ABSTRACT
In 1961, anthropologist Florence Kluckhohn predicted that the Hispanic cultures in Northern New Mexico would disappear, given the pressures for assimilation: “There can be no turning back by these people, given the facts that they are firmly held within the borders of the United States and increasingly subjected to Anglo-American culture” (Manuel, 1965, p. 35). Kluckhohn could not have anticipated the cultural resistance of the La Raza movement that would crystallize in Northern New Mexico in the 1970s as strong opposition to the federal government’s refusal to return or compensate for land acquired from communal Spanish land grants. The resurgence of ethnic pride and the state’s mandate for multicultural education are altering, but not stopping, the course of Kluckhohn’s prediction. In the community of Norteño, there are differing views of how the school should address multiculturalism. Each view depicts a different role for the school in mediating cultural change; each holds a different notion of what constitutes a fitting school for Norteño children.
