Summary Of Elizabeth Diaz's ' I Am My Member '

Tanya Barrientos explained her struggle with her identity growing up in her writing “Se Habla Español”. Barrientos describes herself as being “Guatemalan by birth but pure gringa by circumstance” (83). These circumstances began when her family relocated to the United States when she was three years old. Once the family moved to the states, her parents only spoke Spanish between themselves. The children learned to how read, write and speak the English language to fit into society at that time in 1963. (83) Barrientos explained how society shifted and “the nation changed its views on ethnic identity” (85) after she graduated college and it came as a backlash to her because she had isolated herself from the stereotype she constructed in her head. She was insulted to be called Mexican and to her speaking the Spanish language translated into being poor. She had felt superior to Latino waitresses and their maid when she told them that she didn’t speak Spanish. After the shift in society Barrientos wondered where she fit it since the Spanish language was the glue that held the new Latino American community together. Barrientos then set out on a difficult awkward journey to learn the language that others would assume she would already know. She wanted to nurture the seed of pride to be called Mexican that her father planted when her father sent her on a summer trip to Mexico City. Once Barrientos had learned more Spanish and could handle the present, past and future tenses she still

You can see how Maria’s El Salvador is empty of people, full only of romantic ideas. Jose Luis’s image of El Salvador, in contrast, totally invokes manufactured weapons; violence. Maria’s “self-projection elides Jose Luis’s difference” and illustrates “how easy it is for the North American characters, including the big-hearted María, to consume a sensationalized, romanticized, or demonized version of the Salvadoran or Chicana in their midst” (Lomas 2006, 361). Marta Caminero-Santangelo writes: “The main thrust of the narrative of Mother Tongue ... continually ... destabilize[s] the grounds for ... a fantasy of connectedness by emphasizing the ways in which [Maria’s] experience as a Mexican American and José Luis’s experiences as a Salvadoran have created fundamentally different subjects” (Caminero-Santangelo 2001, 198). Similarly, Dalia Kandiyoti points out how Maria’s interactions with José Luis present her false assumptions concerning the supposed “seamlessness of the Latino-Latin American connection” (Kandiyoti 2004, 422). So the continual misinterpretations of José Luis and who he really is and has been through on Maria’s part really show how very far away her experiences as a middle-class, U.S.-born Chicana are from those of her Salvadoran lover. This tension and resistance continues throughout their relationship.

In the film “Mi Familia,” we follow the story of the Mexican-American Sánchez family who settled in East Los Angeles, California after immigrating to the United States. Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas introduce the story of this family in several contexts that are developed along generations. These generations hold significant historical periods that form the identity of each individual member of the family. We start off by exploring the immigrant experience as the family patriarch heads north to Los Angeles, later we see how national events like the great depression directly impact Maria as she gets deported, although she was a US citizen. The events that follow further oppress this family and begins separate identity formations. These

This tenacious journey to develop my identity was finally over. For a brief moment, I was able to denounce the racial stigmas against me. However, if I were to be faced with this uncomfortable situation once again, I would simply smile. I would invite anyone who disapproved of my heritage to Latin-America Fest. I refuse to be silence in the faces of the ignorant. I refuse to be intimated by racism. I stand proud and tall with my Latino brothers and sisters, facing the world everyday. Regardless of what the world may think, I will continue to defy the gravitational pull of triumph and rise above the prejudices against

Born to Peggy and Edward Garcia on October 4th 1984, I am a third generation American. My grandfather was born in Mexico and my father was born in New Mexico, while I was born at Fort Lewis Washington, I am a Soldiers Son. While growing up my father was stationed at various bases throughout the United States and I was “lucky” enough to tag along.

In Pearsall, Texas, the Anglo and Mexican communities were divided to contribute to Elva’s confusion and frustrations of being alone. The immigrant society was lumped together as their own “class” of people:

Before World War II, the Mexican American community had a very rich history in the United States; also they were suffering racial, economic and educational segregation. They still were foreigners in a land that once belonged to them. The women had a very specific part in this community´s development.

Maria Isabel Trevino was born on January 31, 1976 in Los Aldamas, Nuevo Leon: she lived here for two months subsequent to when she was born. One day her dad, Benito Resendez, and mom, Andrea Resendez, and her older brother, Abel Resendez, crossed her in the car illegally because they needed to go to California to work in the fields and the process for her citizenship had just begun and there

In lines fourteen and fifteen, the speaker sums up her observations by saying “an American to Mexicans a Mexican to Americans,” which proves that she is neither fully accepted nor supported by either group, even though she should be included in

Contreras-Sweet is a Mexican immigrant. She came to the United States at the age of five years old, with her family.

She was born into a lower class home in the suburbs of Mexico City. Her mother (whom she called ‘mi jefe’ my chief (Herrera, 1983, p14)) brought her up to be a good housewife and a ‘believer’ (Herrera, 1983).

In Farmworker’s Daughter, Rose Castillo Guilbault describes what it means to grow up Mexican in America. Her narrative points to the dividing of identity as well as the prejudices she and her family experienced in California. Her experience is both similar to and different from many of the immigrant groups that came to America before her.

Southwestern America is home to numerous cultures, all of which intermingle and interact on a daily basis. This creates a wealth of literature and art from the perspective of those who live with such a variation of experiences. Authors and artists experiencing the culture associated with being a part of many communities show the culture as they see it through their work. One such author is Gloria Anzaldua. In her poem, To Live in the Borderlands Means You, Gloria Anzaldua reveals her identity as a multicultural woman and the struggles that she faces in doing so. She relates this through the use of Spanish and English, first person perspective, and gender.

Leonora Valentine José Bautista was born on November 8, 1929 in Piddig, which is a district in the province of Ilocos Norte, Philippines. She grew up with her mother and father, and was the third out of six children in the family, which included two boys and four girls. Because her mother and father worked on the farm, they all lived in a hut mainly made out of bamboo sticks as the foundation of the house and a tin roof with hay or coconut leaves that provided protection incase it rained. In addition, they all slept in one room on the hard floor next to one another. As Leonora was telling me about her living conditions, she also added that, “Narigat ti panagdiag idi dumadakkel kami” which is translated into “Life was very hard while I was growing up.”

It’s been thirteen years since I’ve been back in the Philippines and the first time I’ve visited it as an adult. To learn more about my mother’s family I decided to interview my aunts and uncles-- Tita’s and Tito’s-- about past memories. Growing up, I knew my mother’s family was very poor, but also very close. In the beginning of my mother’s life, she, her six brothers, and four sisters lived in a mud hut and walked miles to get to school. My grandfather was a farmer and eventually moved his family on decent land where he grew rice to support his family. Coming back to the Philippines I wanted to learn more about my maternal family. My ambition was to one day keep a written record of my maternal family’s legacy to pass down to future generations so they wouldn’t lose sight of who they are and where they came from especially if I decided to marry someone who wasn’t Filipino.