Voices of Resistance

The banning of Mexican-American Studies and censorship of Chican@-authored books in Arizona were part of a succession of anti-Mexican and anti-Chican@ policies that were enacted across the state and in the education system. The counterstories offered through these classes and literature not only created a sense of cultural inclusion, but ignited a political and activist consciousness among the mostly Chican@ youth, and reinvigorated conversations among educators about the teaching of race, ethnicity, and culture in the classroom, particularly through youth literature. While most work on youth literature has emphasized "multicultural" literature as a means of being inclusive, Voices of Resistance: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Chican@ Children's Literature recognizes that our present moment--one that is rife with continued anti-Mexican sentiment but that has given rise to our first Chicano National Poet Laureate--demands a more focused study of children's and young adult literature by and about Chican@s. This collection re-examines how we view multicultural and diversity literature and recognize literature that invites social transformation. Using multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives to critically examine a wide range of Chican@ children's pictures book and young adult novels, this collection reaffirms Chicano@ children's literature as a means to achieve equity and social change.
About the Author: Laura Alamillo, received her PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in Language, Literacy and Culture. She is currently a Professor in Literacy, Early Childhood, Bilingual and Special Education Department at Fresno State. Her research includes looking at the education of emergent bilingual children specifically at humanizing and culturally sustaining teaching practices in multlingual classrooms. Larissa M. Mercado-López received her PhD in Latina Literature from the University of Texas at San Antonio and is currently an associate professor of Women's Studies at California State University, Fresno, and children's book writer.. Her research focuses on Chicana feminisms, Tejana literature, and intersectional feminist fitness studies. Cristina Herrera holds a PhD in Literature from Claremont Graduate University and is associate professor and chair of Chicano and Latin American Studies at California State University, Fresno. She has published on Chicana literature, motherhood, and young adult literature, among other topics.