we are americanos: race, rhetoric, and resistance in latina/o struggles for u

243 Pages·2009·0.85 MB·English

by  Speech Communication

WE ARE AMERICANOS: RACE, RHETORIC, AND RESISTANCE IN LATINA/O
STRUGGLES FOR U.S. CITIZENSHIP
by
J. DAVID CISNEROS
(Under the Direction of Vanessa B. Beasley and Edward M. Panetta)
ABSTRACT
Over the last two decades, pundits and politicians have discussed with growing urgency
the changes that “Hispanics” and “Latina/os” are bringing to the United States. This project
problematizes these debates by showing that Latina/os have played an active role in (re)making
the contours of U.S. identity throughout history. My argument is twofold: that the position of
Latina/os’ in the U.S. has been structured by a fundamental tension of citizenship between
inclusion (i.e., assimilation) and exclusion (i.e., difference), and that Latina/os have struggled
with these tensions by crafting their own discourses of U.S. citizenship. I develop these
arguments through analysis of three historical moments in which Latina/os negotiated U.S.
citizenship. In the first case study, I examine the California Constitutional Convention of 1849,
an instance in which early “Latina/os,” or native Mexican Californios, negotiated their newly
granted U.S. citizenship after the Mexican-American War. At the Constitutional Convention, I
argue, Californios enacted a compromise citizenship by striking a balance between their own
traditions and the pressures of assimilation they faced as new U.S. citizens. In the second case
study, I consider a Latina/o struggle with U.S. citizenship from the 1960s. The Mexican-
American activist Reies López Tijerina and his organization the Alianza Fedéral de Mercedes
fought for rights and land grants in New Mexico and the Southwest. I show that Tijerina
constructed a border citizenship that migrated between citizen and foreigner, between inclusion
and exclusion. Finally, I examine a modern movement for Latina/o citizenship—La Gran
Marcha of March 25, 2006, in which half a million Latina/os and immigrants protested federal
immigration policy—to show how contemporary struggles for U.S. national belonging differ.
Flouting pressures of inclusion and exclusion, La Gran Marcha fused multiple forms of discourse
and transnational political traditions to craft a hybrid U.S. citizenship. In the conclusion, I draw
together these three case studies to discuss the common elements of Latina/o citizenship and
Latina/o identity in the United States. I find that studying Latina/o citizenship speaks to the
ever-changing role of Latina/os in the U.S. and to the problematics of U.S. citizenship more
generally.

INDEX WORDS: citizenship, Latina/os, rhetoric, Californio, California Constitutional
Convention, Reies Tijerina, La Gran Marcha, immigration, protest
WE ARE AMERICANOS: RACE, RHETORIC, AND RESISTANCE IN LATINA/O
STRUGGLES FOR U.S. CITIZENSHIP

by

J. DAVID CISNEROS
B.A., Mercer University, 2003
M.A., Baylor University, 2005

A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial
Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

ATHENS, GEORGIA
2009
© 2009
Josue David Cisneros
All Rights Reserved
WE ARE AMERICANOS: RACE, RHETORIC, AND RESISTANCE IN LATINA/O
STRUGGLES FOR U.S. CITIZENSHIP

by

J. DAVID CISNEROS

Major Professors: Vanessa B. Beasley
Edward M. Panetta

Committee: Celeste M. Condit
Thomas Lessl
Pamela Voekel

Electronic Version Approved:

Maureen Grasso
Dean of the Graduate School
The University of Georgia

August 2009
iv

DEDICATION
For Arquímedes and Hortensia, and for Leticia, whose struggles made all this possible.
v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Since it is impossible for me to acknowledge in this limited space all those to whom I am
indebted, I hope it suffices to express my gratitude for a few of the many people who guided,
supported, and inspired me during the writing of this dissertation and, more broadly, during the
graduate education that this project culminates.
My advisor, Dr. Vanessa Beasley, has not only shaped this dissertation, but she has also
immeasurably contributed to my writing, thinking, teaching, and the development of my goals
and values. I thank her especially for her diligence throughout our “long-distance” mentoring
relationship. I am also greatly indebted to Dr. Edward Panetta for his personal and professional
support, particularly in those moments when I needed a mentor to whom I could talk face-to-
face. The members of my dissertation committee—Dr. Celeste Condit, Dr. Thomas Lessl, and
Dr. Pamela Voekel—have helped me to ask hard questions and expand my thinking; I am
grateful for their intellectual and professional guidance. Dr. John Murphy offered suggestions
and encouragement throughout this process, and Dr. Darrel Enck-Wanzer also contributed to the
germination of many of the ideas in this project. I thank both of them and all the other scholars
and mentors who have aided me sometimes without even knowing it these last four years.
In addition, I am forever in debt both personally and professionally to my colleagues and
friends at the University of Georgia for their support. They have contributed to my scholarship
and my development in less formal but no less significant ways. I especially should thank
Kristen, Eric, Betsy, and Matt for being persistent counselors, readers, and advisors. Equally as
important, they have immeasurably enriched my life as friends.
vi
Finally, I am thankful for my family. They too deserve thanks and credit for their
persistent support throughout my graduate career. Thank you all for your unconditional
encouragement, for the patience you all have shown me throughout this process, and for the
long-suffering you have endured on my behalf. I hope you all know how much you are written
on every page of this document.

Thank you all,

David
vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................v
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION: LATINA/O STRUGGLES FOR U.S. CITIZENSHIP..................1
2 COMPROMISE CITIZENSHIP: RACE, RHETORIC, AND NATION IN
NINETEENTH CENTURY CALIFORNIA...........................................................34
3 BORDER CITIZENSHIP: REIES LÓPEZ TIJERINA AND TESTING THE LIMITS
OF U.S. CITIZENSHIP...........................................................................................84
4 HYBRID CITIZENSHIP: THE INTERSECTIONAL RHETORIC AND
TRANSNATIONALISM OF LA GRAN MARHCA...........................................139
5 CONCLUSION: WE ARE AMERICANOS...............................................................185
BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................206
1

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION: LATINA/O STRUGGLES FOR U.S. CITIZENSHIP

Between March and May of 2006, several million people, mostly documented and
undocumented immigrants, engaged in organized protests of proposed federal immigration
legislation in cities such as Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.1 In Chicago,
for example, 100,000 people marched, while in Washington, D.C., 40,000 protestors gathered
outside of the Capital building. Demonstrators in Milwaukee numbered almost 15,000, while in
Denver and Detroit nearly 50,000 congregated. The largest and most influential of these protests
was dubbed “La Gran Marcha” (The Great March) of March 25, 2006. Almost a million
people—mostly of Latin-American descent—filled the streets of Los Angeles in one of the
largest demonstrations of recent history.2 La Gran Marcha was one of the earliest protests of
2006, and it spurred a wave of marches across the country lasting for close to two months. In
Los Angeles, Latina/o citizens and immigrants mobilized in opposition to restrictive immigration
legislation that, among other measures, called for a massive wall along the US-Mexico border
and would have made illegal immigration a felony with stricter penalties.3 Protestors organized
by the thousands, demanding that immigrants be granted rights, protections, and a clear path to
nationalization.4 “We are not here to beg for citizenship,” said Bishara Constand, a Palestinian
immigrant protesting in San Francisco. “We are here to demand citizenship. Who built this
country? Immigrants!”5