Authors: Charles M. Tatum
ISBN-13: 9780816519835, ISBN-10: 0816519838
Format: Paperback
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Date Published: August 2001
Edition: (Non-applicable)
Over the past several decades, Mexican Americans have made an indelible mark on American culture through the music of bands such as Santana and Los Lobos, films such as Zoot Suit, and a wide range of literature, such as Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street. Now Charles Tatum introduces students to these and other forms of artistic expression in the first volume to provide a wide-ranging overview of Chicano popular culture. Tatum explores the broad and complex arena of popular culture among Americans of Mexican descent and explains what popular culture can tell them about themselves. Reviewing a range of expressive arts, from traditional forms to electronic media, he explains the differences and similarities between Chicano popular culture and that of other ethnic groups or of Anglo society and shows how Chicano arts reflect a people's traditions and heritage. The book's coverage focuses on five areas of popular culture. It explores
Mexican American and Chicano music from the sixteenth century to the present day;
cinema, focusing on Chicano films of the past three decades;
newspapers, radio, and television, explaining the interrelationship between these media;
literature, emphasizing fiction, theater, and poetry of the last thirty years;
and fiestas, celebrations, and art, including mural and graffiti art. Tatum provides a brief overview of Mexican American social history, paying particular attention to changing cultural perspectives over the past 150 years and the evolution of el movimiento chicano. He also introduces theories of popular culture and makes them accessible to students, enabling them to better understand the material covered in the text. No other book offers such a wide-ranging introduction to these cultural expressions of Mexican Americans today. Chicano Popular Culture invites readers to share the excitement of these vital arts and, through them, to learn more about the uniqueness of America's fastest-growing minority. Chicano Popular Culture and Mexican Americans and Health are the first volumes in the series The Mexican American Experience, a cluster of modular texts designed to provide greater flexibility in undergraduate education. Each book deals with a single topic concerning the Mexican American population. Instructors can create a semester-length course from any combination of volumes, or may choose to use one or two volumes to complement other texts.
Designed for classroom use, this primer addresses various aspects of Chicano popular culture, with descriptions of popular music, critical introductions to Chicano authors, discussions of art, and descriptions of religious holidays, fiestas, and other popular traditions. Tatum (humanities, University of Arizona) traces Mexican American involvement in the movie industry, television, radio, and other media, highlighting the contributions of Chicano stars, media figures, and Spanish-language media. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Figures | ||
List of Acronyms | ||
Introduction: The Study of Popular Culture | ||
1 | Definitions and Theoretical Approaches to Popular Culture | 3 |
Definitions of Popular Culture | 3 | |
Theoretical Approaches to Popular Culture | 5 | |
2 | Music | 14 |
Popular Hispanic Folk Music of the Southwest | 14 | |
Musica Tejana | 22 | |
Chicano Music on the West Coast | 31 | |
Trans-Regional Chicano Music | 44 | |
3 | Cinema | 50 |
Race and Ethnicity in American Movies | 50 | |
Hollywood's Portrayal of Mexicans and Mexican Americans from the 1910s through the 1970s | 52 | |
Chicano Cinema | 58 | |
Chicano Feature-Length Films Since the 1970s | 59 | |
Hollywood Hispanic Films | 76 | |
The Current State of Chicanos in U.S. Cinema | 81 | |
App | Chicano Cinema of the Late 1960s through the 1990s | 82 |
4 | Newspapers, Radio, and Television | 89 |
Newspapers | 89 | |
Radio | 101 | |
Television | 106 | |
5 | Popular Literature | 118 |
Popular Writers Pre-1965 | 118 | |
The Chicano Movement and the Forming of an Artistic Consciousness | 122 | |
The Ascendancy of Popular Writing by Chicanas | 137 | |
Current Chicano Popular Literature | 141 | |
6 | Art, Celebrations, and Other Popular Traditions | 153 |
Popular Art | 153 | |
Celebrations | 181 | |
Other Popular Traditions | 187 | |
Conclusion | 191 | |
Works Cited | 193 | |
Index | 203 |