chicanismo

[chee-kah-neez-maw, chee-kah-neez-moh, -niz-moh]

noun

Spanish.

1. pride in one's heritage as a Mexican American.

2. the heritage, background, culture, etc., of Mexican Americans.

Word History and Origins

Origin of chicanismo¹

First recorded in 1965–70; < Mexican Spanish Chicano ( def. ) + suffix -ismo -ism ( def. )

Example Sentences

“I wanted to use this buoyant Chicanismo language that we speak; the beautiful way that we transform language to meet our own cultural needs, our own legacy and our own inheritance from our antepasados,” Baca explained.

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“Given its purpose was to tell the story of defiant Chicanismo in the face of oppression, Joe’s story doesn’t really fit with that,” he said.

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I wanted to focus on something for my communities, and new types of Chicanismo and Latinidad.

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“At its heart, it’s been a key tool to keeping alive Chicanismo and Chicano identity,” Sandoval said.

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“They just want to survive and hang out with their family and drink some beers and make some carne asada. Chicanismo is, like, for other places.”

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