Reconquista (Mexico)
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The term Reconquista (in English, "reconquest") was popularized by Mexican writers Carlos Fuentes and Elena Poniatowska to describe the demographic and cultural invasion of Mexicans into the Southwestern United States.[citation needed]
A movement hoping to grant ownership of certain land areas in the Southwestern United States to Mexico, Mexicans, or Mexican-Americans.[citation needed] The premise of this reconquest is an historical claim to the land prior to the presence of European-Americans. The term does not make a claim for Spaniard-Europeans[citation needed], but rather, for Mexicans, the majority of whom are mixed-blood and full-blood indigenous-blooded people[citation needed].
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[edit] Historical usage
It was originally a jocular analogy to the Spanish Reconquista of Moorish Iberia, since the areas of greatest Mexican immigration and cultural diffusion are conterminous with northern New Spain and former Mexican territories.[citation needed]
The concept, but not the term "reconquista" itself, has been advanced by Chicano nationalists of the 1970's to describe plans for the restoration of the vaguely-defined Aztec homeland called Aztlán. However, other more recent Mexican Nationalist groups have supported this cause. The word does not properly apply to immigration outside territories lost by Mexico in the Mexican-American War following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.[1]
[edit] Modern usage
In more recent times, the notion of Indigenous liberation has become popularized by the Mexica Movement, a group based in Los Angeles. Whereas previous groups have advanced the notion of reclaiming only the U.S. Southwest, the Mexica Movement goes further by demanding that the entire North American continent be reclaimed by Mexicans, Central Americans, Native Americans, and Canadian First Nations.[2]
Other groups like the National Will Organization do not support the concept of Aztlan and identify themselves with the modern Hispanic Mexico, which was deprived of its northern territories after the Mexican War.[3]
Illegal immigration into the southwest states is sometimes viewed as a form of reconquista, in light of the fact that Texas statehood was preceded by an influx of white settlers into that Mexican province until Americans outnumbered Mexicans 10-1 and were able to take over governance of the area. The theory is that the reverse will happen as Mexicans, Native Americans, Central Americans, and first Nation peoples will eventually become so numerous in that region that they can wield substantial influence, including political power.[4]
Reconquista sentiments are often jocularly referred to by media targeted to Mexicans, including a recent Absolut Vodka ad that generated significant controversy in the United States for its printed of a pre-treaty map[5].
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Mexica Movement Non-violent Indigenous rights organization that advocates an "Indigenous liberation" of the entire North American continent, primarily through education campaigns, protest actions and demographic expansion.
- Mexica Movement march Los Angeles, April 7, 2007
- Mexica Movement Recruiting Video.
- CNN: Mexica Movement and other activists attend Riverside, CA summit on immigration issues.
- Lou Dobbs: Europeans to Be Expelled? Lou Dobbs Tonight Video segment showing Mexica Movement at Maywood, CA confrontation with Pro-Borders group.
- Sound file: Jose Pescador-Osuna Claims Mexico is "Practicing Reconquista in California" (2/7/98). "...even though I'm saying this part serious, part joking, I think we are practicing La Reconquista in California...."
- The Voice of Aztlan
- Reconquista 101 (Michelle Malkin commentary)
- Mexica Movement segment on Univision television network Spanish language description of their plans to retake the entire North American continent
- National Will Organization website A Mexican Nationalist group advocating the concept of a Greater-Mexico]
[edit] References
- ^ Fuentes, Carlos. La frontera de cristal, 1995
- ^ MEXICA MOVEMENT: Indigenous Liberation for Anahuac
- ^ National Will Organization of Mexico
- ^ The Bulletin - Philadelphia's Family Newspaper - 'Absolut' Arrogance
- ^ ABQNews - Updated at 12:15pm - U.S. Vodka-Maker Teases Absolut Over Mexico Ad
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