Chicano Studies Thesis

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Attending the Mexican-American Studies program at Cal State Los Angeles, will be the ideal stepping stone to prepare me for a Ph.D program in either Chicano Studies or American Studies and Ethnicity. My goal after earning my Ph.D, is to teach Chicano Literature and conduct research on Chicano subcultures. In order to this, I need to gain interdisciplinary knowledge of the issues that affect Chicanos, from immigration law, psychology, history, and of course literature. This program will give me the necessary skills to conduct research in my areas of interest. Furthermore, the knowledge I have derived while earning my BA in psychology is applicable to the areas of study I wish to pursue in graduate school. I have developed a very critical eye …show more content…
It is these injustices that constantly motivates and pushes me to succeed and go beyond what is expected of me. My desire to pursue higher education came from the cultural disconnect that occurred between my parents and myself. We had two different expectations about gender roles and family dynamics and I longed to understand their culture and perspective. I had very Anglo-American expectations on what parents were supposed to be like, while they had traditional Mexican cultural and Catholic expectations. This disconnect led me to take Chicano Studies and Psychology classes at Los Angeles City College(LACC) in hopes of gaining a better understanding of their thoughts and actions. What I did not expect to discover was a rich history that I was deprived of while growing up. In South Central, the terms Chicana and Chicano were not used to describe anyone. It wasn't until my first Chicano Studies class that I came to understand the social, cultural, and political significance of those term and began identifying myself as a Chicana. From that moment on, I began to see the world through a different lens, this motivated me to get involved in my …show more content…
It gives us so much insight into: culture, love, political ideology, etc. With that being said, Chicano literature, in particular the work of Sandra Cisneros and Gloria Anzaldua, have taught me that I am not alone in my frustrations and struggles with feeling stuck between two cultures. Their literary work has provided me with a more diverse and specific understanding of my culture while continuing to ignite my passion for learning, because of this I am interested in writing my graduate thesis on the work of Sandra

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