Ian Ocx | Red Phoenix correspondent | Texas–

Summary:

Published in 2011 and written by Maylei Blackwell, a Chicana studies professor at UCLA’s César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies, ¡Chicana Power! Contested Histories of Feminism in the Chicana Movement focuses on telling the story of and creating an inclusive historiography for the Chicana rights movement that began in the 1960s and 1970s. The overall work is broken into six chapters, each covering specific aspects of the lived experiences of organizers during their time in the Chicana feminist movement. 

Blackwell begins the book by arguing that the traditional conceptualization of feminism within the U.S. coming in “waves” (first, second, third, and presently fourth) is a less-than-perfect way of creating a historiography for the development of feminist movements — one that often sees women’s rights and feminist movements as developing in reaction to other social movements instead of being an organic part of them. Blackwell also contends that the traditional “waves” model for feminism undermines the liberation struggles of the past that centrally included women of color such as Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Maria Stewart, and Ida Wells. Blackwell’s largest critique of the “waves” model at the beginning of the work stems from the fact that traditionally historians put the emergence of women of color in feminism in the third wave, when in fact, women of color have played leading roles throughout all the “waves” of the women’s liberation movement. 

Blackwell instead argues that feminist organizations form a “counterpublic” within ongoing social movements. Blackwell’s term “counterpublic” is best illustrated using an example: when the Chicano rights movement formed in the 1960s and 1970s it primarily focused around Chicano nationalism, with ties to machismo culture. As the movement grew, Chicana women who wanted to see the liberation of all Chicano people organically grew to fight and speak out for specific struggles that primarily affected women that traditional Chicano nationalism may not have seen as important. These groups became a “counterpublic” within the movement of male-dominated groups and ideas. They did not represent an opposition towards Chicano liberation but offered instead a more inclusive version of that liberation. 

In large parts, the work follows the recounted lives of members of the Hijas de Cuahtemoc Chicana feminist organization from the 1970s (not to be confused with the Mexican feminist organization from the early 20th century of the same name). The book is organized as mainly an oral history that relies heavily on interviews with participants from Hijas de Cuahtemoc and other Chicano organizations which include the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO), Mexican American Students (MAS), and the Partido Nacional de la Raza Unida (RUP), as well as archival evidence from newspapers, flyers, photographs, and recordings. 

The book focuses heavily on two key struggles faced by Chicana feminist organizations that are mentioned in various ways throughout Blackwell’s work: sexism and ideological orientation. The various forms of sexism faced by Chicana feminists is discussed throughout the book as Chicana women recount in detail their experiences with sexual harassment and sexual assault by “movement men.” In many ways the sexism faced by Chicana women organizers in its various forms led to the debates around ideological tactics for successful organizing, which is covered in great detail in several chapters. For the work’s continued focus on sexism and ideological struggles I felt it important to reproduce in a minor way some of the debate on the issue for this review.  

The Hijas de Cuahtemoc put out a principle in their philosophy that opposed the traditional patriarchal ideas that were often associated with Chicano nationalism:

“We believe that the struggle is not with the male but the existing system of oppression. But the Chicano must also be educated to the problems and oppression of la Chicana so that he may not be used as a tool to divide by keeping man against women.” 

However, Blackwell documents that not every Chicana feminist shared their views. The author records that at the 1971 Conferencia de Mujeres por la Raza, several Chicana participants argued that their “enemy is not with the macho [or machismo] but the gavacho [slang for white man].” This shows that in some ways, even within Chicana feminist organizations, there was disagreement on how traditional Chicano nationalism should be handled and who was the real enemy of Chicano liberation.  

Toward the end of the work Blackwell notes that as the years went on, several feminist organizers from Hijas de Cuahtemoc and RUP began to develop their internationalist politics and toured countries like Cuba, Vietnam, and China. Blackwell notes that many of these international tours affected the continued political development of Chicana women who began to leave their initial feminist and Chicano groups, after seeing how much women around the world suffered from the same issues as them, to join organizations like the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and other radical left-wing groups as their understanding of liberation began to increasingly align with the Marxist methodology.   

Analysis:

Maylei Blackwell’s work ¡Chicana Power! Contested Histories of Feminism in the Chicana Movement is a great read full of detailed information about the early days of the Chicana liberation movement. It does not shy away from mentioning the Marxist politics at play in several of the organizations and early Chicana activists that predate the rise of the Chicano liberation movement. The book focuses heavily on interviews with life-long Chicana feminist activists whose lived experiences in the fight for women’s liberation are informative and inspiring to read. However, the work is not written from a Marxist standpoint and does not provide an overall materialist analysis of the Chicana feminist organizations involved and the problems they faced. That analysis is left up to the reader to decide.

While the summary above is just that, a brief summary, Blackwell’s work pays much attention to different facets of the struggle for Chicana women to find liberation from oppression, which include grappling with Chicano nationalism, traditional gender roles of Chicana women, sexual harassment and sexual assault, ideological struggle for unity within the movement, and the regrets, failures, and obstacles faced by all those involved. If you want to learn more about the internal workings of the Chicana feminist struggles of the 1960s and 1970s then ¡Chicana Power! Contested Histories of Feminism in the Chicana Movement by Maylei Blackwell is worth the read. 

Categories: Literature, Media & Culture