The Use of Stories as a Methodology for Understanding the Generational Impacts of the Chicana/o Movement

This presentation explores the potential for understanding the significance of the Chicana/o Movement through generational storytelling and perspectives.  Interviews with children of Chicana/o Movement (CCM) activists demonstrate that their understanding of the historical and contemporary significance of CCM is impacted by formal academic discourse but also through access to personal family stories and experiences.  Through the re-telling of CCM stories, activists reshape narratives about the social impact of the Chicana/o Movement, thereby further complicating a homogenous narrative of the CCM.  The presentation also underscores opportunities for critically reading stories for historical and contemporary meaning making. 

Instructors and students enrolled in Chicana/o Studies courses can and should utilize oral history methodologies to collect stories and add to the repository of Chicana/o Studies oral history collections.  Thousands of individuals participated in the CCM, yet the narratives currently available privilege the stories and experiences of a handful of organizations and only a minority of the participants.  Therefore, the collection of stories and information pertinent to the CCM is timely and essential given that CCM occurred over two generations ago.