Nikolas Gonzales

Moraga Deconstructed Nikolas Gonzales

American history and the way it is presented in the U. S. is still very Eurocentric, sadly. In addition, it remains chauvinistic, victor-oriented, Protestant, elitist, and regrettably still focuses on uplifting the white American male's past while simultaneously neglecting to elaborate sufficiently on the histories of ethnic minorities who have contributed to the development of the United States, namely Mexican-Americans. This became remarkably clear while researching the personalities of the genealogical lines of Edward Moraga, my grandfather, and Jose Joaquin Moraga, one of the founding commanders of the San Francisco Presidio in 1776. "Moraga Deconstructed: Illuminations in Mexican-American Heritage" examines the trajectories of Latin-American history throughout the world and in the U. S. through contemporary lenses and uses familial connections as a vehicle with which to approach these histories intimately.