Intellectual Virginia Wolf wrote, "If life has a base at all it is memory". ( historical and personal) Cultural critic Richard Rodriguez wrote "My life began, it did not end, in the sixteenth century." ( with Cortez's arrival -1521 in Mexico)
Explore these two statements in terms of Mexican Americans' need for a historical consciousness and memory, especially to understand one's personal and collective history. (Why is this necessary". What are the themes, events, ideas for this memory? How does historical memory help acquire one's sense of self - identity.