CHST 332: The Chicana/o Gothic

La Llorona and Chicano/a Gothic: Societal Implications, Interpretations, and Relativity to CHST332 Literature

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Tyre

With my final project I decided to focus my research around La Llorona and its relativity to both the gothic as well as the Chicano/a culture(s). Being that the folktale of La Llorona is widely known and used still to this day to instill vigilance in young children and contains many gothic elements, this story closely relates to our course in Chicano/a Gothic literature. My first post, titled La Llorona Characteristics within Bless Me, Ultima, was inspired by Rudolfo Anaya’s work, as Tony’s upbringing has many instances that closely parallel those found within the La Llorona tale. Tony’s encounters with his brothers, his dreams, and the cries he hears at night and in his dreams all mirror a similar theme within La Llorona, as her weeping and charismatic demeanor have the ability to attract children against their better judgment.

My second post, titled La Llorona in Juvenile Hall, focused on more contemporary and real-life implications and findings of La Llorona. Specifically looking within Los Angeles County, Bess Hawes’ article on La Llorona within Los Angeles-local institutions reveals many evolutions, manipulations, and adaptations of the traditional telling. Hawes’ article illuminates how La Llorona is not only still relevant in today’s world, but also reveals how the story has been adapted to different geographic locations.

My final post, titled La Llorona and Chicana Feminism, displays multiple interpretations scholars hold when examining La Llorona and its societal implications. Chicana feminists, for instance, see the folktale as an empowering episode of independence and revolt for equality and justice. On the contrary, some scholars view the folktale to be reinforcing of traditional stereotypes that women have been subjected to — irrationality, dependence upon men, inability to control emotions and outbursts, and so on.

In all, my research of La Llorona proved to be extremely relatable to the Chicano/a Gothic, as the story originated in South America and deals with many motifs that are specific to the gothic, such as death, immorality, isolation, a vindictive and merciless killer, and internal psychological conflict. Speaking specifically of the abject and the uncanny, La Llorona’s unique motive and actions of infanticide easily places her as an abject character; one that we may not understand or be able to relate (too) closely with. La Llorona is told in the most gothic of lights in order to derive docility from children; the story is used to scare children away from being out at night, and urges them to seek comfort and security within their own household.

Wall Murals in Los Angeles Research Project

Posted on April 29, 2014 by E H

Take a drive around Los Angeles and you will see at least one wall mural throughout your city drive. Elaborate and colorful, or dark and ominous covering the wall of either a business or building. Amazing works have been known to present themselves on buildings, businesses, forgotten walls across the city surprising people with their vibrant colors and rich history. They bringing meaning and make a connection to others prompting debate and open discourse of opinions and knowledge that could never be achieved through a blank wall, duh. Many of the murals in the blog links below were found by Vermont Street and in La Placita of Los Angeles. The roots of the Aztecs in these murals are in deep connection to the Mexican-American Angelino community standing for its folklore legends and history that are important throughout the Mexican community. It’s the past, present and future; a million words told in an image.

Wall murals have long been present in the history of Los Angeles being an essential to the community depicting important events that have built the city, such as Teachalakazi’s first phase of the Battle of Los Angeles in La Placita. Today La Placita is crowned as one of Southern California’s most important landmarks considering the beginnings of Los Angeles, it’s atmosphere, wall murals, architecture, restaurants and churches bring many people to dine and relax in a very historic and culturally abundant part of Los Angeles.

These three wall murals take you through a glimpse of the arts done in Los Angeles and their possible meaning:

Wall Murals: The Welcomed Duality of Life and Death and the Importance of Animals (Part 1 of 3)

Legends in Murals and their Origins (Part 2 of 3)

Wall Murals in La Placita: Revolution and the Chicano Struggles in Los Angeles (Part 3 of 3)

Posted on April 29, 2014 by E H

Take a drive around Los Angeles and you will see at least one wall mural throughout your city drive. Elaborate and colorful, or dark and ominous covering the wall of either a business or building. Wall murals throughout history have become an integral part of the Los Angeles community like with the mural above depicting the first phase of the Battle of Los Angeles by artist Teachalakazi. The wall murals presented in this article are from La Placita of Los Angeles. Today crowned as the beginnings of Los Angeles, it’s historical atmosphere, buildings and churches are considered one of Southern California’s most important landmarks.

Wall murals present themselves as free art full of meaning and empowerment for any individual. This individual in turn creates the community they live in becoming unified under the same social, political and cultural setting. “The walls that urban residents daily encounter are not merely structures containing and dividing space; they are also surfaces that become inscribed with different messages, which are read both figuratively and literally. The imperatives of many different groups contend and collude on these walls”(Kim,13). Many neighborhoods are created solely by the composition of its arts marking its historical establishments and therefore individuality. “The condition and appearance of the built environment in any given area becomes it’s public face, it’s facade, it’s most immediate aspect”(Kim,13).

The influence that wall murals create in a city go unnoticed, “Neighborhoods are not simply geographic units organized according to municipal design; they are also social, emotional, and stylistic environments. At the same time, while all individuals find themselves associated with groupings of people based on geographic proximity, economic class, ethnic classification, and social affiliations, all of us are involuntary participants in mass-generated culture”(Kim,8). By making wall murals of an informative nature it can in turn disintegrate false or negative social constructs leading to a unified community.

The involuntary participation that the individual goes through in engaging contact with a subject leads to awareness of an issue. We as people “…can’t dismiss the wide-reaching influence of the work produced by the idealistic and activist-minded Chicano artists of the 1960’s and 1970’s…in relation to el movimiento”(Kim,9). Wall murals played a big part in the Chicano movement by reaching a broad audience without giving directly personal political commentary.”Muralists, at their best, sought to use the semi-autonomous status of art-it’s aesthetic appropriation of the world such that the image stands in productive contradistinction to reality-as an allegory for political conduct”(Anreus,3).Murals have always created a powerful impact within every community they have been present in creating an opportunity for education and cultural knowledge. “Purportedly acting as mediators between “the people” and the state, as the “voice of the voiceless,” the muralists elaborated a legendary visual program remembered for lauding the worker, the Indian, and the peasant as active agents of national formation”(Anreus,13). In the wall mural above, we see the workers, Indians and peasants being presented as defenders of their rights. The leaders are in the front, holding the Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in whose significance will be further detailed below, the Indian carrying what seems to be a bow and arrow, and the peasants running on the sides. Other than the main revolutionaries, the other figures who are seen as voiceless, are depicted as being empowered through a task of unity and urgency in revolting against injustices. The Battle of Los Angeles, the colorful trompe l’eoil above, covers relevant subject matter to the city of LA marking important events of the era that the city was established. “Graffiti and murals implicitly and explicitly record public and personal events and messages”(Kim,52). In the Battle of Los Angeles the revolutionaries, Jose Maria Flores, Jose Antonio Carrillo, and Andres Pico, are marching through the plaza in a depiction of what is known as the first phase of the Battle of Los Angeles. Jose Maria Flores was the military commander of the uprising (Wikipedia). One of the revolutionaries is holding the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who is and has been an essential figure since her apparition to Saint Juan Diego in 1531. Peter Quezeda, a Chicano wall muralist explains her importance, “The image of Guadalupe [has been] chosen because she is a popular and respected figure among many Mexican Catholics. A particularly Mexican manifestation of the Virgin Mary and the patron saint of Mexico, she is revered for her clement nature. Her image has also been evoked in revolutionary contexts both in Mexico and in the United States: by Father Hidalgo in the 1810 uprising against Spanish colonial rule of Mexico; by Zapatistas during the Mexican Revolution; and by the United Farm Workers under Cesar Chavez. The image of La Virgen de Guadalupe is also often used in gang and prison contexts in both tattoos and commemorative murals”(Kim,20). Her image brings years of historical struggles and endurance to empower those who need guidance or have been oppressed. Placing emphasis on Our Lady of Guadalupe in a mural not only symbolizes cultural identity but cultural history as well.

It is also important to mention one of the most influential and controversial wall murals, amongst the many, that Los Angeles has had, attracting attention to muralism in the city. “Sometimes called the “mural renaissance” or “the new mural movement,” these public art activities were inspired by educational murals commissioned by the Mexican government following the revolution of 1910 and then by the United States government under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930’s”(Kim,15). The Great Depression led to many projects in efforts to employ hundreds of unemployed individuals, 49 percent alone went towards the fine arts, leading to vital national sentiments that thrived the arts. In 1932, the wall mural of Siqueiros’ Tropical America was commissioned as part of these efforts in enhancing Los Angeles. David Alfaro Siqueiros was one of the Big Three or Los Tres Grandes, which include Jose Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera, of Mexico’s muralist movement. In the 1920’s and 30’s “The unstable political situation in Mexico, the lack of a developed art market, artists’ need for a living wage, and the desire to participate in international aesthetic debates prompted all three muralists to bring their production north of the border”(Anreus,210). Siqueiros’ Tropical America was essential in empowering the Chicano Movement. “Many Chicano and Chicana artists situate Tropical America in “the cultural nationalism of the Chicano civil rights movements of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s”: still, its legacy in California and, as radical public art, in the United States entails Siqueiros’ efforts to reshape the spatial politics of Los Angeles and urban geography in general”(Anreus,218). Tropical America is important in understanding Chicano muralism because it was a work that pioneered other murals of the time with it’s subject matter confronting a political and social matter through messages in its images.

In the images below we see Our Lady of Guadalupe between the Mexican flag and the American flag, along with flags of many other nations on the top, representing political unity and promoting cultural integration. The words that are written on the mural are “No estoy yo aqui que soy tu madre?” and “Am I not here who am your mother?” with “Reina de Mexico y Emperatriz de America” above the figure of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The meaning of this bilingual message is related to being a nation under the protection of the patroness of the Americas. In this mural two predominant communities of Los Angeles converge to take an empowering stance against man-created divisions. “In the late 1960’s, artists in several major cities sought to make their work more socially relevant and immediate to the lives of the “community”. By “community,” these artists were referring to neighborhoods or groups of people that had traditionally been underserved by the arts establishment. Influenced by concurrent movements for civil rights and social justice, many artists considered murals to be a powerful vehicle for social change and empowerment”(Kim,15). The mixing that has occurred for many years in the southwest lands are predominant themes in the Guadalupe mural bringing the two cultures together forming the perfect example of a Chicano wall mural. As a statement in the Chicano political movement the wall murals reflected political and social awarenesses. “A prolific force in this mural renaissance were artists and individuals of Mexican descent, who identified themselves as Chicanos to indicate their political consciousness. From 1965, Chicanos were involved in a relatively cohesive effort for advances in their civil rights. Referred to as el movimiento or la causa, these efforts sought improvements in education, work conditions, and political representation. Central to these efforts was the assertion of Chicano identity in ways that would convey cultural dignity according to their own terms, sensibilities, and history. Chicano artists were instrumental in the dissemination of visual presentations of this empowerment. These artists deliberately selected and elevated specific aspects of Mexican history and culture as a means of countering the negative stereotypes. In order to recognize the everyday expressive life of the entire community, images and styles were drawn from religion, traditional folk arts, and vernacular graphics, as well as from the creative expressions of youth, gang, and prison cultures”(Kim,15). The images on the wall mural of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the flags of the United States and Mexico and the mountains in the background capture many relevant elements to daily life in Los Angeles. “Artists collaborated with individuals in neighborhoods to produce murals with topical themes and images drawn from daily life”(Kim,15). The images in this wall mural are revered and very relatable to everyone in its community.”As such, mural painters aspired to bring the critical energies and utopian aspirations of the aesthetic realm to bear on the realm of the political in order to prompt public debate on interpretations of the nation and the contours of citizenship”(Anreus,2). This exchange of ideas and ideals encourage needed discourse bringing political and social issues to the forefront of the peoples agenda. “Murals that cross geographical and cultural boundaries, conceptual frameworks, political and racial divides, and imagined communities necessarily spark-and may even embrace-discussion and debate”(Anreus,223). The wall mural of Our Lady of Guadalupe between the American and Mexican flags, as well as the flags of other countries, bring peace and unity to all nations under the same common goal of prosperity and faith.

Works Cited

Anreus, Alejandro; Folgarait, Leonard and Ade, Robin. Mexican Muarlism: a critical history. Berekley: University of California Press, 2012. Print.

Kim, Sojin. Chicano Graffiti and Murals: The Neighborhood Art of Peter Quezada. University Press of Mississippi, 1995. Print.

Final Project: La Llorona Stories Across Cultures

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Alyson

Images courtesy of: truefresco.net, paintermagazine.co.uk

Painting by: Diego Rivera

In my project, I explored different versions of La Llorona stories across cultures. I wanted to explore why these stories are so pervasive and enduring, what purpose they serve and to find alternative perspectives about what La Llorona represents. Like fairy tales, La Llorona stories serve a few purposes: they are morality tales, they represent cultural fears and they reflect the climate of the time period that they represent. For the most part La Llorona tales are warnings about what happens when men, women and children do not act according to strict rules of behavior: children are not to wander off, men are not to abandon their wives and women need to adhere to their role dictated by a patriarchal society (a nurturing, pure, mother). These stories also warn against acting out of jealousy. Another source of anxiety that these stories underpin is that of colonization: La Malinche is considered a betrayer of her people, but it also addresses the fear and anger of conquered indigenous people. Rachel is somewhat similar in that she also weeps for the children of Israel, though not reviled as La Malinche is.

Taking these disparate stories of weeping and/or vengeful women showed me that these tales all contain similar gothic elements of love, loss, horror, and violence. These stories have endured and can be found across different cultures because the gothic appeals to human nature; we are both repulsed and attracted by horror and the abject.

La Llorona Stories Across Culture Part 1 of 3

La Llorona Stories Across Culture-An Alternative Perspective Part 2 of 3

Final Analysis: La Llorona as Feminist or Abject Figure? Part 3 of 3

Los Angeles and its Public Murals: The Connection between the Chicano and the Gothic, Part 3

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Zach

Photo Courtesy of Robin Dunitz

The last mural I visited was The Greatest Love painted by Paul Botello in 1992 located on the corner of Cesar Chavez and Soto Blvd in East Los Angeles. The Greatest Love has various images and symbols that all tie together to form a uniquely dark and Chicano mural. Interestingly enough, the adjectives describing the mural could very well describe the neighborhood around it. The setting of the mural and the surrounding area takes on a similar form as that in Their Dogs Came With Them. For me, when I was reading the novel, I was picturing the scenes happening in the very neighborhood of this mural. Across the street from the mural, there are panaderias, mercaditos, and plenty of Mexican restaurants; similar to the locations that many of the characters had encountered in their neighborhood of East Los Angeles.

This mural has interesting historical context tied along side it as well. The Greatest Love was in fact a response to the LA Riots of 1992. Although the riots, for the most part, occurred in the communities of south LA, East LA experienced much of the same emotions since it is predominantly racial minorities as well. After the riots, the city of Los Angeles commissioned muralists to have work done in various communities in South LA and the Eastside. The purpose was to depict the culture and history of each particular neighborhood. This particular mural by Botello was done during the aftermath of the riots, however was a gift to the neighborhood from the pharmacy that the mural is painted on.

This mural contains many images, each conveying various messages. For starters, the image the eye is drawn to first, in my case, is the heart wrapped around a vine of thorns in the right panel. The heart seems to be under duress by the force of the seemingly constricting vine, as if it was crushing the life out of the heart, but nevertheless it perseveres and sprouts a yellow flower. After learning that the mural was, in part, a response to the LA riots, I understood this image as the heart representing the neighborhood and surrounding communities, and the vine as adversity, hate, and ignorance from society. Through it all, the neighborhood endures and proceeds to give new life adding to its culture and history.

The Greatest Love also contains gothic elements as well, mostly residing in the left panel. Numerous skeletal, dark images cover most of the panel, giving it obvious gothic characteristics. An interesting aspect of this panel is the two distinguishable figures. After not realizing these people at first, I remembered that the mural is on Cesar Chavez Ave. So I researched images of him and found the similarities between Cesar Chavez and co-founder of the UFW, Dolores Huerta, with the two figures in the mural. Chavez is seen gripping a snake by its head, which to me seems as if he is displaying his fearlessness and bravery to tackle the adversities of society. The two figures can be seen standing upright with great conviction with crowns placed above their heads and looking ahead into the future, not paying attention to the bad temptations and evil figures behind them in the past that strive to steer the two off their mission.

Photo Courtesy of Ian Robertson

The depiction of the animals also ties the Chicano to the gothic. The jaguar is an animal generally depicted in Aztec imagery, which often represents the reverence for nature. The manner in which the jaguar and the other animals are depicted is in a way where they give off a darkness and gothic feeling. The overall dark and skeletal appearance of the images in this panel gives the mural the gothic additive.

The Greatest Love represents many things. It represents the neighborhood of Boyle Heights. It represents the community of East Los Angeles. It represents Chicanos and it represents the feelings immediately following the LA Riots of 1992. All in all, the imagery and symbolism contained in the mural convey messages aimed towards the empowerment of the community and the reminder of the significance of figures like Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta all while providing gothic elements intended to represent the darkness and turmoil that the neighborhoods had endured over the years.

Work Cited: Botello, Paul. “Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles.” The Greatest Love. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. http://www.muralconservancy.org/murals/greatest-love

Final Chicana/o Gothic Art Project by Cristina Orozco

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Cristina

Being a Studio Arts/ Graphic Design minor, I wanted to not only create a blog post, but also incorporate an art piece into my final. Wanting to convey a type of Chicana/o Gothic art piece for this class, I first decided to visit an art museum to gain inspiration. I was not sure what type of art I wanted to create in the first place- a computer graphic? A simple sketch? A painting? I first thought of visiting LACMA, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, one of the most famous art museums in Los Angeles. I was sure I was bound to come across a few Gothic pieces. As I walked through the museum, I kept in mind to look out for gothic themes that we have discussed in class. These include dark colors, haunted houses, violence, fog, mad characters, and the uncanny and abject. The first piece I came across was one that stood out to me for its murky colors, stick figured characters, and buildings that were painted by simple lines. Named Village in Thuringia by Lyonel Feininger, I later researched that Feininger made this during a gloomy time in Germany due to the difficult living conditions he and his wife had to endure during World War I.

A second piece that I marveled at was another painting with dark colors mixed together, as if the painter was angry. As an article put it, “…their high emotional pitch, intensified by the artist’s frenzied maneuvering of brush and pigment, is compelling.” Strong emotions of angst are evident to be part of a Gothic setting. Named Hill at Ceret by Chaim Soutine, I knew I had to keep this piece in mind when I did my own. At this point, I decided the form of art I wanted to do was a painting so that I may use different brush techniques to add different textures and emotions.

My eyes wandered to the abstract art, where I stopped to see a piece called Allegro by Ralph Scarlett. The first part of the piece I noticed were the bright shapes but I quickly got distracted by the cloudy, gloomy background. It seemed as if these two themes could not go together, but the artist was able to make it happen. I absolutely felt that the background was an excellent gothic form so I took note of it. This was an interesting piece to me, being one of the arts that I quickly found to be different in a good way.

Another painting that captured my attention, I admit, was first due to the last name the painter and I had in common. José Clemente Orozco painted Street Corner, Brick Building in 1929 in New York, when the stock market crashed. The depiction of two long-coated men hiding themselves shows this Gothic theme of the uncanny. The way the painter made it a corner scene caused it to look sharp instead of smooth-sailing. After thinking this through, I was glad I spotted this piece. I knew it would be perfect for my painting. Not only was it from a Mexican artist who helped with the Chicano movement, but the gothic elements were present as well.

The last but most important art piece I noted was one called Woman Carrying a Coffin by Luis Arenal Bastar. The title alone sounds gothic. A woman is shown, indeed carrying a coffin on top of her head, showing the abject setting. However, what really stood out to me was the right side of the painting with the meshed dark colors of the night and waves with splattered brush techniques which called out “gothic”. It also showed that the woman is walking towards the unknown; the turned pathway is definitely another gothic element of the uncanny.

I positively had enough inspiration with these five paintings I came across. I had no need of going to another art museum because I already had in mind what I wanted to create. I gathered my sketch book, pencil, and eraser to create a rough sketch. I did not have to think so much about it. I knew I wanted an uncanny character with a background of different gothic themed textures. I first sketched a shadowy figure, inspired by Street Corner, Brick Building, with its back facing the audience, turned to the right side, like the woman in Woman Carrying a Coffin. I wanted this figure to have a purpose in the piece, so I thought of putting a row of doors, allowing the character to try to choose its path. It is as if the character does not belong and is out of place, a common gothic theme. The rough sketch was done without the background, so that I may play around with the brush techniques when I started the real painting.

For the painting, I bought an 11-inch by 14-inch canvas board and acrylic paints. I made sure to choose dark colors: black tie, black plum, night sky, dark scarlet, and steel gray, and white, used for blending. I already owned enough paintbrushes and a pallet, so I was ready to get started. I worked on my painting as I played music that reflected the mood that I was trying to portray. After I painted the basic figures I sketched out, I was now allowed to focus on the background. Pulling ideas from all five paintings I saw at LACMA, and adding my own twist to it, I was able to successfully create a gothic atmosphere. I included murky, splattering, out-of-direction effects. The two main red lines crossed each other’s paths to create an “X”, where the character is standing behind. This served like a mark, indicating the unreadiness of the character to fit in somewhere. I hope the audience is able to feel the grand amount of uneasiness like I intended in this painting I named Murkiness.

Working on this project allowed me to feel like a real Chicana artist. Being a child of Mexican parents, but born in America, I am Chicana. I have to face struggles that my parents could not help me with due to lack of knowledge. The character in my painting could be said to be me, a figure trying to hide from making uneasy decisions on my own.

Sources Cited:

1. Glueck, Grace (1983). Art: Three Decades of Chaim Soutine Paintings.

New York: The New York Times.

2. Knight, Christopher (2009). Museum Deaccessioning Done Right.

Los Angeles: Los Angeles Times.

3. Southgate, M. Therese (2011). The Art of JAMA: Covers and Essays from The Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 3

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Short Story inspired by Mena, “The Petal” Part II

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Carla Marlene

INTRODUCTION

Here is the second installment of my short story “The Petal” which is inspired by the events narrated in Maria Cristina Mena’s “The Vine Leaf”, told from the perspective of the painter. While thinking what works I should choose to work with in my creative project, Mena’s story was always very present. This short but entertaining tale caught my attention from its first comical but highly critical line: “The poor have no family secrets or none that Dr. Malsufrido would trouble to carry under his hat”. This form of provincial hilarity runs throughout the narration, and along with the peculiar characters, it provides a soothing relief amid the tension of the story. This charming style is what made me love Mena’s story which, as I previously stated, differs greatly from other gothic writers.

I’ve been a fan of British and American Gothic since I was nine, when my mother introduced me to the delirious genius of Edgar Allan Poe and his renowned “Tale Tell Heart”. As a way to celebrate my admiration for this genre and all things horror, I decided to implement a format that resembles that of the Penny Dreadful, an old characteristic platform for frightening stories. Penny dreadful were sensationalistic stories about murder, jealousy, monsters and other scary subjects which were presented to the reader in a segmented manner, over a number of weeks. Each installment would cost only a penny and thus it was easily afforded by the lower class which had recently seen a raise in literacy rates. Some stories were inspired by real crimes while others were simpler interpretation of popular novels such as The Castle of Otranto; the novel that many believe is responsible for gothic literature. The Victorian penny dreadful saw the birth of some characters that transcended this medium and time, Sweeney Todd, the murderous barber was one of them.

The third and final part of my short story will be coming this week.

“THE PETAL”

III

Our next meeting happened to coincide with the farewell ceremony for father Vicente. The violence of his death had prevented an open casket and so we had to make do with distant caresses through the smooth surface of the oak wood box, a fitting choice for the man it guarded. Many guests greeted me with the excited but vigilant attentiveness that is often reserved for the masters of art and lunacy. I engaged in their plebeian conversation merely to be civil but their eagerness to socialize displeased me. No one, it seemed, was interested in fulfilling the rites, paying their respect, mourning the soul that had abandoned them.

While talking to a tiresome surgeon, I saw a figure dressed in august garments approaching the box with painful slowness. I recognized her immediately, my lady of the blessed mystery. The disturbing candor of her sorrow, the graceful tears anointing the coffin with the dripping honey of her hazel eyes, the contrast of her spectral skin against the silky darkness that concealed it, her wrists laying awkwardly on top of the polished wood in a gesture of utter impotence, the fine veins exposed like delicate blue branches in the snow— her entire being brought life into the sepia stillness of the gathering. Her hushed cries were protests of realness amid the false ceremonial speeches about the glorious dead. She was accompanied by a tall man with skin as luminous as copper. His features betrayed years of confidence and wealth. He introduced himself as the Marquez only, as if the title rendered any other name unnecessary, and expressed his admiration for my work.

I then realized that I was dealing with the famous Marquesa, celebrated for her beauty but universally despised for her aloofness. The couple vacationed spent half the year in our lonely town, secluded in their impressive white mansion. The Marquez often participated in the balls, posadas and social events that populated the surprisingly busy calendar of this spirited town. But his wife stayed home and even when she did leave the idyllic hill of her confinement, a wall of silence guarded her. This distance, along with her beauty and privilege, surrounded her with a mythical aura. She was out of this world, foreign in her taciturnity and consequently a figure of enigmatic appeal. There were many theories explaining her preference for seclusion; though some attributed this nasty quality to excessive shyness, others argued intensely for more sinister reasons. She was accused of suffering from the most common female maladies: silliness, unconquerable passions, jealousy and infidelity. Yet, there were few who saw her as a suffering woman, trapped in a prison of condescending kindness. It was rumored that her first child had died soon after birth and she had not been able to conceive after the incident. Whether it was her decision to remain away from society or if she was being punished for her motherly failure no one knew, and this mystery fed the town’s obsession.

Her presence in the funeral provoked a hushed agitation amid the society ladies and the eager men. Those who respectfully greeted the Marquez looked perplexed when they encountered her and were forced to perform awkward bows with haste and confusion.I had never seen her before that fated night, our common seclusion prevented us, but the tales inspired by the reserved Marquesa had assaulted me ever since I’ve arrived from England.

The Marquez continued to compliment my work while the Marquesa tried to cease her crying. His flattering comments were sincere but curious; it surprised me to see how different his view of my work was from his dutiful wife’s. He distinguished an almost visceral realism to my work, a sensuality that transcended the limitations of the canvas to convey life with absolute faithfulness. My lady saw, as I learned on our first meeting, the subtle insanity of my compositions, the horrors hidden behind a tenuous smile, a long, expectant neck.

They left that night soon after our conversation had ended, with words of friendship on his arrogant lips. He promised to come back by the studio, despite my obvious discomfort. My lady said nothing throughout our meeting, she kept her eyes down and her trembling hands folded in her lap. I was waiting for a sign, a brief but intelligent gaze that reassured me of our growing connection but she gave me nothing. …

Final Project: La Llorona Tumblr

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Alexis

For my final project, I chose to make a Tumblr dedicated to La Llorona. Instead of focusing on a specific aspect of La Llorona, my Tumblr is a mash up of all things related. In the first blog post, I gave a historical background to the Mexican folktale so that readers will have adequate background knowledge of her. I also gave other versions of the stories via other Tumblr members or YouTube videos. In addition to this, I also connected some of the things I found to some works we had discussed in class. For example, in the news story I found about the woman killing 7 of her newborns, I made a connection to the element of salvation found in Cherrie Moraga’s The Hungry Woman. In the novel, Medea killed her son Chac-Mool in order to save him from what he might become. Although the woman in the news story gave no reason as to why she killed her children, given the presence of substance abuse and violence within her marriage, one can assume she attempted to save her children from the unhealthy environment. The main focus of my Tumblr was to bring the story of La Llorona to life. I wanted to show testimonies of those who claim to have seen her as well as news stories that reveal an uncanny resemblance to the folktale. All in all, I wanted to give La Llorona more depth than what the folktale alone reveals.

Blog 3: Chicana Feminism

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Kenya

Another profound element of the Chicana feminist movement is the formation of Chicana gangs and gang members. The roles of females in gangs undermines social issues involved with sexual exploitation, difficulty establishing identity related to gender, and the breaking of hegemonic female roles. Patricia Acevedo of Chicana Gang Members: Resistance to Traditional Women’s Roles discusses the limited and exploitive roles of women in gangs including the “tomboy” or “sex object” label. Acevedo provides evidence of the factors that draw or push Chicana women to join gangs, “Gangs can be seen as representing a means by which some youth seek to resolve problems presented by their structural and cultural positions in relation to both their families, and processes of racism and sexism in the larger society.” The common Chicana/Chicano, as a part of a minority group, unfortunately faces a great deal of oppression and descrimination. Yet, women, more so than men, suffer an additional tier of oppression due to the hegemonic submissive and sexual context that women are commonly labeled with. In addition to their gender based struggle is the Chicana woman’s mixed heritage, as a Mexican-American, which faces her with societal challenges. These are the main factors that influence Chicana women and adolescents to join gangs.

The exclusive community of a gang creates the feeling of belonging when, as a female minority, Chciana women and adolscents face challenges establishing themselves in external societies. As Chicana women are silenced in many ways by their families and socitety, they find power as a female contributer of a gang given their tough status. Acevedo explains, “When girls and women affiliated with gangs are described, it is often through media stereotypes of “bad” or “evil,” or even overly “masculine” girls.” The association of masculinity with a female in a gang could work to make her feel either empowered or confused with her gender related identity.

This rings true to the character of Turtle from the novel Their Dogs Came With Them by Helen Viramontes. In order to fit in with her brother and the rest of the gang members, Turtle shaves her head and takes on the tough persona of a male. One profound factor that could have driven Turtle away from herself and her society is the unhealthy relationship between her father and mother. She then seeks a feeling of belonging within the walls of the gang while denying her gender to do so. This is not to say that one does not have the freedom and right to take on their prefered gender characteristics, but Turtle’s reasons clearly derived from oppression, a need to belong, and the challenge to establish personal identity. Acevedo contributes, “Gangs have always been viewed as a social problem and as an example of deterioration in society.” In other words, gangs are the tangible representation of social error and corruption. They are the product of a societal problem. For Chicana women and adolescents, gangs work as an escape in which they feel they are gaining a sense of belonging, authority, revenge, and other personal discoveries. In reality, gangs work to exploit these women while creating the illusion that they are a part of a group that exudes authority against society. In reality, the gang is the result of a minority group that, in this case, faces racial, gender, and economic issues that weaken family structures and cause unhealthy social behavior (such as gangs).

Sources: 1.https://research.wsulibs.wsu.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/2376/25/02%20Acevedo%20et%20al.pdf?sequence=1

Chicana Gang Members: Resistance to Traditional Women’s Roles by Patricia Acevedo, McNair Scholar Steven R. Burkett, Ph.D., Faculty Mentor Department of Sociology

Blog 2: Chicana Feminism

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Kenya

What forms of oppression cause the Chicana feminist movement? The general aspects of oppression stem from discrimination against gender, race, religion, and class. The sources of this oppression originate both from a selected group of caucasian population, men within the Chicano culture, and even the women themselves. I’m going to discuss the different aspects of oppression that Chicana women face within internal and external society.

As a Mexican-American, the common Chicana woman struggles to identify and satisfy the norms of both cultures. Skin color and language are a part of this hardship. Michelle D. Young of Reconsidering Feminist Research in Educational Leadership states, “Chicana feminist scholars have remarked on the discrimination that exists because of skin color, both outside of and within the Mexican and Mexican American culture […] Often it is difficult to separate culture from ethnicity/race, but skin color is a physical characteristic that is quickly noted.” What this statement undermines is that in the caucasian American culture, Chicana women face discrimination and exclusion based on their skin color which affects their social life outside their Mexican heritage, their job opportunities, and their establishment of identity as an American.

Within their Chicano/Chicana culture, it is praised to have light skin as it is an aspect that allows one to function in a caucasian society without having to face discrimination that comes with race and class such as education levels and language barriers. A speaker in Young’s book shares, “no one ever quite told me this (that light was right), but I knew that being light was something valued in my family”. In this sense, light skin is seen as a beneficial utility that allows Chicanas/Chicanos to function in caucasian dominated societies by hiding their true nationality. This is the form of oppression caused by skin color: pre judgement based on nationality. In other words, this is a form of racism that keeps Chicana women from achieving their highest goals such as careers or social positions. This causes Chicano/Chicana cultures to encourage the oppression of their nationality and ethnic pride. Chicana feminists recognize this and make a point of their pride.

This form of oppression is especially difficult for Chicana women working within caucasian and/or wealthy households as housekeepers and/or babysitters. They are treated as different from the rest in the household in which they work; as if ghosts. This brings a gothic undertone to the lives of these women as individuals who can be outsiders to both forms of their cultures which leads to self hate, loneliness, depression, and lack of identity.

These issues act as the hardships that make Chicana/Chicano literature such a creative and expressive outlet from which the author can create eerie and abnormal symbolism in order to convey the oppression that he /she and the general Chicano/Chicana population experiences. This is where the Chicana gothic genre comes in through literature as a tool of power and justice within the Chicana feminism movement. In a class reading, “What Is American Gothic?” by Allan Lloyd Smith, the author sheds light on what the gothic aspect of Chicana literature achieves for the point that wishes to be expressed. Smith claims, “Hallmarks of the Gothic include a pushing toward extremes and excess, and that, of course, implies an investigation of limits. In exploring extremes, whether of cruelty, rapacity and fear, or passion and sexual degration, the Gothic tends to reinforce […]“. As Smith states, the Gothic approach to Chicana literature, which is used as a tool within the Chicana movement, explores the darkness of the oppression that produces the extremes that he speaks of. The Gothic genre, pushing limits by nature, demands the emotions and hardship of the story being told as it brings the material out of the comfort zone of both the writer and the reader. By this, the Chicana gothic genre works to express the issues faced by these Mexican-American women.

Sources:

1. Young, Michelle D., and Linda Skrla. Reconsidering Feminist Research in Educational Leadership. Albany: State U of New York, 2003. Print.

2.Smith, Allan Lloyd. American Gothic Fiction: An Introduction. New York: Continuum, 2004. Print.