“The book of indigeneity cannot close off at colonization.”
– Dean Mayorga
Topic: Indigena, Indigenous Identity, Chicana Studies, Chicana Community
Title: Towards Definitions of Indigena and Chicana Membership: A Conversation
Participants: Dean Mayorga
Broadcast Air Date: 07/10/20
Time: 5:15 PM (PST)
Station: KUCR 88.3 FM Riverside, CA
KUCR station page: http://www.kucr.org
Archive pages: https://soundcloud.com/stoppretending, http://www.dreport.org
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Segment produced in KUCR, the radio station of the University California in Riverside.
Disclaimer: The views expressed are the sole responsibility of the respective speakers and do not represent the endorsed position of the UC Regents, UC Riverside or KUCR.
Discussion Topics:
- Have you read the article, How the Chican@ Discourse Silences Indigenous Peoples from Mexico + Central Americans?
Available at, https://medium.com/@jessicabhdz/how-the-chican-discourse-silences-indigenous-peoples-from-mexico-central-americans-b72b5897ad26 - Is there a difference between being indigenous and identifying as indigenous ancestry or indigenous descendant?
- What does Indigeneity mean within Chicana and Brown context?
- What is relationship between defining indigenous and racism?
- Is indigenous classification marked by assessments of being other than or less than White?
- Chicana is an inclusive term?
- What is the difference between Chicana Studies as academic and outside Chicana lived experiences?
- How do we take ownership of own experiences and our own names?
- “The book of indigeneity cannot close off at colonization.” – Dean
- Chicanas express old and new traditions.
- How do we learn to own our ways of membership?
- Is there a disconnection between the field of Chicana Studies and the communities of Chicanas, Chicanx and Chicanos?
- An act of remembrance.
- Why does the nation-state want to erase indigenous definitions and instead use Hispanic and Latino labels?
- How did the theory of mestizaje influence Chicana Studies and Chicana communities?
- What happens to mesitizaje discourse if we access race deconstruction material?
- How did the adoption of belief in mestizaje produce a platform of loss?
- What is the role of colorism for light skinned Chicanx/Chicanas/Chicanos?
- Can you take a DNA test to find out if you are indigenous or Spanish?
- Indigeneity is political .
- How does the Hispanic and Latino movement erase indigenous definitions?
- How do we acknowledge the power to control the terms that we will use to name ourselves?
- Do you have to apologize for being a person that has moved from one land base to another?
- What is the role of social media in redefining Chicanisma?
- Is Chicana Studies changing more now than before?
- Is being Chicana in constant flux?
- How did Chicanas get repackaged as Hispanics?
- The politics of renaming.
- How often is Chicana Studies updated?

Image by Kira Hoffmann