Juan Gómez-Quiñones is an American historian, professor of history, poet, and activist. He is best known for his work in the field of Chicana/o history. As a co-editor of the Plan de Santa Bárbara, an educational manifesto for the implementation of Chicano studies programs in universities nationwide, he was an influential figure in the development of the field.

Youth and education

Gómez-Quiñones was born in the city of Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico, and raised in East Los Angeles. He graduated from Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary School, a Catholic high school in Montebello, California. He subsequently attended the University of California, Los Angeles, earning his Bachelor's degree in literature, his Master of Arts in Latin American studies, and his doctorate of philosophy in history. His 1972 dissertation was titled "Social Change and Intellectual Discontent: The Growth of Mexican Nationalism, 1890-1911."

He was a founding co-editor of Aztlán, a journal of Chicano studies. He began teaching at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1969, and has held his post for the past thirty years. He has served as the director of UCLA's Chicano Studies Research Center, as well as on the board of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Criticism

Gómez-Quiñones is criticized by the website www.uclaprofs.com, which publishes a critical profile of him and accuses him of having "based his entire political and personal world around personal ethnic identity." The profile criticizes a 1987 statement Gómez-Quiñones made about the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 for presupposing that "the American and Californian economies would experience a workforce crisis should immigration policy be fully enforced." The profile, citing an unnamed Los Angeles Times article, further claims that Gómez-Quiñones threatened UC Regent Ralph Ochoa with physical violence when, during a community meeting, he asked him to "step outside."

Honors and awards

• (1966-1968) Foreign Area Fellow. Sponsored by the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies
• (1990) Scholar of the Year Award from the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies
• National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow

Bibliography

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References

External links

• Juan Gomez-Quinones history faculty at UCLA