Language and Identity in Chicano/Latino Discourse - Lenguaje e identidad en el discurso chicano/latino
MONICA CANTERO (ed.)
Drew University
In today’s changing and multifaceted society we are being presented with a variety of new questions that out past may not have adequately prepared us for; the face of America is no longer, if it ever was, homogenous. As a result of this realization being reintroduced to our con-sciousness on a daily basis, we have scrambled to find some sort of new art, a way to describe ourselves that we have not previously known. In the search new authors and methodologies of literature have come to the forefront, offering unique perspectives on ways of being.
One type of literature that offers a particularly relevant point of view to this problem is the genre of Latina and Chicana literature. Rising from the singular phenomenon created by the juxta-position of two cultures, these works speak to the difficulty of creating a self-identity out of fractured and opposing messages presented by their surrounding culture. Neither fully American nor Hispanic, the literature deals with the painful problem of self-determination of identity. In this paper Monica Cantero examines the questions being dealt with in this literature: Who am I? What does my history mean to me? Since I am neither one image my culture presents me nor the other, what am I? Where does my significance lie? This struggle for a synthesized, whole identity is one that resonates in all readers, regardless of cultural background. The resolution decided on by the works is to turn to art, to creation. The only way to harmonize the discord between the conflicting images offered by a culture is to take all of the images and embrace them. As a result, only through incorporating all facets of existence, can a being of true beauty be created. La Mestiza, or the “mix” then becomes the answer to a fractured culture. Literature, art, and linguistic choices combine all conflicts in order to be both benediction and resolution.
CHARLI G VALDEZ Cursing eloquence & Caliban’s dialogism
LAURA ARRIBAS-TOMÉ “Flora Tristán precursora”: biografía de una abigarrada y alternativa identidad latinoamericana en proceso de formación
FLORENCIA CORTÉS-CONDE From El Mariachi to Desperado: American success story for mainstreen identity?
RAÚL ROSALES Ficcionalizando la realidad: Mi querido Rafa y el discurso testimonial chicano
SUSANA CASTILLO Latinidades ELIANA RIVERO Making theory as I speak: reflections on Latina thought today
NANCY NOGUERA Negociaciones de la identidad: el yo y el otro en Silent Dancing de Judith Ortiz Cofer
MARÍA VICTORIA ACEVEDO Sandra Cisneros y la Casa en Mango Street. Una literatura menor
LAURA REDRUELLO La presencia de la mujer en el espacio fílmico cubano
ANA FIGUEROA La narrativa de escritoras chicanas. Una búsqueda del espejo que refleje nuevos mitos nacionales
M. CANTERO & P. STEWART La Mestiza: lengua e identidad en la literatura chicana
ISBN 9783895864872. LINCOM Studies in Language and Culture 01. 200pp. 2006.
