 23)

STUDIES - András Tarnóc: Ethnic Consciousness in Chicano Literature: The Voice of "La Raza".

The period between 1910—1943 sees the emergence of collective consciousness, demonstrated by the formation of the League of United Latin American Citizens in 1929. The corrido, as shown by a ballad's ethnic pride-driven commemoration of the 1936 coal-strike, remained a popular form of literary expression. (Leal and Barrón 21). The last stage in the development of Chicano literature lasting from 1943 till the Chicano Renaissance of the late 1960's, early 1970's is characterized by confrontation. "1943" is the reference to the Zoot Suit Riots as a historical materialization of the pachuco, the individual who breaks the law as a form of social protest. The ethnic and cultural awakening marked by El Movimiento brought forth the notion of Chicano consciousness and one of its most potent manifestations, poetry. The Chicano movement is the offspring of Chicano cultural nationalism, which similarly to black nationalism used the weapon of ethnic pride against cultural deterritorialization. Chicano cultural regeneration was fostered by a growing ethnic awareness in the 1960's, the Third World's increasing political importance in the 1950's, the rude awakening of Mexican-American soldiers to Anglo racism countered after their return from World War Two, the institutionalization of Mexican culture following the Mexican revolution, and certain episodes of Mexican history, such as the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the independence struggle waged against Spain (Pérez—Torres 64). The establishment of Chicano cultural identity was sparked by the Delano grape strike. In that event several elements of Hispanic civilization collaborated to provide a formidable ethnic and cultural force. The context of the events, agricultural labor, was not only a representative economic activity of Mexican-Americans, but the migrant worker was one of the keystone images of Hispanic American literature. The strikers marched under the statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a symbol produced by a combination of Euro-American and Pre-Cortesian images. 70