Compiled by La Cucaracha News staff
Anyone who has ever taken a Chicano Studies class will remember the name of Rodolfo Acuña and saddened to learn of his death.
Acuña’s “Occupied American” is the cornerstone of the academic focus of many of the generation of Chicanos who moved on to university and college campuses throughout the nation.
Acuña founded the Chicana/o Studies Department at what was then San Fernando Valley State College in 1969. Acuña was 93. California State President University President Erika D. Beck said his work left “an indelible mark” on campus and in ethnic studies programs across the nation.
“His legacy of scholarship, advocacy, and unwavering dedication to social justice will continue to inspire future generations,” she said. “We extend our deepest sympathies to his loved ones and to all who were touched by his life’s work.”
Acuña taught for more than four decades at CSUN is remembered as much for his encouragement, mentorship and deep commitment to his students as for his foundational role in academia.
Acuña served as the founding chair of the Mexican American studies department, which became the Chicana/o studies department in the College of Humanities. The program was created at the height of the civil rights movement, when students demanded that more minority faculty be recruited and to establish curriculum that reflected students’ diverse backgrounds. Chicana/o studies and Africana studies (formerly known as Pan African studies) departments were designed to support first generation college students or those from educationally or economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Acuña developed a curriculum of 45 courses that launched in the fall of 1969.
Gabriela Chavira, director of CSUN’s Office of Undergraduate Research, and professor of psychology, first met Acuña as an undergraduate student, when she took one of his courses,
“He encouraged students to use their critical thinking skills and question the source of all information we receive,” she said.
Chavira said he told his students to keep asking questions.
“Occupied America” has been at the top of the most banned Chicano Studies books. In Arizona in 2012, copies of the books were taken out of the hands of students in mid-lesson, boxed and carted off to storage.
In 2017, U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima — ruled the entire crusade was driven by racial animus — that school administrators had used the ban as a political boon in their re-election campaigns, weaponizing anti-Mexican resentment for votes.
Acuña, who was born in Los Angeles, in Boyle Heights, earned his doctorate in Latin American Studies, with a concentration in history, in 1968 at University of Souther California. He is the author of more than 20 books, including ” which served as a foundational text for Chicano/a studies in higher education across the country.
He also wrote numerous academic articles and book chapters, as well as book reviews and opinion pieces. On his website, “rudyacuna.net” his writings are documented, as are the awards that he received, including the National Hispanic Institute Lifetime Achievement Award (2008) and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (2010).
Rest in Power, Rudy Acuña!