Miguel Marcello Chavez
History PhD Candidate, UC Los Angeles, 2010.
History BA, UC Berkeley, 2002.
Fax: 310-206-7833
E-mail:
mmarcellochavez@ucla.edu
Field
19th and 20th Century US/North Mexican History, the American West and Frontier/Borderlands, 20th and 21st Century Social Movements, Cultural Studies, Chicana/o Studies, and Oral History.
Research Interests
?Las Cuatro Esquinas: The Chicana Chicano Movement in the West Side of Los Angeles, 1964-1978? is the first study to examine the development of the movement in four (cuatro) historical Mexican communities in West Los Angeles. The main title of the dissertation is the political slogan that activists used to politicize and unite Mexican communities from Santa Monica, Venice, West Los Sotel, and Culver City.
Between the late 1960s and early 1970s, activists from las cuatro esquinas began to use a regional identity to identify a common history. By the mid 1970s, they developed a consciousness that allowed them to identify a common struggle. The significance of these ?commonalities? led activists to bring together a population that historically rivaled each other through youth gangs, regional high schools, politics, ideas on race, gender, and class.
Presently, West Siders continue to refer to the West Side as las cuatro esquinas and, unfortunately, there remains fragmentation among the barrios. The task of the dissertation is two-fold: it documents a history of Mexican communities and political activities that are not included in the major studies on the movement, and it seeks to bring critical attention to forms of solidarity and unity among las cuatro esquinas.
This study combines oral interviews with an array of primary and secondary sources to provide a historical account of events, leadership, organizations, ideas, and people who struggled for political rights in the West Side.
Publications
The Great Encounter: Native Peoples and European Settlers in the Americas, 1492?1800. By Jayme A. Sokolow. American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Vol. 27, No. 4 (2003). Reviewed by Miguel M. Chavez.
The Indian Frontier, 1763?1846. By Douglas R. Hurt. The American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Vol. 27, No. 2 (2003), Reviewed by Miguel M. Chavez.
Forthcoming, "Contesting Space in the American West: Frontiers, Borderlands, and World Systems as Competing Frameworks."
Grants and Awards
2009-2010 Dissertation Year Fellowship, Department of History, UCLA
2008-2009 Teaching Fellow, Department of History, UCLA
Advisors
Juan Gomez-Quinones
Conference Presentations
2009 "The History of Santa Monica Retold: Our Chicana/o Past and Legacies," Association of Mexican-American Educators, Santa Monica, CA.
2009 ?Barrio Alianza Latino Americanos and the Early Chicana/o Movement in Venice, CA, 1968 ? 1973,? Pacific Coast Council on Latin American Studies.
2009 "The Chicana Chicano Moratorium in the West Side of Los Angeles, 1969 - 1971," Pico Youth and Family Center.
2009 ?The Chicana Chicano Movement in the West Side of Los Angeles,? National Association of Chicana Chicano Studies.
2009 ?West Side Stories: The Chicana Chicano Movement in the West Side of Los Angeles,? Southwest Oral History Association.
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