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Sometimes There Is No Other Side

Chicanos and the Myth of Equality

Rodolfo F. Acuña

A culture war is raging in America, its battleground our colleges and universities. Rodolfo F. Acuña is a combatant in that war, and in his new book he offers a report from the front. Sometimes There Is No Other Side tells how the political mood on campuses is being controlled and scientific inquiry perverted, and how academe and the courts are using concepts like truth and objectivity to subjugate minorities.

Acuña explores the link between the judicial system, higher education, and the American paradigm, and he examines the New Right's hold over these institutions. He argues that the academy and the courts base their moral authority on the myth that these institutions objectively interpret fact; but despite the fact that Euro-American scholars have usurped the power to define truth, what they claim as truth is really no more than what they agree on. Acuña defines the American paradigm as the core of beliefs shared by the dominant Euro-American class and manipulated by it to control others. As a result, even Chicana/o scholars are under pressure to accept the rhetoric that minorities are not victims in American society, and ethnic studies are denied their rightful place in higher education.

Beginning with the infamous 1978 Bakke decision, Acuña discusses the emergence of the myth that the United States is a color-blind society. He supports his case with evidence from California's anti-affirmative action Proposition 209, the academic review process, and his own successful lawsuit against the University of California, Acuña v. The Regents of the University of California, et al. Acuña shows how present attitudes toward ethnic studies reflect resistance to change within academe, and raises the question whether people of color should continue to support an educational system that excludes the knowledge needed to address societal problems. In assessing the future of Chicana/o Studies and its interaction with the American paradigm, he makes a strong case not merely for change, but for truth.

Rodolfo F. Acuña is Professor of Chicana/o Studies at California State University, Northridge. He is the author of several books including Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, now in its third edition, and Anything But Mexican: Chicanos in Contemporary Los Angeles, winner of the 1997 Gustavus Myers Award for Outstanding Book on human relations in North America.

Reviews:

“Acuña effectively exposes the inner workings of the so-called meritocracy of elite research universities, calling into serious question the meaning and practice of ‘truth’ and ‘objectivity.’” -Choice

“This is a remarkable book, appropriate for Diez y Seis de Septiembre reading, about the ancient battle between David and Goliath. In this case, Chicano studies professor Rodolfo Acuña, the celebrated author of Occupied America, is David; while the towering Philistine is the University of California system in which he taught. This new book is a groundbreaking analysis of power relations and the way in which academic disciplines vie for political control and manipulate concepts such as truth and objectivity to subjugate minorities.” -Rafael Castillo, San Antonio Express News

Reviews

“Acuña effectively exposes the inner workings of the so-called meritocracy of elite research universities, calling into serious question the meaning and practice of ‘truth’ and ‘objectivity.’” -Choice

“This is a remarkable book, appropriate for Diez y Seis de Septiembre reading, about the ancient battle between David and Goliath. In this case, Chicano studies professor Rodolfo Acuña, the celebrated author of Occupied America, is David; while the towering Philistine is the University of California system in which he taught. This new book is a groundbreaking analysis of power relations and the way in which academic disciplines vie for political control and manipulate concepts such as truth and objectivity to subjugate minorities.” -Rafael Castillo, San Antonio Express News