Beyond Aztlan: Philosophy

**Does achieving equality in a multiethnic society require the complete loss of a minority's cultural identity? **

Mario Barrera strives to answer that question with full historical context in his provocative book Beyond Aztlan. Barrera identifies the goals of the Mexican American population at large--community and equality--and lays out the complicated history of achieving these goals throughout the 20th century. As focus has shifted to equality over community, the Mexican American cultural identity has fragmented and begun to erode.

Barrera explores varied trends, such as the revival of community identity during the Chicano Movement, as well as cultural fragmentation and radicalization. To fully understand and answer the question of economic equality over cultural identity, Barrera looks at minorities in four other countries to compare to the United States: Canada, China, Switzerland, and Nicaragua. He argues that while equality is not easy to attain and even harder to hold onto, a group can still preserve cultural identity while being treated as equals.