The Rich Literary and Academic Texts Present in Latino Studies - Term Paper Example

The Rich Literary and Academic Texts Present in Latino Studies The field of Latino Studies makes a very valuable contribution to our understanding of what it means to be a part of the mixed cultural landscape of the United States. This paper explores the journey that many Latino and Latina writers have described which they, or in some cases their parents, have made from a starting point outside the borders of the United States. The journey is not just a physical change from one location to another, though this is a part of some narratives, and neither is it a one-way ticket from one identity to another. Personal accounts, narrative fiction and academic studies which delve into the experiences of such journeys refer to a complex process which affects all parts of a person’s life. The person’s language, religion, physical appearance and sexual identity are all framed as problematic in American mainstream culture, and the Latino or Latina individual has to come to some kind of accommodation between conflicting expectations of family, self, and external reality. It is the solving of these contradictions that leads to the construction of a new and vibrant meaning which in turn influences mainstream American culture. Achy Obejas describes the moment of first contact between a Cuban family and the United States in a way which highlights the contradictions which immigrants have to negotiate. She describes the arrival of a ten year old Cuban girl to Miami using two different narrative techniques. The first technique is to use a first person description of the innocent child’s first impressions. The second, contrasting technique is to use a much more ironic perspective on events through the eyes of that child’s adult persona. The child has an instinctive suspicion of attempts by well-meaning officials and volunteers to enforce an acculturation process. The blonde doll and the grey clothing, for example, are rejected as being self-evidently inappropriate for a Cuban girl. There is a spirited defence of the pride and self-respect that the family feels in the face of enforced poverty during the initial months of settling in to the new environment. Second hand clothes are pressed upon the family, but the child notes approvingly that they will never wear them (Obejas, 1994, p. 118). The child clings to the green, synthetic sweater that she wore on the hazardous boat trip to America if it were a lifeline back to her beloved home in Cuba. The excesses of capitalist America are described using the image of a supermarket which is like a flying saucer in this fantastic “land of plenty” (Obejas, 1994, p. 118). This Latina girl clearly chooses to accept some aspects of the new, alien culture and reject others. The feeling of not being able to join the local culture is an experience that all Latino and Latina immigrants and border inhabitants experience at various points in their lives. Gloria Anzaldúa uses the phrase “mental nepantilism” to describe the anguish of belonging to two worlds. This word “nepantilism” is drawn from an Aztec word meaning “torn between ways” (Anzaldúa, 1999, p. 100). This same inner tension is described by Piri Thomas through the metaphor of plucking a daisy. Piri is puzzled by the mixed messages that he receives from his fellow students in the Long Island suburb where his family eventually settles. He feels at home there, when his sporting prowess is praised by the other students. On the other hand, he feels angry and excluded when he overhears how most white students label him as either Spanish, black, colored, negro, or even “nigger” and “ape” (Thomas, 1995, pp. 99-100). The students’ ignorance pushes him into isolation. With each positive or negative experience he mentally plucks a petal as if to work out whether or not he can be loved by the American mainstream, until all the petals are gone. In the end he concludes that the warning given to him by his friend is indeed true: “I plucked the last mental daisy: You was right, Crutch” (Thomas, 1995, p. 101). Assimilation is impossible, and acculturation is difficult, which leaves the young Piri in a place of despair. It is clear from the texts included in Latino Studies that despair is a first step to resistance and the development of a new identity. A key part of the Latino and Latina learning experience in America is a refusal to allow others to define a person’s identity through racist or essentialist labels. Each individual has to construct his or her own meanings and identity out of conflicting experiences. Race was and still is a complex issue for those who have mixed heritage in their families or who seek to participate fully in both Latino and mainstream American culture. Latina girls often experience pressure to conform to the Caucasian American ideal of female beauty. Julia Alvarez describes for example the unrealistic promises that they hear even from within their own family, that they will “get so tall and pale and pretty in the United States and smart!” (Alvarez, 1999, p. 18). Girls who hear these false promises are destined to suffer a rude awakening when they finally understand that they will never reach the “blond, blue-eyed look” and “peaches and cream” (Alvarez, 1999, p. 43) skin tones that form the American mainstream ideal. Sexuality is another complex area where prejudice abounds, and where easy categorizations do not reflect the realities that people experience. Susana Peña analyzes the differences between American and Latino varieties of gay male identity and shows how the Florida gay scene has incorporated both perspectives in a system of “transculturation” which allows influences to flow in multiple directions. A significant outcome of this complex process is that Spanish language is celebrated, and people experience “elements of resistance, liberation and freedom. The languages of gay expression and pleasure are increasingly plural and shifting” (Peña, 2004, p. 247). A similar liberation is described by Obejas (1994), in the wide variety of straight and lesbian partners that the main character engages with in adult life. In conclusion, therefore, the rich literary and academic texts that are present in Latino Studies demonstrate a fascinating interplay of different race, gender and cultural forces. Latino writers have helped to reflect and also shape a diverse Latino identity which does not necessarily model itself on traditional or contemporary expectations. The many mental and physical journeys that Latino people have made are now increasingly influencing American culture for the better, and bringing a greater appreciation of the value of individual choice. Latino struggles have not been in vain, for they have led to a whole new set of paradigms from which future people from any cultural heritage can draw inspiration. References Alvarez, Julia. Something to Declare. New York: Plume Books, 1999. Print. Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands: La Frontera. Second edition. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1999, pp. 99-120. Print. Obejas, Achy. We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This? Pittsburgh, PA: Cleis Press, 1994, pp. 113-131. Print. Peña, Susana. “Pájaration and Transculturation: Language and Meaning in Miami Cuban Gay Worlds.” In William L. Leap and Tom Boellstorff, (Eds.), Speaking in Queer Tongues: Globalization and Gay Language. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2004, pp. 231-250. Print. Thomas, Piri. “Babylon for the Babylonians.” In Robert Santiago (Ed.), Boricuas, Influential Puerto Rican Writing. New York: Random House, 1995, pp. 96-100. Print. Read More