Regeneración Tlacuilolli: UCLA Raza Studies Journal

The purpose of this essay is to draw from the pedagogical legacy of the CCM, and its now four-decade project in ethnic revitalization of Indigeneity, a means to better understand how cultural identity and cultural diversity are connected to human struggles to attain democracy, social equality, and build community. I focus on Chicana/o activist organizations that established educational components aimed at helping youth and adults develop a critical consciousness of Chicana/o Indigenous cultural heritage and history. I highlight two phases of Chicana/o Indigenous consciousness in education, the first one during and shortly after the influence of CCM cultural ideas, and the second one within the context of transnational Indigenous Peoples human rights movements after 1980. Although adoption of Chicana/o Indigenismo varied among these youth organizations, they all sought respect for cultural diversity understanding that different ethnic groups in a true democracy should not be forced to assimilate into the cultural values and worldviews of western civilization.