The paper explores the use of ethnicity as a strategic tool in the politicization of the Mexican diaspora in the United States of America in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Referring to the example of the 1969 founding manifesto entitled “The Spiritual Plan of Aztlán” (El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán), it pays attention to the ways in which a section of the Mexican diaspora in the United States — Chicanos — came to identify themselves with the indigenous peoples of the United States and Mexico in the construction of their new collective identity. The text further examines the symbols of the Aztlán and the Bronze Race, the meanings attributed to them, and the question of authorship. In doing so, it draws on the interpretive frameworks of S. Hall, B. Anderson, R. Barthes and M. Castells. It concludes that the manifesto represents a highly selective, strategic narrative which mirrors both the Chicano movement’s claims for recognition in the US and the ways the Mexican diaspora interpreted its past to serve its current and future goals between the 1960s and early 1970s.
The text is an introduction to a series of seven studies and essays dealing with the use of the term indián/Indián (Indian) in the Czech language as well as in the Anglo-Saxon and Latin American contexts. The editorial first briefly introduces the main problems of the use of the term indián/Indián and related terms both in the domestic and in the Anglo-Saxon and Latin American contexts. It then presents the problems of the grammatical use of the word indián/Indián in the Czech language. It also sums up the discussion related to the use of the term indio in the Anglo-Saxon and Ibero-American environment. Furthermore, it discusses the meaning and genesis of the term indio in the Spanish language and the environment of the former Spanish overseas colonies. The issue of the use of the term indio/indígena in contemporary discourse, academic in particular, is also examined.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.