Rodolfo Acuña
Encyclopedia
Rodolfo Francisco Acuña, Ph.D.
, (born May 18, 1932) is an historian
, professor emeritus, and one of various scholars of Chicano studies, which he teaches at California State University, Northridge
. He is the author of Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, which approaches the history of the Southwestern United States
that includes Mexican Americans. It has been reprinted five times since its 1972 debut. The sixth edition was published Dec. 1, 2006. He has also written for the Los Angeles Times
, The Los Angeles Herald-Express
, La Opinión
, and numerous other newspapers. His work emphasizes the struggle of the Mexican American people. Acuña is also an activist and he has supported the numerous causes of the Chicano Movement
.
His mother Alicia Elías was from Sonora
, and his father from Cocula, Jalisco.
In 1958 Acuña began teaching at San Fernando Junior High, transferring later to Cleveland High School where he taught social studies until 1965 when he received a tenured position at Los Angeles Pierce College
. He also taught adult high school to pay for his doctoral studies at the University of Southern California
during which time he was active with the Latin American Civic Association and the Mexican American Political Association. He was the founding chair of the California State University
, Northridge's Chicano/a Studies department, and his teachings began there in 1969. The CSUN Chicana/o Studies Department at CSUN presently has 28 tenured professors and offers 166 sections of Chicana/o per semester.
In 1989, Acuña was a founding member of the Labor/Community Strategy Center, a civil rights advocacy group. Two years later he traveled to El Salvador as a correspondent for the Texas Observer covering its presidential elections. He has always sought to fulfill his lifelong query as to "how accurate were the interpretations of historians of the past", their reliability and objectivity. His books and lectures analyze and cross examine this query from his study of documents and life experiences.
Acuña continues to call himself a Chicano because "Words have meanings, meanings that are supposed to be linked to reality. In creating a historical narrative the meanings should be clear and best describe the reality of the times. Meanings can be obscured for political purposes; we often call this doublespeak; we say one thing and mean another. The Chicana/o Public Scholar argues that the word Chicana/o best describes the area of studies called Chicana/o Studies and expresses the idealism that we as a community should be striving for. http://forchicanachicanostudies.wikispaces.com/Chicana+Chicano+Public+Scholar Foremost Acuña prefers to be known as a teacher, having taught four to five classes per semester for most of his career. He is currently experimenting with online classes.
In 2008, Acuña and his wife Guadalupe Compeán edited a three volume anthology titled Voices of the U.S. Latino Experience (Greenwood Press). The work is the basis of his history of Chicana/o Studies at CSUN entitled In the Trenches of Academe where Acuña—based on his study of over 2000 documents on Latinos living in the United States—concludes that as of yet there is no Latino History. He loosely builds on the points raised in Marx's National Question. His 2007, Corridors of Migration: Odyssey of Mexican Laborers, 1600-1933(Arizona 2007) breaks new ground in the transborder study of Chicano history, using documents on both sides of the border to document and explore the early urbanization and proletarization of Mexican workers.
Latino?" at Swarthmore College
, his studies of the race, age, history and class of the Chicano identity were compared and contrasted to the definition of the alleged Latino identity of U.S.A. His question "should a Spaniard get affirmative action for Latinos without the life experience?"—where life experience meant that one needed to suffer discrimination—was answered no. This has been a recurring theme in his work: that civil rights entitlements are not automatic, but reserved for those who have historically experienced racial and class discrimination
. No matter what people may think of Banderas as a person, he is European and not part of a class that has historically suffered discrimination. In 2002, Acuña opposed the nomination of Miguel Estrada
, a Honduran immigrant whose father owned a plantation in Honduras
, to the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court.
for discrimination; the judge dropped the race discrimination cause of action; the political cause of action had previously been dropped because it missed the statute of limitations filing. A jury found for Acuña, but Federal Judge Audrey Collins refused to compel the University to hire him, instead awarding him a monetary compensation of $325,000, which Acuña used to establish a foundation that he, his wife and his supporters started to help the victims of employment discrimination in higher education. The For Chicana Chicano Studies Foundation recently launched a web site at http://forchicanachicanostudies.wikispaces.com/. Aside from awarding tens of thousands of awards for court costs the foundation gives an average of $7500 annually in scholarships.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
, (born May 18, 1932) is an historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, professor emeritus, and one of various scholars of Chicano studies, which he teaches at California State University, Northridge
California State University, Northridge
California State University, Northridge is a public university in Northridge, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California, United States....
. He is the author of Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, which approaches the history of the Southwestern United States
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
that includes Mexican Americans. It has been reprinted five times since its 1972 debut. The sixth edition was published Dec. 1, 2006. He has also written for the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, The Los Angeles Herald-Express
The Los Angeles Herald-Express
The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner was one of Los Angeles' oldest newspapers, run by the Hearst Corporation....
, La Opinión
La Opinión
La Opinión is a Spanish-language daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, USA and distributed throughout the six counties of Southern California. It is the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States and second-most read newspaper in Los Angeles . It is published by...
, and numerous other newspapers. His work emphasizes the struggle of the Mexican American people. Acuña is also an activist and he has supported the numerous causes of the Chicano Movement
Chicano Movement
The Chicano Movement of the 1960s, also called the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, also known as El Movimiento, is an extension of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement which began in the 1940s with the stated goal of achieving Mexican American empowerment.-Origins:The Chicano Movement...
.
His mother Alicia Elías was from Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
, and his father from Cocula, Jalisco.
Chicano historian
His academic counselor advised Acuña to teach "Spanish" or "Physical Education" because "Mexicans don't have a history". This infuriated him, an outrage that led him to pursue a doctorate in history. His specialty was northern Mexico and the Mexican origin of people in the United States. His study led to his participation in the movement to begin Chicano studies, giving a voice to Mexican Americans in education and history. Through research and action he evolved into a Mexican American historian.In 1958 Acuña began teaching at San Fernando Junior High, transferring later to Cleveland High School where he taught social studies until 1965 when he received a tenured position at Los Angeles Pierce College
Los Angeles Pierce College
Los Angeles Pierce College, also known as Pierce College, Pierce, is a community college that serves more than 23,000 students in the northern Chalk Hills of Woodland Hills, a community within the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California.The college began with 70 students...
. He also taught adult high school to pay for his doctoral studies at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
during which time he was active with the Latin American Civic Association and the Mexican American Political Association. He was the founding chair of the California State University
California State University
The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
, Northridge's Chicano/a Studies department, and his teachings began there in 1969. The CSUN Chicana/o Studies Department at CSUN presently has 28 tenured professors and offers 166 sections of Chicana/o per semester.
In 1989, Acuña was a founding member of the Labor/Community Strategy Center, a civil rights advocacy group. Two years later he traveled to El Salvador as a correspondent for the Texas Observer covering its presidential elections. He has always sought to fulfill his lifelong query as to "how accurate were the interpretations of historians of the past", their reliability and objectivity. His books and lectures analyze and cross examine this query from his study of documents and life experiences.
Acuña continues to call himself a Chicano because "Words have meanings, meanings that are supposed to be linked to reality. In creating a historical narrative the meanings should be clear and best describe the reality of the times. Meanings can be obscured for political purposes; we often call this doublespeak; we say one thing and mean another. The Chicana/o Public Scholar argues that the word Chicana/o best describes the area of studies called Chicana/o Studies and expresses the idealism that we as a community should be striving for. http://forchicanachicanostudies.wikispaces.com/Chicana+Chicano+Public+Scholar Foremost Acuña prefers to be known as a teacher, having taught four to five classes per semester for most of his career. He is currently experimenting with online classes.
U.S. Latino issues
At a lecture celebrating the release of his book U.S. Latino Issues in 2003, he critically addressed U.S. Latino Issues and the Latino label or identity. He delves deeply into what exactly defines a nation or culture; their similarities and differences; and what life experiences are necessary to differentiate one ethnocultural group from another. In his book he clearly notes the mistaken trend of describing a large and heterogeneous group like people of Latin American descent in the US under labels like Latino. He acknowledges the fact that many people are actually opposed to the term and that the media has arbitrary and whimsically imposed Hispanic and Latino as absolute and monolithic ethnic groups:
"When and why the Latino identity came about is a more involved story. Essentially, politicians, the media, and marketers find it convenient to deal with the different U.S. Spanish-speaking people under one umbrella.
However, many people with Spanish surnames contest the term Latino. They claim it is misleading because no Latino or Hispanic nationality exists since no Latino state exists, so generalizing the term Latino slights the various national identities included under the umbrella.
In 2008, Acuña and his wife Guadalupe Compeán edited a three volume anthology titled Voices of the U.S. Latino Experience (Greenwood Press). The work is the basis of his history of Chicana/o Studies at CSUN entitled In the Trenches of Academe where Acuña—based on his study of over 2000 documents on Latinos living in the United States—concludes that as of yet there is no Latino History. He loosely builds on the points raised in Marx's National Question. His 2007, Corridors of Migration: Odyssey of Mexican Laborers, 1600-1933(Arizona 2007) breaks new ground in the transborder study of Chicano history, using documents on both sides of the border to document and explore the early urbanization and proletarization of Mexican workers.
"Is Antonio Banderas Latino?"
During a lecture titled "Is Antonio BanderasAntonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
Latino?" at Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
, his studies of the race, age, history and class of the Chicano identity were compared and contrasted to the definition of the alleged Latino identity of U.S.A. His question "should a Spaniard get affirmative action for Latinos without the life experience?"—where life experience meant that one needed to suffer discrimination—was answered no. This has been a recurring theme in his work: that civil rights entitlements are not automatic, but reserved for those who have historically experienced racial and class discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
. No matter what people may think of Banderas as a person, he is European and not part of a class that has historically suffered discrimination. In 2002, Acuña opposed the nomination of Miguel Estrada
Miguel Estrada
Miguel Angel Estrada Castañeda is an attorney who became embroiled in controversy following his 2001 nomination by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit...
, a Honduran immigrant whose father owned a plantation in Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
, to the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court.
Discrimination
In 1992 Acuña sued the University of California, Santa BarbaraUniversity of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
for discrimination; the judge dropped the race discrimination cause of action; the political cause of action had previously been dropped because it missed the statute of limitations filing. A jury found for Acuña, but Federal Judge Audrey Collins refused to compel the University to hire him, instead awarding him a monetary compensation of $325,000, which Acuña used to establish a foundation that he, his wife and his supporters started to help the victims of employment discrimination in higher education. The For Chicana Chicano Studies Foundation recently launched a web site at http://forchicanachicanostudies.wikispaces.com/. Aside from awarding tens of thousands of awards for court costs the foundation gives an average of $7500 annually in scholarships.
Honors
- Outstanding Academic Title by CHOICE Magazine for Corridors of Migration: The Odyssey of Mexican Laborers, 1600-1933, 2009
- National Hispanic InstituteNational Hispanic InstituteThe National Hispanic Institute is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the future leadership needs of the global Hispanic community...
, Lifetime Achievement Award, Austin, Texas, 2008 - Community Coalition South Central Los Angeles, 9th Annual Gala Dinner, Activist-scholar award, 2008
- The Labor/Community Strategy Center Award, May 2007
- Center for the Study of Political GraphicsCenter for the Study of Political GraphicsThe Center for the Study of Political Graphics is a United States non-profit, educational and research archive that collects, preserves, documents, and circulates domestic and international political posters relating to historical and contemporary movements for social change...
(CSPG), Historian of the Lions Award at 18th Anniversary Dinner in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 13, 2007 - National Hispanic Hero Award, March 11, 2006, Chicago, 24th Annual National Conference. United States Hispanic Leadership Institute,
- LA WeeklyLA WeeklyLA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
LA People 2006, April 21–27, 2006, p. 108, Featured as one of 100 LA shakers and movers - Symposium on the Works of Rodolfo F. Acuna, California State Northridge, May 2005
- Selected As One of the “100 Most Influential Educators of the 20th Century,” Black Issues In Higher EducationBlack Issues Book ReviewBlack Issues Book Review was a bimonthly magazine published in the U.S. in which books of interest to African-American readers were reviewed. It was published from 1999 through 2007....
- Recipient of the Gustavus MyersGustavus MyersGustavus Myers was an American journalist and historian who published a series of influential studies on capital formation. His name is associated with the muckraking era of American literature.-Early years:...
Award for an Outstanding Book on Race Relations in North America - Distinguished Scholar Award, National Association of Chicana and Chicano StudiesNational Association of Chicana and Chicano StudiesNational Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies is "the academic organization that serves academic programs, departments and research centers that focus on issues pertaining to Mexican Americans, Chicana/os, and Latina/os." Unlike many professional academic associations, NACCS "rejects...
- Homenaje University of GuadalajaraUniversity of GuadalajaraUniversity of Guadalajara is a public university in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. It is the second oldest university in Mexico, the fifth oldest in North America and the fourteenth oldest in Latin America...
Feria Internacional del Libro de GuadalupeGuadalajara International Book FairThe Guadalajara International Book Fair, better known as the FIL is the most important annual event of its kind in the Spanish-speaking world, and the second largest book fair in the world after Frankfurt's. Created in 1987, the FIL is put on by the University of Guadalajara...
and the State of Guadalajara Mexico for the Outstanding Scholar of U.S.-Mexico Studies - Emil FreedEmil FreedEmil Freed was a political activist and the founder of the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, an archive in Los Angeles....
Award for Community Service, Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research - Founder's Award for Community Service, Liberty Hill FoundationLiberty Hill FoundationThe Liberty Hill Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Sarah Pillsbury, heir to the Minnesota Pillsbury baking fortune, in 1976. Its motto is "Change. Not Charity." They have funded local Los Angeles organizations dedicated to environmental justice, such as East Yard Communities for...
- American Council of Learned SocietiesAmerican Council of Learned SocietiesThe American Council of Learned Societies , founded in 1919, is a private nonprofit federation of seventy scholarly organizations.ACLS is best known as a funder of humanities research through fellowships and grants awards. ACLS Fellowships are designed to permit scholars holding the Ph.D...
Award - Rockefeller Humanities FellowshipRockefeller FoundationThe Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
External links
- Rodolfo Acuna at CSUN
- "Anything but Mexican: Chicanos in Contemporary Los Angeles", biography from Verso books.
- For Chicana Chicano Studies Foundation, http://forchicanachicanostudies.wikispaces.com/
- Corridors of Migration: Odyssey of Mexican Laborers, 1600-1933 University of Arizona Press Dec 2007) http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/BOOKS/bid1858.htm
- Voices of the U.S. Latino Experience Three volumes(Greenwood 2008)http://www.greenwood.com/books/printFlyer.aspx?sku=GR4020