Chapter 1 Discussion Questions and Writing Prompts
Prompts for discussion and writing assignments are included to spur collective inquiry, reflection, and engagement with the chapter’s materials. You are encouraged to use these for class sessions, assignments, reflective studying, and more.
- When did you first hear about Chicanx and Latinx studies? What did you hear? In what ways do you relate or find striking about it? What are the myths and realities about Chicanx and Latinx studies?
- The field of Chicanx and Latinx studies is deeply rooted in activist traditions. This has included linking the work happening in classrooms and through education to the diverse struggles of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color groups. Reflecting on the students, families, and individuals that you learned about in this chapter, what are some strategies that lead to social change? Consider how these strategies relate to your own life or the things you have witnessed around you. For a more focused exercise, consider directing the prompt to a specific activist group. For example, you may want to focus on the San Francisco State College Strikes for ethnic studies in 1968-1969. You can access more primary documents and digital recordings from the Strike from the SFSU Diva Archive and SF State College Strike Collection at the SFSU Library. To review the full Black studies Curriculum from Spring 1968, you can visit the SFSU Digital Collections.
- Chicanx Latinx studies is about representation. In what ways is Chicanx Latinx studies knowledge, people, or culture represented at your college, community, city, state, and nation? Give examples?
- Educational institutions can promote freedom, self-determination, and justice, but they have also been places of elite domination, white supremacy, and settler-colonialism. Considering the schools you attended and where you have lived, what patterns have you witnessed? You may want to focus on examples of barriers and exclusion, positive work for inclusion and equity, or both. Be sure to verify assumptions about the demographics of a school or neighborhood. For colleges and universities, you can find racial demographic information on websites like College Factual or by searching your school’s website. You can look up information about demographics in a specific place by using the US Census website.
- What is cultural wealth? What are some forms of cultural wealth in your family or community? How does it affirm your identity or community? You can review and research community cultural wealth for my information on this writing prompt. You may want to explore the links listed here for guidance: Summary of Yosso's Cultural Wealth Model and Cultural Wealth In Higher Education: Putting Assets-based Perspectives Into Practice - Every Learner Everywhere
- Review some of the demands made by Chicanx and Latinx student activists. Do any of these resonate with your experience on our own campus? What demands would you make of your administration? How would you modify or update these demands for your own context?
- Chicanx and Latinx studies as a field has grown in tandem with ethnic studies and other constituent disciplines. What are the advantages of focusing on specific community formations, such as in Black studies, Chicanx and Latinx studies, Native American and Indigenous studies, Arab American studies, or Asian American and Pacific Islander studies? What are the advantages of a comparative ethnic studies perspective?
