Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

“We demand Xicano studies”: War of the flea at Michigan State University

  • Vivencias: Reports from the Field
  • Published:
Latino Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

    We’re sorry, something doesn't seem to be working properly.

    Please try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, please contact support so we can address the problem.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. During the 1990s and the rise of indigenismo the spelling “Xicano” challenged the traditional spelling of Chicano. This spelling claimed and promoted a different tradition of radicalism based in indigenous ideology and aggressive direct action. Two monographs produced at the community level were primarily responsible for solidifying this idea. The first, written by Apaxu Maiz in 1995, is “Xicano: an autobiography”, and the following year Roberto Dr Cintli Rodriguez published “The X in La Raza.” It is important to note that MSU MEXA hosted the 1997 national MEChA conference under the title “MEXA Conference” with the theme “Nationalism: what it is, what it isn’t.” At the end of the conference our chapter was kicked out of the national MEChA structure and banned from attending national MEChA events, one stated reason for this excommunication being that we spelled MEXA with an X.

  2. You can see parts of this meeting on YouTube if you search under “MEChA 1994 Grape Boycott.” The video, created by then MSU students Maria Zavala, Robert Patino and Francisco “Tenox” Lopez, is in four parts.

  3. Refugio I. Rochin, e-mail message to Lou Anna Simon and Kenneth Corey, 3 October 1995.

  4. Kenneth Corey, email message to Lou Anna Simon, 10 November 1995.

  5. Refugio I. Rochin, email message to Robert Aponte, Kenneth Corey and Chris Vanderpool, 13 November 1995.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Ernesto Todd Mireles, letter to M. Peter McPherson, 2 March 1994.

  9. M. Peter McPherson, letter to Ernesto Todd Mireles, 29 March 1994.

  10. Refugio I. Rochin, e-mail message to Robert Aponte, Ken Corey and Chris Vanderpool, 13 November 1995.

  11. Ibid.

  12. Maria Zavala, letter to Refugio I. Rochin, November 1995.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Refugio I. Rochin, letter to Maria Zavala, 11 December 1995.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Draft November 1995, Ethnic Studies Specialization, p. 14.

  18. Tlatonai is a Nahuatl word that literally means speaker but is used as an honorific to mean ruler. In English it is often translated as king. MSU MEXA meant it literally as speaker. The men and women who held this title were the first speakers for the group.

  19. Ibid, p. 1.

References

  • Alfred, T. 2005. Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haake, J. 1994a. Hispanic Groups Ask for Representation. The State News 31 January: 3.

  • Haake, J. 1994b. Chicanos Deliver Grapes, Demands. The State News 11 February: 1.

  • Hing, J. 2012. Tucson Freedom Summer, Or 5 Ways to Fight Back against an Unjust Law. Colorlines, 11 July, http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/07/tucson_freedom_summer.html, accessed 12 July 2012.

  • Johnson, H. 1996. Fasting Hospitalizes 1 Activist, Spurs Protest. The State News 19 February: 1.

  • Omatsu, G. 1985. The Four Prisons and the Movements of Liberation. Amerasia Journal 15 (1): 25.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Task Force on The Hispanic American Institute. 1989. MI: Michigan State University. Report, 8 March.

  • Sell, M. 1999a. Protesters Check Out Books to Prove Point. The State News 19 February: 1.

  • Sell, M. 1999b. Students Battle for Degree Program. The State News 25 February: 1.

  • Templeton, E. 1995. Vote May Rename Chavez Avenue. The State News 12 June: 3.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Prescott College, AZ

    Ernesto Todd Mireles

Authors
  1. Ernesto Todd Mireles
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Todd Mireles, E. “We demand Xicano studies”: War of the flea at Michigan State University. Lat Stud 11, 570–579 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/lst.2013.33

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/lst.2013.33

Search

Navigation