Aztlán, Chicano Poet Alurista, con Boina

A seminal poet, theorist, and teacher of Chicano cultural nationalism, Alurista is important for his contribution to the development of an “interlingual” poetry fashioned from a blend of Spanish, English, and pre-Columbian languages, and for his incorporation of pre-Columbian religion and mythology into his poetry. 

He has also played a vital role in introducing Chicano studies into universities in the United States. Over the course of his career he has evolved from a politically militant opponent of Anglo domination of Mexican and Chicano people to a proponent of spiritual transformation of vision and consciousness as essential to effecting social change for all people. 

Throughout his poetry he reiterates that corporate commercial values and practices lie at the root of political, social, and economic exploitation and have imposed denatured lives on people. 

To this alienated condition he opposes the myth of a lost paradise called Aztlán, and of a pre-Columbian golden age, when cosmic forces and daily routines were in tune. Through the force of his poetry, founded on his faith that language creates reality, Alurista attempts to stimulate a return to a spiritual connection he believes people must have with each other and with cosmic processes in order for there to be just and harmonious societies.