The book, Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldua is considered a semi-autograph. Anzaldua uses some of her stories to explain her points which are included in the first part of the book. However, she also uses poems and prose as sources which are located in the second part of the book. Anzaldua uses her stories, poems and prose to explain the division among Mexican cultures or language, gender and sexual orientation. Throughout the book the concept of the Mexican women, Chicana illustrates how are seen as something inferior and even the gay community.
In the film Precious Knowledge, and Chapter One of Borderlands/La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldua, both the film and the book stress the importance of the Hispanic lives. While the film was based on the lives of Chicano/a students who were predicted to fail in life, the book focused on the transformation of the valley and the types of treatments the women of color received. Precious Knowledge, was about recording the life styles these high school students had as they were growing up. With their permission, a total of three students, Pricila Rodriguez, Crystal Terriquez, and Gilbert Esparza, were recorded in detail from the moment they were at home to the moment they attended the Tucson Magnet High school. What makes the students in Precious Knowledge
During the Chicano Nationalist Movement, a well-known speaker, Rodolfo ‘Corky’ Gonzales, delivered a speech titled Chicano Nationalism: Victory for La Raza. In this speech, Rodolfo Gonzales tries to unify the Latin American people within the United States by using the idea of a family and to create a new political organization for the Chicano people. This speech was a cumulation of various ideas which stemmed from his own life, the experiences of the Chicano people, and the Chicano Nationalist Movement in general. Each of these factors contributed to the context of the speech and how the ideas within the speech are presented by Rodolfo Gonzales. Rodolfo ‘Corky’ Gonzales was born to Federico and Indalesia Gonzales, two Mexican immigrants, on June 18, 1928.
The most popular definition of a Chicana is a Mexican-American female who is raised in the United States. La Chicana “has minority status in her own land even though she is, in part, indigenous to the Americas and a member of one of the largest (majority) ethnic groups in the United States. She is a woman whose life is too often characterized by poverty racism, and sexism, not only in the dominant culture, but also within her own culture”1 The term Chicana was coined during the Chicano Movement by Mexican American women who wanted to establish social, cultural, and political identities for themselves in America. Chicana refers to a woman who embracers her Mexican culture and heritage, but simultaneously, recognizes the fact that she is
Gloria Anzaldúa, in the essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” (1987), claims her experiences as a Chicano taught her that her culture was not looked at highly in comparison to the English language. Anzaldúa argues her view about her Chicano language by giving examples of both cultures Chicano Mexican and American cultures. Anzaldúa’s purpose is to inform her audience on how it is to grow up in a Chicano speaking family. Anzaldúa writes in a frustrating tone throughout the story of her life experiences. Thesis: Anzaldúa use of her personal experiences, and Music, Film and Literature are relevant sufficient and
The immigrants entering the United States throughout its history have always had a profound effect on American culture. However, the identity of immigrant groups has been fundamentally challenged and shaped as they attempt to integrate into U.S. society. The influx of Mexicans into the United States has become a controversial political issue that necessitates a comprehensive understanding of their cultural themes and sense of identity. The film Mi Familia (or My Family) covers the journey and experiences of one Mexican-American (or “Chicano”) family from Mexico as they start a new life in the United States. Throughout the course of the film, the same essential conflicts and themes that epitomize Chicano identity in other works of literature
This article examines Rudolfo Anaya, Tomas Rivera, and Reyna Grande attempt to capture the cultural identity of Mexican American by interweaving the lives of their protagonist and that of their families with religion, spiritualism, myth, and mysticism. The author compares the internal pilgrimage of the young protagonist from Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima, Rivera’s … And the Earth Did Not Devour Him and Grande’s The Distance Between Us: A memoir to find their shared identity as Mexican Americans by interweaving Spanish and indigenous religious figures. On The Distance Between Us: A memoir the author emphasizes on the way in which Abuelita’s Chinta role as the curandera gives peace to Grande after being indirectly abandoned by her parents.
In school again was the second time she faced an obstacle that stems from her race. This was known as opposition. It seems that educational facilities are the brunt of her problems. “At Pan American University, I and all Chicano students were required to take two speech classes. Their purpose: to get rid of our accents”.
Ballad of a Soldier by Luis Valdez showed us the criteria of what qualifies as a Chicana/o film by showing the struggles a Chicana/o had to go through such as being deployed to war and how much stress it was involved with the their families and their doubt of him coming back to the barrio. We can also see how the life of Chicano/as were such as having parties, the way they dressed and the way they talked. We can also see how gender roles switched, such as Cecilia fixing the car and how she didn't care how society viewed her. Stereotyping in the mass media was one of the most important concerns of Chicana/o media activists because they found that any kind of media will be useful in order to have a voice in the United States.
Examining Chicana/os in Media through Gun Hill Road Latino and Latina representation in film and media is scant and when represented they usually fall into narrow categories. Latino men find themselves stereotyped as a highly sexualized Latin Lover, a treacherous criminal, or the violent macho (Alcalde, 2014). In Addition to being type-cast, Latinos are also more likely to be depicted as having a lower social status, lower intelligence and heavy accents (Schmader, Block, & Lickel, 2015) The film Gun Hill Road, presents at face value, the classic macho criminal, with the character Enrique. However, Enrique’s representation as a Latino male is called into question on multiple fronts: he has failed to be there for his family due to his being in prison and his “son” has adopted a female identity in his absence.
Within each book, it questions the message of “culture and gender” (Louelí, “An Interpretive Assessment of Chicano Literature and Criticism”). Clearly, positive figures influenced how the Chicano community acted then and now. Rudolfo Anaya and other Chicano writers
Throughout “The Mexican in Fact, Fiction, and Folkore” examines the term “Mexican” as it is applied in Southwest literature and argues the Anglo society has made a conscious effort to misrepresent Mexicans (Rios 60). He states the people of Mexican descent are viewed as un-American because they are perceived as filthy, lazy, and dumb. Ricatelli adds to the conversation of Mexican stereotypes by examining the literary expressions of Chicanas and Mexicanas in the literature of both the United States and Mexico. In “The Sexual Stereotypes of The Chicana in Literature” Ricatelli explains how in Yankee literature, the Chicana is referred to as the “fat breeder, who is a baby factory” meanwhile the Mexican is described as an “amoral, lusty hot tamale” (Ricatelli 51). He makes note of these stereotypes in order to highlight the ethnocentric and nativist points of view that dominated Anglo literature.
Many stories embody the cultural aspects of Mexican-Americans and their struggles with living in a discriminatory society. Stories like With
In Drink Cultura, Jose Antonio Burciaga gives a brief tour through Chicano history, food, mythology, and politics. It is a book about the Chicano experience of living between, within, and sometimes outside of two cultures. Each chapter is a brief discourse on its chosen topic with personal observation, family stories, and humor, these essays feed the reader with a bit of Chicanismo that are set up for the reader to breeze through quickly and then think about it for as much time as required. Burciaga incorporates a title in every story with a hint of what the writing will be about : Con Safos, Pendejismo, The Joy of Jalapeños, The Great Taco War, All The Things I Learned in School Weren't Necessarily True, Piñatas, and The Last Supper of Chicano Heroes.
In the poem “To live in the Borderlands means you”, the borderlands become a place of change, such as changing from just one culture or race into a diverse culture or race and not-belonging. (Singh, A., & Schmidt, P. 2000). The poem describes how the author’s own background ethnicity people, mixicanas, identifies people like her, chicanas, as “split or mixture that means to betray your word and they deny “Anlo inside you.” (Anzaldua, F. 1987). The poem describes that the borderland is a place of contradiction, such as of home not being a home.
