The Chicano movement constitutes a historical milestone in the struggle for social justice of Mexican Americans in the United States. As is well known, a central concept that stemmed from the movement was the notion of Aztlán (place of herons/place of white herons in Nahuatl), from a Mesoamerican myth that depicts the origins of the Aztecs and situates their ancestral lands somewhere northward of Tenochtitlán (Mexico City). In the 1960s and 1970s, Chicano cultural nationalists claimed that Aztlán was located in the Southwest of the United States and embraced it as a historical homeland, an emblem of unity, as well as an assertion of their indigenous heritage in the Americas.
The first edition of Aztlán: Essays on the Chicano Homeland (1989) aimed at surveying distinct interpretations assigned to the concept of Aztlán by compiling the most significant collection of essays centered on this topic. In the second edition, Francisco A. Lomelí, Rudolfo A. Anaya, and Enrique R. Lamadrid expand and enrich this initial objective by adding eight new chapters. The volume proposes, as stated by Lomelí in his introduction, to critically reflect on the multifaceted nature of Aztlán and the "wide variety of fluid meanings, connotations, and denotations" associated with the myth (11). Through this anthology, Aztlán emerges as a set of "polyphonic kaleidoscope views" that are repeatedly intersected by the "perplexing issues inherent to Chicana and Chicano studies, such as contradictions, gender stipulations, studies in sexuality, and philosophical positions centered in challenging hegemonic tendencies" (11). Organized into four thematic sections, the collection explores how the legendary myth of Aztlán represents a recurrent site of intense debates, paradoxes, and ever-changing meanings.
Part 1, Aztlán as Myth and Historical Conscience, includes "El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán," deemed to be the sociopolitical and cultural nationalist program of the Chicano movement. This document is followed by Rudolfo Anaya’s "A Homeland without Boundaries." His chapter ponders the "naming ceremony" of Mexican Americans—the adoption of the term Chicano and the myth of Aztlán—as a liberatory and necessary act in their quest for justice, equality, and self-determination. Michael Pina's "The Archaic, Historical, and Mythicized Dimensions of Aztlán" analyzes the "transmythification" of Aztlán through what he considers to be "the archaic, historical and living dimensions" of the myth (45). Looking into Spanish colonial mapmakers and early explorations of mythical cities in the Southwest, Joseph P. Sánchez's "Through Spanish Colonial Mapmakers and the Search of Aztlán, Teguayo, Copala, and the Siete Cuevas" traces the influential role of Spanish colonial cartography, Nahua codices, and Indigenous and Spanish oral traditions in historicizing the myth of Aztlán. In "The Aztec Palimpsest: Toward a New Understanding of Aztlán, Cultural Identity, and History," Daniel Cooper Alarcón deploys the concept of the "palimpsest" to postulate that Aztlán embodies a space overlapped by multiple competing texts that attest to the "multidimensionality" of the myth and Chicano culture (100, 134). This section of the volume concludes with Cosme Zaragoza’s "Aztlán: Myth and Historic Consciousness of the Chicano People," a historical analysis of the Chicano experience and the genesis of the term Aztlán.
Part 2, Historicizing the Dialectics of Aztlán, features Luis Leal's seminal essay "In Search of Aztlán," a study on the impact of cultural symbols such as Aztlán in the realms of literature and contemporary Chicano thought. The next essay, "Myth and Reality: Observations on American Myths and the Myth of Aztlán," by E. A. Mares, delves into the distinct ways that Anglo-Americans and Chicanos have interpreted myths. In "The Vicissitudes of Aztlán," by Elyette Benjamin-Labarthe, the author revisits the clash between Chicano cultural nationalists and Marxists around the meaning, purpose, and application of the legendary myth of Aztlán to the goals of the Chicano movement. This part of the book ends with Ramón A. Gutiérrez's "Aztlán, Montezuma, and New Mexico: The Political Uses of American Indian Mythology." Gutiérrez's article concentrates on the publication of a promotional book in 1885 that appropriated, reinterpreted, and exploited the myth of Aztlán to attract more Anglo-American settlers and investors to New Mexico.
Part 3, Redefining Aztlán as a Discursive Concept, opens up with "Refiguring Aztlán," by Rafael Pérez-Torres. This thought-provoking essay approaches Aztlán as an "empty signifier" that, due to its multiple designations, cannot be envisaged precisely as a "homeland" but rather as a "complex of multiple subjectivities called borderlands" (213). Gloria Anzaldúa's "The Homeland, Aztlán/El Otro México" identifies Aztlán as a site of clashes and antagonisms but also as "a constant state of transition" (241) that allows for the flourishing of a new consciousness. Calling on a reformulated and more inclusive version of Aztlán, Cherríe Moraga’s "Queer Aztlán: The Re-Formation of the Chicano Tribe" argues for a Chicana/o nationalism that positions the Chicana indígena at the center of the movement and rejects heterosexism and homophobia. Taking a different perspective, Guillermo Lux and Maurilio F. Vigil in "Return to Aztlán: The Chicano Rediscovers His Indian Past" dissect the sociocultural circumstances that led Mexican Americans to the Chicano movement and the revival of their indigenous past. Lastly, in "Aztlán, Cíbola, and Frontier New Spain," John R. Chávez rethinks the interconnection between the Southwest and the concept of Aztlán through a process of manifold migrations in the region, particularly of Indigenous and mestizo populations.
In Part 4, Comparative Applications of Aztlán, Genaro M. Padilla's "Myth and Comparative Cultural Nationalism: The Ideological Uses of Aztlán" looks into the polarizing, ever-shifting qualities and cultural longevity of Aztlán amongst Chicanos. On the other hand, J. Jorge Klor de Alva offers a comparative analysis of Chicano and Puerto Rican cultural nationalism during the 1960s and 1970s in "Aztlán, Borinquén, and Hispanic Nationalism in the United States." In the next chapter, "Nativist Aztlán: Fantasies and Anxieties of Whiteness on the Border," Lee Bouts lays out a critique on the misuse of the notion of Aztlán by Nativist and right-wing groups to promote xenophobia and manipulate current debates on immigration. Shifting attention back to literature, Alurista's "Myth, Identity, and Struggle in Three Chicano Novels" studies the novelistic representation of the trope of "struggle" in relation to Aztlán and the Chicano identity. Finally, Sergio D. Elizondo's "ABC: Aztlán, the Borderlands, and Chicago" reimagines Aztlán as borderlands that are continuously reconfigured by the migration and mobility of Chicanos across the United States.
The present volume is an outstanding and unique contribution to the fields of Chicano and Latino studies, and its content can be incorporated in any course that addresses topics related to the Mexican American experience. The compilation of old and new multidisciplinary perspectives makes this anthology excellent reading for students as well as experts in the fascinating and very complicated relationship between the legendary myth of Aztlán and the Chicano movement.
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[Review length: 1113 words • Review posted on December 12, 2018]