Chicano movement rhetoric: An ideographic interpretation

This essay surveys Chicano movement rhetoric, arguing that key documents of the Chicano movement—El Plan Espiritual de Aztldn and El Plan de Santa Barbara—can be best understood through their expression of ideographs. These plans were deployed by Chicano leaders to secure support for their movement and to sustain a particular ideology. The plans gave expression to the deep cultural roots of the Chicano Movement and, as such, served as appropriate frames for the dissemination of political ideology, thereby articulating the subject position of the Chicano people.

Key concepts:

• Aztldn
• Chicano
• ideograph
• ideology
• La Raza