Speaking for themselves
Subtitle: Neomexicano cultural identity and the Spanish-language press, 1880-1920
By: Doris Meyer.
Edition: 1st ed.
Series: Pasó por aquí
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Albuquerque
Language: eng
Number of pages: 279
Subjects: Mexican American literature (Spanish) -- New Mexico -- History and criticism.; Mexican American newspapers -- New Mexico -- History -- 19th century.; Mexican Americans -- New Mexico -- Ethnic identity.
Description: When New Mexico became a territory of the United States in 1848, the Hispanic population faced an influx of American immigrants. The neomexicanos, residents of some of the oldest Hispanic communities in the United States, found their life-ways disdained, their communal property threatened, and their very existence called into question by aggressive invaders. They quickly began efforts to protect their language and culture against enforced assimilation.

One of the major outlets for this resistance was the Spanish-language newspaper. Here poetry, oratory, letters, fiction, and essays helped bridge the gap between the largely oral cultural expression of the region and the print-oriented culture of the Americans. Meyer's pioneering archival research examines these newspapers and their writers. The work of Jose Escobar, Felipe Maximiliano Chacon, Luis Tafoya, and Benjamin M.

Read, as well as that of less well known and anonymous writers, displays the diversity and complexity of this literature and its role in the construction of a unique cultural identity.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-268) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : Neomexicanos and their newspapers; title: Anonymous voices in verse; title: Banditry, politics, and poetry in old Las Vegas; title: Mexicano/Neomexicano : the writing of José Escobar; title: Identity crisis : responses to negative stereotyping; title: Language and cultural erosion; title: Mixed messages : images of women in the press; title: Felipe Maximiliano Chacón : an American author; title: Luis Tafoya : inscribing a culture in transition; title: History and identity : Benjamin M. Read and his Neomexicano precursors; title: Conclusion : the language of the press.