Temple University Press Journals
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“Coyote Hustle”: Agonistic Harmony and Transformation
No full textAs a Chicana musician who has produced music mostly for public consumption, I find it encouraging when audiences contemplate the messages or ideas behind the music and move toward critical action. For over twenty-one years, songs from my band, Quetzal, have been used as educational tools across and beyond grade levels, institutions, and community organizations. This essay explores efforts involving two of our songs. The first composition, “Estoy Aquí,” is from our Grammy Award–winning album Imaginaries, released in 2012. The second, “Coyote Hustle,” was independently released on the Quetzanimales album in 2014 on Artivist Entertainment. In both cases the community undertook the theory embedded in the songs, and their exploration of the ideas eventually led to critical action. After some thought and discussion with others, I discovered that both examples induced a community process that I identify here as “agonistic harmony,” ultimately leading to transformation
Ramón “Chunky” Sánchez—¡PRESENTE!
No full textOn November 5, 2016, hundreds of people convened at the historical landmark of Chicano Park in Barrio Logan, San Diego, to celebrate the life of one of the community’s most revered elders, Ramón “Chunky” Moroyoqui Sánchez. Nuestro querido maestro falleció el día 28 de octubre de 2016. Sánchez, endearingly known as Chunky, was synonymous with Barrio Logan, Chicano Park, Chicano/a music, and San Diego in general. In this city, an auditorium is named in his honor. His image is incorporated in murals. The Chicano comedy troupe Culture Clash developed a vignette about Chunky, and upon his passing the San Diego Chargers’ website featured him in a blog post that included a photo of him with players and cheerleaders. Chunky was also well known beyond the Imperial Valley. The music of Los Alacranes Mojados (the group he started with his brother, Ricardo Sánchez) continues to be embraced in Mexicano/a and Chicano/a communities throughout California and the Southwest. The news of Sánchez’s passing reverberated throughout California like the violent ripples of a pond into which a boulder has been dropped. Ese vato will be missed
Becoming Mexican American: An Empowering Exemplar of Social and Cultural History
No full textI am honored to evaluate George Sánchez’s groundbreaking, meticulously researched monograph Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900–1945. No matter how many years pass, I will always consider myself George’s grateful student, just as I will always be a humble student of history. Accordingly, this essay mixes the personal and professional as it illustrates the methodological, theoretical, and historiographical impact of Becoming Mexican American on my own research and on Chicana/Chicano history, as well as the importance of Sánchez’s other scholarship and his mentorship.
Writing Significant Scholarship, Helping Others, and Making an Impact in Your Field: Lessons from a Senior Scholar
No full textGeorge J. Sánchez has modeled a new paradigm in his work with the almost one hundred undergraduate and graduate students he has mentored over the years. This article discusses the lessons I have learned from his scholarship and career over the years, lessons that I now share with my own students. In particular, his example challenges us to build and strengthen relationships with communities outside the academy, broaden our definitions of scholarship, and mobilize the complex power of storytelling in our research
What’s Good for George Sánchez Is Good for Boyle Heights: Regenerative Scholarship, Urban Racism, Gentrification, and East LA Interchange
No full textThe inclusive ideals of George Sánchez have helped shape a new generation of academics who have promoted connections with nonacademic organizations. This article discusses how Sánchez has continued these efforts through his pivotal contributions to an award-winning documentary focusing on the multiethnic, working-class community of Boyle Heights: Betsy Kalin’s film East LA Interchange (2015). East LA Interchange’s greatest contribution to the generative scholarship Sánchez emphasizes is its critical analysis of modern urban problems, utilizing history as a tool for social change. The story of Boyle Heights is not just a history of a single working-class community with a diverse culture. It is also a tale of a neighborhood trying to solve real world problems such as gentrification, unaffordable housing, community displacement, and urban pollution. The film portrays these difficulties in the present while showing that they originated decades ago. Sánchez and East LA Interchange are at their best when they provide the historical contexts of contemporary problems, emphasizing that history is not only the study of the past. Rather, history is the unending dialogue between the past, present, and future, and any significant discourse on today’s urban ills must be rooted in the past. For students and others interested in the diverse communities common in many US metropolitan regions, East LA Interchange has much to offer regarding the issues of immigration, redlining, deed restrictions, political activism, freeway construction, living with racially and ethnically diverse community members, and the nationwide problem of gentrification. These themes, especially gentrification, are the primary focus of this article
Raised Awareness of Fracking in Pennsylvania
Get PDFThis article presents survey results from 2013 to 2016 that show an increase in public awareness of fracking in Pennsylvania. It suggests that the increased awareness of fracking is due to the expansion of the industry in the Commonwealth, lowered gas prices, and increased political discussion following the 2014 gubernatorial race and that it is also part of a national trend. Results of a Pennsylvania survey and three national surveys show opinions split along gender and partisan lines