Graciela Limon: An Inspiration to Younger Authors in Hispanic Literature

Just last month, Loyola Marymount University had the opportunity to host a very important figure and pride to the LMU Chicano/a Studies Department, Graciela Limon. Today her work is a very strong voice in contemporary American Hispanic Literature. A Mexican-America native to East Los Angeles, Graciela Limon earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in Spanish American Literature.
As a child, Graciela Limon’s favorite pastime was reading. She really liked reading the newspaper because that is what was easily accessible to her. As she grew older and began reading novels, Limon dreamed of becoming a novelist someday. After earning her graduate degree, she tried submitting a collection of essays for publication to a few different editors, she was always told that her writing was “more creative than scholarly” and became discouraged (Arte Publico Press Author of the Month: Graciela Limon). “After some time in depression, the word ‘creative’ began to take shape in my thoughts. It sparked the memory of a long-ago dream,” says Graciela Limon. Hence, she decided to take this creativity and become an author of fiction novels based on her experience and emotions that she had encountered in life.
Her first published work titled, In Search of Bernabe (1993), became a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review. This novel is based on her collection of stories and historical information she learned through volunteer work in Los Angeles with a Salvadoran immigrant community of refugees and a trip she made herself to El Salvador in the late 70’s. The stories and history of El Salvador and other Central American countries whose populations travel up north in search of the “American dream” also had a great influence in one of her later novels, the River Flows North published in 2009 (Arte Publico). Scholar Ellen McCracken says: “Limón’s novels represent one of the most important contributions to the renaissance of Chicana fiction in the United States in the late 1980s and [the] 1990s. Her work is situated in a transborder experience of the Americas in which the women and men of Central America, Mexico, and Los Angeles come together in political and gender struggles, re-examine their historical past, and narratively employ their future” (Authors and Literary Works).
Among her other novels are The Memories of Ana Calderon (1994), and Song of the Hummingbird (1996), which really focus on the woman’s traditional role in society both in a tradition-bound rural Mexico and in the United States as well. These novels touch on the oppression that women face and how they choose to overcome this through their strength and their “resolve” as Limon likes to call it. “Her novels explore Mexican cultural heritage, focusing on the world of Mexicans and Mexican Americans, and are peopled with characters grappling with issues of cultural and personal identity and sexual autonomy” (Authors and Literary Works). During her visit to LMU Graciela Limon mentioned the importance of writing in her life because to her this is a form of expression through which she can reveal her personal experiences. She can exhibit her life encounters in a very creative way and through fictional characters that others have found they can relate to. She shared the story of a young lady that once contacted her telling Dr. Limon that The Memories of Ana Calderon was the story of her life and that in this novel she found encouragement and inspiration to be a stronger woman.
Graciela Limon is a very inspiring woman, her life story and the novels that she writes are really a combination of the reality with fictional characters faced by the Hispanic and Latin American cultures. Graciela Limon was a faculty at Loyola Marymount University, where she taught U.S. Hispanic Literature and chaired the Department of Chicano Studies and is currently teaching at the University of California Santa Barbara. Her work continues to inspire many other young authors and represent an essential part of Chicana fiction literature.

Additional Sources:

Authors and Literary Works
http://www.learner.org/workshops/hslit/session5/aw/author2.html

You can also find a phone interview on the following website where she mentions her experiences around El Salvador and some of her novels:
Classical 91.7-Arte Público Press Author of the Month: Graciela Limón
Graciela-Limon.html

Women in El Salvador and Their Efforts to Start a Small Business They Can Call their Own

During my spring break I had the opportunity to go on a service trip to a little island in El Salvador called el Espiritu Santo. The island consists of a very small community of about 300 families where everyone knows each other. It is a very underdeveloped community with no paved streets, no cars, no sewage system, no water filtration system, a single clinic and a single elementary school in the entire island. The main source of employment there comes from the large coconut plantation found there, yet this is an occupation that has been dominated by the men on the island. The woman’s role for the homes on the island had always been that of a housewife until very recently when they decided to form a woman’s empowerment group including a small business of their own.
The people on the island live a very humble and simple lifestyle. The money that the men make in the coconut plantation is really not enough for them to spend money on more than their basic living needs. Yet, since this is a very small island and transportation to the mainland everyday would be far too expensive for them, the men have very limited employment options and the women have even greater limitations because they are responsible for the household as well. Given these circumstances, I found it really empowering for a few of them to have decided on their own to gather up and unite in an effort to improve their community. The women developed a good relationship with the Center of Exchange and Solidarity known as CIS located about an hour into the city on the mainland. This center was created in order to “strengthen people-to-people solidarity ties and contribute to the construction of a new El Salvador, by organizations from the Salvadoran social movement and international organizations that have supported the process of peace with social justice” (Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad). The women of the island then asked for their help in wellness workshops and discussions on the issues of being a woman.
Soon after they started organizing the group, the women raised up an issue that they all agreed on, they wanted to find some way to make a little money to contribute to their households as well. They did not have too many options and knew they only had scarce resources easily accessible, so they resorted to their biggest one, coconuts. After experimenting a bit, they found the perfect recipe for the use of coconut, they started making sweet coconut candy called “conservas.” The candy itself is made up of three main ingredients, coconut, sugar and water, and then they are each added a particular flavor such as strawberry, papaya or even coffee. The sweet candy is made at Yesenia’s house, one of the women from the women’s group with the help of primarily three other women and occasionally some of the others. They cook all the ingredients in a big pot and then pour the cooked mix into a mold so that the candy can harden up in smaller pieces, that are about 2 by 2 inch squares. Then the women place these smaller pieces into small packages and then stamp each one with their seal and the label for the individual flavors. Once finished, the women go around the island selling these for thirty cents apiece. They cannot sell them for more because the others in the island do not have much money to spend. However, occasionally, a couple of women will go out to the mainland to sell them out there as well and then bring back some revenue. The women make about a hundred candies per day once or twice a week because they do not have so much money to go out and try to sell them on the mainland but this great idea has made them all very proud.
Women are many times the housekeeper and the men are typically the breadwinners in many of the Latino cultures but these women wanted to stand up to this stereotype and do something on their own to earn a little money too. As of now, they have very limited space but their hopes are to one day move into a bigger workspace and take large orders for these sweet treats and are able to export them. The women really gain a big satisfactory feeling from knowing that they can also bring in a little money into the household income. The effort and hard-work of these women is easy to see when you hear them present the process of their little business. The candy are delicious but the real significance of these women coming together to create a women’s group and try to start up their own small business is truly remarkable and inspiring. These women are empowerment for other women on the island who really do not give themselves the opportunity to learn and grow in the way they see themselves and the potential they have.

Additional Sources:
http://www.cis-elsalvador.org/