STORIES

You Are Invited...

New Scholarships

Thriving Under Pressure

Calendar of Events

Exhibitions

Credits

Archives

Chicano Studies Goes Green:
The Importance of Context

Professor Susan Green, Department of History, will be giving the talk "Americanism, Mexicanidad, y Chicanismo: Three Views of Nationalism" as the final segment of this year's Friends of History's lecture series, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 19, in PAC 134.

Green was born and raised in Wayzata, Minnesota. She earned her B.A. in Chicano Studies and Spanish (1991), M.A. in American Studies (1995), and Ph.D. in American Studies (1997) -- all at the University of Minnesota. She began teaching at CSU, Chico in fall 1999. Her interest in Chicano studies began in high school when she learned Spanish, studied the literature of the United Farm Workers, and visited the barrio in St. Paul.

During her first quarter at college, Green enrolled in a Chicano studies class and never looked back. For her dissertation, "Zoot Suits, Past and Present," she studied in Los Angeles, where she also had tailor made her now - locally - famous green zoot suit from the company Zoot Suits by el pachuco, which thrived after the success of the play and film Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez in the '70s.

Red-haired and green-eyed Green, who is a faculty adviser to MEChA, is accustomed to "authorizing her position" as a Chicano studies scholar. "Being white is an issue I have to address before every talk," she said. "There are still places in which I have to negotiate space. With older Chicanos, it tends to be harder. Within the academy -- if my endeavor is seen as legitimate -- then I'm fine."

Indeed, Green deals with legitimacy constantly. Chicano studies itself is questioned by some academicians as a legitimate academic field. Often associated with "identity politics," Chicano studies is seen by some as a questionable academic pursuit based on personal experience.

Green explained that relatively new fields like Chicano studies -- around since the late 1960s -- are counter to "hegemonic narratives" (a term applicable to courses of traditional study). "These new fields are concerned," she said, "with social justice and community involvement. They see education as holistic and service - oriented. They are contemporary, active, and vital because, in part, the final defense has to be a public defense.

"These things make traditional scholars nervous. It doesn't mean that we Œnew' scholars don't have standards. It's just that we know there's more than one experience. We understand context. There's not only one truth."

The lecture on April 19 will most certainly deal with context: Green will explore the definitions of Mexicano, American, and Chicano and examine Chicano nationalism as internalized (how Chicano nationalists define themselves) and as externalized ( how others perceive Chicano nationalists). Audience members will get a chance to interact with Green and other historians at the reception following the lecture.

For more information, call Carl Peterson, chair of the Department of History, at 898-6475.