Chicano

Chicano (masculine form) or Chicana (feminine form) or Chicane (neutral form) is an ethnic identity for Mexican Americans that emerged from the Chicano Movement. In the 1960s, Chicano was widely reclaimed among Hispanics in the building of a movement toward political empowerment, ethnic solidarity, and pride in being of Indigenous descent (with many using the Nahuatl language or names), known as Indigenismo, which has roots in Mexican state-sponsored policies. Chicano was used in a sense separate from Mexican American identity. Youth in barrios rejected cultural assimilation into mainstream American culture and embraced their own identity and worldview as a form of empowerment and resistance.