Revelation in Aztlán: Scriptures, Utopias, and the Chicano Movement - Hardcover

by Jacqueline M. Hidalgo (Author)

Introduction: Scriptures, Place, and No Place in the Chicano Movement
Chapter One: "We Are Aztlán" Writing Scriptures, Writing Utopia in El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán
Chapter Two: "The Holy City Which Has Been Written in This Book" The Utopian Scripturalization of Revelation
Chapter Three: "The Spirit Will Speak for My People" El Plan de Santa Barbara and the Chicanx Movement as a Project of Scripturalization
Chapter Four: "Power and Dominance, Loyalty and Conformity" Family, Gender, Sexuality, and Utopian Scripturalization
Chapter Five: "Faith and Social Justice Are So Connected in My Book" Scriptures, Scrolls, and Scribes as Technologies of Diaspora
Coda: Scriptural Revelations and Reconquest

Back Jacket

Bridging the fields of Religion and Latina/o Studies, this book fills a gap by examining the "spiritual" rhetoric and practices of the Chicano movement. Bringing new theoretical life to biblical studies and Chicana/o writings from the 1960s, such as El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán and El Plan de Santa Barbara, Jacqueline M. Hidalgo boldly makes the case that peoples, for whom historical memories of displacement loom large, engage scriptures in order to make and contest homes. Movement literature drew upon and defied the scriptural legacies of Revelation, a Christian scriptural text that also carries a displaced homing dream. Through the slipperiness of utopian imaginations, these texts become places of belonging for those whose belonging has otherwise been questioned. Hidalgo's elegant comparative study articulates as never before how Aztlán and the new Jerusalem's imaginative power rest in their ambiguities, their ambivalence, and the significance that people ascribe to them.

Author Biography

Jacqueline M. Hidalgo is Assistant Professor of Latina/o Studies and Religion at Williams College in Massachusetts, USA.