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Abstract

The late 1960s witnessed the rise of Chicano Movement as part of the Civil Rights Movements in the United States of America. A Chicano is someone born in the USA with Mexican descendant. Thus, Chicano represents a cultural identity that is neither fully American nor Mexican, exemplifying the in-between nature of cultural hybridity. Chicano literature emerges as a response to the discrimination and prejudice conduct affected Mexicans who migrated into the United States after the 1900s. Although, they are citizens of the United States for over one-hundred years, the Mexican-Americans have always been characterized in a negative manner by U.S. Anglos. They were subjects of many aspects of the dominant Anglo culture and suffered from the stereotypical image imposed on them as being inferior, lazy and criminals. Through their poetry, The Mexican-American poets reflect their marginal limbo state of existence and the identity crisis. The present study explores the ways, in which the Chicano poets assert their identity and sense of selfhood in the multilayered daily experiences in a different socio-cultural world. Thus, they interpret the assertion of identity in Chicano poetry under conditions of socio-political injustice and the experience of racism and marginalizing in a “third space” of existence. The selected poems under examination are Rodolfo Gonzales’ “I Am Joaquin”, Viola Correa’s “La Nueva Chicana”, and Alurista’s “Left Just”. The study concludes that the Chicano voices emerge as a potent force to dismantle the isolated existence and to resist the discrimination and social oppression in a world that ignores their presence.

Keywords

Chicano poetry, Identity, Rodolfo Corky Gonzales, Viola Correa, Alurista

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