About the project
Over 50 years ago, anthropologist Octavio Romano founded the publication, El Grito: A Journal of Contemporary Mexican American Thought, at UC Berkeley. Indeed, it was one of many actions of the time that sought to channel the educational aims of the Mexican American civil rights movement into the corridors of higher education. In the years that followed, scholars on campuses throughout California and the West built upon these aims, and ultimately established the academic discipline that became known as Chicana/o Studies.
This project seeks to commemorate that historical development and document the formation of Chicana/o Studies through in-depth interviews with the first generations of scholars who shaped it. Based on the selections of an advisory council composed of scholars from around the country, the project will feature oral histories with the prominent and pioneering scholars who helped build the discipline over the last five decades. These oral histories will take center stage in the two main products of this project. First, each interview will be transcribed and made available online below on the project page. Second, the oral histories will form the heart of a forthcoming documentary film series, tentatively titled, Chicana/o Studies: The Legacy of A Movement and the Forging of A Discipline.
Taken together, this project commemorates over 50 years of Chicana/o Studies, and significantly advances our understanding of the field’s development and evolution. Yet the development of Chicana/o Studies, as captured in both the oral history transcripts and film series, is more than just the story of a discipline. It is the story of a generation of Chicana/o scholars who broke through barriers to take their place in the nation’s universities, and spent their careers documenting the history and experience of their community. It is the story of educational reform, where scholars of color demanded that America’s curriculum equally include all its citizens. In many respects, it is also a story that highlights another side of the civil rights movement, one where actions in the classroom, rather than those in the streets, proved the long-lasting vector of social change.
Featured scholars
Rudy Acuña
CSU Northridge
Tomás Almaguer
San Francisco State University
Albert Camarillo
Stanford University
Antonia Castañeda
St. Mary’s University
Adelaida Del Castillo*
San Diego State University
Edward Escobar
Arizona State University
Ignacio García*
Brigham Young University
Mario T. García
UC Santa Barbara
Deena González
Gonzaga University
Richard Griswold Castillo*
San Diego State University
David Montejano
UC Berkeley
Emma Pérez
University of Arizona
Ricardo Romo
University of Texas, San Antonio
Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith
University of Arizona
Vicki Ruiz
UC Irvine
Ramón Saldivar
Stanford University
Rosaura Sánchez
UC San Diego
Guadalupe San Miguel*
University of Houston
Adela de la Torre*
San Diego State University
Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez
Arizona State
Emilio Zamora*
University of Texas, Austin
Patricia Zavella
UC Santa Cruz
*Transcript to be released in fall 2022
Interviews for the project are ongoing.
To nominate a scholar, contact Todd Holmes.
Project director
Todd Holmes
Advisory council
- Miroslava Chávez-García, UC Santa Barbara
- Raúl Coronado, UC Berkeley
- Maria Cotera, University of Texas, Austin
- Ignacio García, Brigham Young University
- Matt Garcia, Dartmouth College
- Mireya Loza, Georgetown University
- Lydia Otero, University of Arizona, Emeritus
- Stephen Pitti, Yale University
- Raúl Ramos, University of Houston
- Oliver Rosales, Bakersfield College
- Mario Sifuentez, UC Merced
- Irene Vásquez, University of New Mexico
Project sponsors
- Arizona State University
- Brigham Young University
- California State University, Office of the Chancellor
- Gonzaga University
- Loyola Marymount University
- Stanford University
- University of Arizona
- University of California, Office of the President
- University of Houston
- University of Texas, Austin
- University of Texas, San Antonio