Chicano/a Literature

This essay maps the dialectical relationship between desire and the US-Mexico border in Benjamin Alire Saénz's short story, "He Has Gone to Be with the Women," and his young-adult novel, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. I analyze how queer Latinx subjects partake in epistemological quests in which their desires are unresolved mysteries. Situating private feelings within the social, I suggest that experiences with shame, alienation, and melancholia may lead to queer and more possible worlds. I argue that mapping the mysteries of desire at the border offers the possibility to contest, critique, and reimagine social power.

With a foreword by renowned novelist Rolando Hinojosa-Smith and comprised of personal essays about the impact of drug violence on life and culture along the U.S.-Mexico border, the anthology combines writings by residents of both countries. Mexican authors Liliana Blum, Lolita Bosch, and Diego Osorno write riveting, first-hand accounts about the clashes between the drug cartels and citizens' attempts to resist the criminals. American authors, including José Antonio Rodríguez and José Skinner, focus on how the corruption and bloodshed have affected the bi-national and bi-cultural existence of families and individuals. Maria Cristina Cigarroa shares her poignant memories of life in her grandparents’ home now abandoned in Nuevo Laredo.

In their introduction, editors Sarah Cortez and Sergio Troncoso write that this anthology was “born of a vision to bear witness to how this violence has shattered life on the border, to remember the past, but also to point to the possibilities of a better future.” The personal essays in this collection humanize the news stories and are a must-read for anyone interested in how this fragile way of life between two cultures, languages and countries has been undermined by the drug trade and the crime that accompanies it, with ramifications far beyond the border region.

Literary history is a history of reading. What happens during the act of reading is the subject of the branch of literary scholarship known as reader response theory. Does the text guide the reader? Does the reader operate independently of the text? Questions like these shape the approach of the essays in this book edited by a scholar known for his groundbreaking work in using reader response theory as a window into Chicana and Chicano literature.
Manuel M. Martín-Rodríguez has overseen several research projects aimed at documenting Chicana and Chicano reading practices and experiences. Here he gathers diverse and passionate accounts of reading drawn from that research. Books for many served as refuges from the sorrows of a childhood marked by violence or parental abandonment. And many of the contributors salute the roles of teachers in introducing poetry and stories into their lives.

María Cecilia Graña, (2013) Con la frontera a cuestas: El corrido de Dante de Eduardo González Viaña. En: Silvia Monti-Paola Bellomi, eds., Frontiere, confini, limiti, soglie / Fronteras, límites, confines, umbrales / Boundaries, limits, borders, thresholds, Verona, Edizioni Fiorini, 2013 : págs. 149-166.ISBN 978-88-96419-60-1

Memoir of Un Ser Humano reveals dimensions of raúl “Roy” “Tapón” Salinas’ life that few of his readers and even many of his closest family and friends knew little about. Divided into five sections that mark raúl’s many journeys, transformations, and evolutions, the memoir, a scattered and fragmented collection of mostly unpublished writings is rife with Salinas’ musings, sketches, sweet and bittersweet recollections of his life as a boy become hipster-pachuco, social rebel, drug addict, father, prisoner, writer of prose and poetry become revolutionary. Raúl’s distinctive voice is presented in new ways as we read his many efforts to tell his life’s story, and we are gifted with new understanding of the many layers of this beautifully complex human being.

“On good days I feel I am a bridge. On bad days I just feel alone,” Sergio Troncoso writes in this riveting collection of sixteen personal essays in which he seeks to connect the humanity of his Mexican family to people he meets on the East Coast, including his wife’s Jewish kin. Raised in a home steps from the Mexican border in El Paso, Texas, Troncoso crossed what seemed an even more imposing border when he left home to attend Harvard College.

Initially, “outsider status” was thrust upon him; later, he adopted it willingly, writing about the Southwest and Chicanos in an effort to communicate who he was and where he came from to those unfamiliar with his childhood world. He wrote to maintain his ties to his parents and his abuelita, and to fight against the elitism he experienced at an Ivy League school. “I was torn,” he writes, “between the people I loved at home and the ideas I devoured away from home.”

Troncoso writes to preserve his connections to the past, but he puts pen to paper just as much for the future. In his three-part essay entitled “Letter to My Young Sons,” he documents the terror of his wife’s breast cancer diagnosis and the ups and downs of her surgery and treatment. Other essays convey the joys and frustrations of fatherhood, his uneasy relationship with his elderly father, and the impact his wife’s Jewish heritage and religion have on his Mexican-American identity.

Crossing Borders: Personal Essays reveals a writer, father and husband who has crossed linguistic, cultural and intellectual borders to provoke debate about contemporary Mexican-American identity.  Challenging assumptions about literature, the role of writers in America, fatherhood and family, these essays bridge the chasm between the poverty of the border region and the highest echelons of success in America. Troncoso writes with the deepest faith in humanity about sacrifice, commitment and honesty.

In this essay, I argue that familial development was a key concern for Chicanas, and was intertwined with their broader aims to revolutionize their communities and the rest of society along with them. The variety of claims they articulated, from reproductive rights, education, child care services, and sexual freedom bore a special relation to the development of la familia towards a more liberal, feminist, conception of it, while maintaining it as a central identity marker.
Because of this, the conception of la familia under Xicanisma was tailored specifically to their particular experiences as both Chicanas and women. Mothers were both victims and enactors of patriarchal and oppressive structures, while grandmothers offered rest from the strict gender roles enforced by mothers. Fathers were unwanted protectors of “their women” and, along with brothers, were benefactors of the patriarchy.
In a sense, Chicanas hoped to change their immediate surroundings, la familia, in order to be better equipped to fight for the Chicano cause, in a more integrated and egalitarian community which offered women the possibility of participating in their community’s struggle, while retaining their gender identity and individualism.
In this way, Xicanisma worked both at the level of the community and at the level of the individual, which is why I emphasize the importance of the (single) Chicana in the title. Each individual Chicana fought to be included in both the Chicano and the mainstream feminist narratives, which left out their particular experiences. In their journey towards gender equality, they hoped to reform the family structure, that would in turn impact their individual wellbeing as well as that of their community, so that one day there might be equality for all.

In this essay I review topics of access for multilingual-spectrum students to university spaces such as the classroom and graduate programs. Pulling from my own personal experience as a bilingual English speaker who was raised by bilingual Spanish speaking parents, this essay explores challenges met in monolingual white habitus US universities for students whose relationship to English (both spoken and written) is much more flexible, imaginative, and potentially transformative for institutional spaces.

An unpublished chapter from a book entitled the {B}order of Things--an anthology SDSU Press never got around to publishing.  The chapter features a story by Jaime Hernandez of Love and Rockets comic book fame and a close reading of the short story.

This article analyzes the structural composition of the chicana/o novel . . .y no se lo tragó la tierra, by Tomás Rivera, a book that has become a collec- tive point of reference for chicana/o culture and community. Its structure will be explained, including the importance of personal and collective memory as elements that evolve every chapter as a fragmentary part of a whole. The classi- cal concept of “art of memory” joined to the rhetoric of discourse opens a new perspective to analyze this fragmentation and helps the reader to understand the connection of its elements. Finally, the idea of “theater of memory” may be applied to the novel’s chicana/o universe as a dramatic device for structuring the narrator’s personal memories, achieving a final literary composition similar to a memorable, collective altarpiece full of impressive images from this community’s daily struggle in the 1960s.

Although most critics of Under the Feet of Jesus have studied the political and social implications of Helena Maria Viramontes's depiction of piscadores, this article argues that the novel's rich use of symbolism depicts the protagonist's maturation through her mastery of semiotics. In learning how to assign meaning to physical and linguistic symbols, Estrella learns how to define and claim her own inscape, her subjective consciousness. Through the central symbols of the novel—the barn, the La Brea Tar Pits, owls/flying creatures, Jesus, and fire—Estrella explores the complex notion of human freedom inside a system of marginalization.

Review
Reviewed Work(s): Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father by Richard Rodriguez
Review by: William Nericcio
Source: World Literature Today, Vol. 68, No. 1 (Winter, 1994), p. 141
Published by: Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

"Latinos are now the largest ethnic minority population in the United States and still they encounter a great deal of misunderstanding, prejudice, and discrimination. Utilizing a strengths-based perspective, Social Work Practice with Latinos addresses the unique needs of this diverse population.

Written by practitioners and scholars from many disciplines, this book discusses social issues of consequence to Latinos and specific strengths and risk factors of the Latino community. They then offer methods that utilize these strengths to ensure a culturally-competent approach to practice with Latino populations. Each chapter is accompanied by key questions for personal and group reflection to facilitate discussion and understanding of these vital themes.

The editors have nearly three decades of combined experience working with Latino populations inside and outside the United States. Drawing on this experience, they integrate these varied perspectives to prepare students and practitioners for practice with this richly diverse community."

Nobody's Pilgrims is an adventure story about three teenagers, Turi, Molly, and Arnulfo, on the run from evil and unwittingly carrying even a greater menace in their stolen truck. The border goes beyond the border in a story about who belongs in the United States and how finding your place in this world is about finding the right person to be with you. A literary novel with the propulsion of a thriller, Nobody's Pilgrims both offers and questions the possibility of escape in America -- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn meets No Country for Old Men. (Lee & Low Books: Cinco Puntos Press, 2022)

"The castoffs and castaways of Nobody's Pilgrims hit the road in search of the American Dream, a long shot made longer by the pack of human devils hot on their trail. In this superb novel, Sergio Troncoso gives us a fresh take not only on the great American road trip, but on the American Dream itself in all its glorious and increasingly fragile promise. The propulsive force of this novel, and the destination it ultimately brings us to, left me wanting more, and yet feeling completely satisfied. As only the best novels do."
--Ben Fountain, PEN/Hemingway award-winning author of Brief Encounters with Che Guevara

"In a world marked by cruelty, corruption, bigotry and disease, Troncoso shows us there's still room for love. With his finely honed prose style, he takes us on a journey across the country with three young hungry teens whose dreams are the only lifelines they have left. A powerful, compelling read."
--Octavio Solis, author of Retablos: Stories From a Life Lived Along the Border

"Eloquent, bold and terrifying, Nobody's Pilgrims is a fresh new take on the ancient themes of innocence pursued by evil, and of the young finding their way through a chaotic and uncertain world. Turi, Arnulfo and Molly are original and uniquely endearing, and they're a pleasure to travel with, even on such a frightening journey."
--Elizabeth Crook, author of Monday, Monday

"Nobody's Pilgrims offers a stark vision of a country whose social ills have sullied the path to the pursuit of happiness. Yet its intrepid protagonists Turi and Molly persevere, charting their own map and adapting, like generations of dreamers, immigrants, and adventurers before them, to the latest hurdles of our troubled world. Sergio Troncoso has given us a timely dystopian tale heavy with anguish but invigorated by resilience."
--Rigoberto González, author of Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa

In this essay, I  examine three contemporary chicana reinscriptions of the Llorona myth, written by Monica Palacios, Sandra Cisneros, and Angela de Hoyos, in order to identify the ways in which revisionary mythography forms an essential component in the rejection of Indohispanic
Source: Confluencia, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Fall 2000), pp. 49-58

What  does the term "primahaitu" used by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca in Naufragios mean? The word “pima” originates in the grammar of languages spoken in the so-called Pimería, in Arizona and Sonora. It means “no.” In Naufragios, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca uses a related word, "primahaitu," in his report about the Southwest. Since then, both of the words—Pima and Primahaitu—have aged quite poorly in Spanish. To the point that when one reads Naufragios the linguistic comments on the Pima group tend to be one more of the doubtful pieces of information given by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in his writings. The interest of such a particular issue, in a nutshell, is that in the numerous times that I have read Naufragios by Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, I missed a meaningful explanation of such an obscure passage. Moreover, here there is a small contribution to fill that gap in our comprehension of one of the canonical books on both USA- and Spanish colonial-literatures. Besides, in a more practical note, today Cabeza de Vaca’s reference to the “pima” group has implications and applications to status requests of indigenous groups that are still seeking for federal recognition. Therefore Cabeza de Vaca’s statement has bittersweet consequences, and some of them are real ones for indigenous groups and Basque speakers in today’s globalized world.

La intertextualidad, instrumento definitorio en la escritura que caracteriza al discurso de esta novela, está encaminada a cumplir una función. La inserción de los intertextos musicales que están presentes a lo largo del recorrido discursivo no es fortuita ni caprichosa, sino que otorga sentido al corpus de la obra. Este artículo constituye la localización, muestra y análisis de las canciones populares que aparecen en la narración del escritor sonorense Miguel Méndez. En el marco del estudio del código lingüístico de las canciones insertadas valoraremos algunos conceptos semióticos para poder explicar su inserción, por medio de la lengua escrita, en la diégesis o hechos contados en ciertos segmentos del texto. El proceso de codificación intertextual de las canciones sólo se manifestará por medio del código lingüístico escrito, ya que por obvias razones, las canciones, al ser insertadas en una novela, quedan excluidas de sus códigos orales, musicales y melódicos.

Capitolo dedicato alla scrittrice chicana Sandra Cisneros e alle opere "La casa en Mango Street" e "Loose Woman". La trattazione letteraria è accompagnata da un focus sulla condizione socio-culturale della donna chicana e sulla discussa arte della 'digital diva' Alma Lopez.

Jimmy Santiago Baca is a poet, memoirist, novelist, essayist, filmmaker, and activist who began his literary career in Florence State Prison, Arizona, where he was incarcerated from 1974-79. Baca spent most of his adolescent years between orphanages, stints of homelessness, and time in juvenile detention facilities. He credits learning to read and write in prison as the galvanization of his journey from illiteracy to worldly poet, and his endorsement of literacy as an avenue for individual and community empowerment echoes the black nationalist political thought of Malcolm X. In addition to an overarching theme of literacy, he also maintains a critical awareness to the politics of land ownership. He is of Chicano and Apache descent, and often draws on his indigenous heritage, as well as his prison experience, to critique the colonial settler ideology that associates private property with personal liberty. He is among the gallery of canonized Chicano pinto (prisoner) poets like Ricardo Sánchez and Raúl Salinas who discovered their talents while incarcerated. His poetry and prose are in harmony with prisoner discourse that indicts the state for economic injustices and contextualizes crimes as economic necessity instead of demonizing the individual. Similar to Sánchez and Salinas, Baca's poetic voice can be both figural and visceral in the same breath. But distinct from these pinto poets, Baca's poetic introduces a proliferation of personas that go back and forth between a poet who wants to love and make peace and a pugnacious identity that was nurtured by the violence of life in various state institutions, particularly prison. He has published eighteen books that include poetry, memoir, fiction, creative non-fiction, essay collections, and chapbooks. He is an active writer

En la Introducción a los anexos de la primera edición latinoamericana de la novela …y no se lo tragó la tierra (1971) de Tomás Rivera, Buenrostro contextualiza la incorporación de 17 documentos inéditos que elucidan la génesis de la novela y aclaran aspectos del proceso de profesionalización de la editorial Quinto Sol.

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Tomás Rivera, ...y no se lo tragó la tierra. Edición Julio Ramos & Gustavo Buenrostro, Buenos Aires: Ediciones Corregidor: 2012. 183-213

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The genre of speculative fiction (SF) is a notoriously porous and slippery one, encompassing science fiction and fantasy as well as their subgenres, which continue to proliferate. As Shelley Streeby underscores in this dossier, the category of SF enables readers to flesh out vital connections between texts and genres and to refuse pitched Pyrrhic battles concerning the integrity of genres. As Streeby also demonstrates, the broader category of SF enables us to excavate, remap, and recenter the Chican@ and Latin@ contributions to sci-fi, fantasy, and intersecting categories and genres. 1 When we refer to the "Chican@ and Latin@ speculative arts" here, however, we do not intend to denote mimetic acts or simple permutations of what has historically been a largely white, male, Eurocentric and heteronormative genre. Rather, we want to bring into view the creative and resilient ways in which Latin@ cultural producers since at least the 1970s have continued to repurpose and blend genres of sci-fi and fantasy to defamiliarize the ways in which the past continues to haunt the present and future. Latin@ speculative arts also makes space for texts not normally included within the discrete generic bounds of sci-fi and fantasy, effectively questioning the constitutive parameters of these genres and remapping them. Extending and diversifying Catherine S. Ramírez's foundational prism of "Chicanafuturism," the Latin@ speculative arts continue to show how various forms of Latin@ cultural production obscure colonialist boundaries between self and other, between the technologically advanced and the "primitive," between the human and nonhuman, and between the past and future. Perhaps most saliently, the Latin@ speculative arts remind us that

A thought-provoking collection of essays about transcending cultural borders *Best Books of 2011 by The Hispanic Reader *Bronze Award for Essays, ForeWord Review's Book of the Year Awards *2 nd Place for Best Biography in English, International Latino Book Awards "On good days I feel I am a bridge. On bad days I just feel alone," Sergio Troncoso writes in this riveting collection of sixteen personal essays in which he seeks to connect the humanity of his Mexican family to people he meets on the East Coast, including his wife's Jewish kin. Raised in a home steps from the Mexican border in El Paso, Texas, Troncoso crossed what seemed an even more imposing border when he left home to attend Harvard College. "I was torn," he writes, "between the people I loved at home and the ideas I devoured away from home." Troncoso writes to examine his life and to create meaning from the disparate worlds he inhabits and the borders he has crossed. In "Letter to My Young Sons," he documents the terror of his wife's breast cancer diagnosis and the ups and downs of her surgery and treatment. Other essays explore interfaith marriage and evolving gender roles as Troncoso becomes a husband and father. A Christmas vacation in Ysleta leads to a severe argument with his father and reflection about machismo and independence within immigrant families. In "Fresh Challah," Troncoso explores the impact his wife's Jewish heritage and religion have on his Mexican-American identity.

This essay explores the theory and praxis applied when translating Conrado Espinoza's novel, El sol de Texas.  Written in the 1920's, in the wake of the Mexican Revolution, El sol de Texas is one of the earliest examples of the literature depicting the Mexican immigrant experience in the United States.  This paper explores the various challenges faced with rendering a faithful translation of the novel.