Dimensions of Chicano spirituality: Quest for self-determination and affirmation of human dignity

This work lifts up dimensions of a Chicano spirituality during the movement years from 1965 to 1975. I privilege Rudolfo A. Anaya's celebrated novel Bless Me, Ultima and, following the practice of new historicism, widely used in cultural and literary criticism, make an intertextual examination between it and other prominent cultural artifacts from the Chicano movement, which include the popular literary works Yo Soy Joaquin, El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan, and Floricanto en Aztlan along with the historic events of (1) the takeover of Echo Amphitheater in Kit Carson National Forest and the courthouse raid at Tierra Amarilla by the Alianza Federal de Mercedes, (2) the school "blowouts" in Los Angeles, (3) the protest in St. Basil Church by members of Catolicos por la Raza, (4) the National Chicano Moratorium denouncing the Viet Nam War, and (5) the United Farm Workers's five-year grape strike led by Cesar Chavez. I show that through their various efforts, Chicanos reacted to their long history of socio-political and economic marginalization by displaying a fiery determination to forge their own identity, cultural and religious, one of which they were proud rather than the negative one ascribed to them by white America. In addition, I demonstrate that Chicanos also attempted to transform the unjust institutions and social structures that oppressed them in this country. By using the novel Bless Me, Ultima as a door into the Chicano movement, populated by people and events, I show, in essence, that Chicanos, during the decade from 1965 to 1975, in their various endeavors to define themselves and obtain social justice, asserted their will to determine their own lives and affirm their human dignity, a hallmark of Chicano spirituality.