Undertak Allegory

Maria went into great detail describing the poor conditions in the maquiladora as well as the many struggles she had faced. She had to work hard and fight for all of what she has achieved and admiringly remained optimistic all throughout her struggle. However, “The Maquiladora” doesn’t only discuss the encounters between Maria and Langweische but it also discusses the minor encounters and portrayal of Mexican people and the US manufacturing companies that run the

Negotiating Conquest is a scholarly work written by Miroslava Chavez-Garcia, which analyzes women 's roles in history, and discusses how the political system has affected their roles. It covers the period between the 1770 's to the 1880 's, the periods before and after American Conquest. Likewise, this book is divided into two sections, chapters 1-3 discusses "Women in Spanish and Mexican California," and chapters 4-6 discusses "Women in American California." This work analyzes the major ideas present within each period and how it affected women 's roles and power. The time and effort put into this book, is something that the author enjoyed, calling it a "labor of love." Overall, she then claims that her purpose in writing this work is to, "honor and recognize woman of all ethnic backgrounds, social classes, and regions, who established households, nurtured and reared families, and rose above personal adversity in societies that often ignored, overlooked, and rendered them invisible."

Sabina Berman is a notable and critically acclaimed Mexican playwright. Berman’s notable work includes her first published play, Yankee (1979). In Adam Versényi’s translation of Yankee, Berman explores the relationship between the individual and identity. Through the three main characters—Bill, Alberto, and Rosa—we see the continual conflict they face as they aspire to achieve their respective objectives: to feel nurtured and loved, to have peace and quiet, and to feel loved and acknowledged. But it is Berman’s interjection of juxtapositions that forces us to analyze the relationship between the main characters. More specifically, Berman focuses on the impact Bill has as an intruder, and how he highlights the national identity incompatibilities between North American and Mexican cultures, to expose the serious social and political problems between the nations.

During the Mexican American war, racial tensions against people with Mexican ancestry increased. As the United States began to take over Mexican land many Anglo Americans continuously showed their rejection of Mexican culture and citizens by treating them cruel and unjust. The text, Early California Through the Eyes of Women, contains Bancroft and Cerruti’s interview of Rosalio Vallejo. In 1874, Vallejo recounts her experiences with complete resentment toward what had happened to her in 1846. More specifically, Vallejo’s interview reveals the injustices she was forced to endure during the Bear Flag Rebellion. Her testimonio exposes the authoritarian attitude American officials such as John C. Fremont possessed against the Californios. Not only did these men cause the destruction of her town, but they also stole from her people. Similarly, during the Mexican revolution (1910-1920) common people with Mexican ancestry living in the United States were succumbed to inferior treatment. In, Texas- Mexican Cancionero: Folksongs of the Lower Border, by Americo Paredes, the corridos stress the oppression men like Jacinto Trevino had to overcome in the hands of Texas- Rangers. In the following paper, I will show how perceived marginal figures like Rosalia Vallejo and Jacinto Trevino are able to resist the unjust treatment of Anglo American government officials in their own respective manners. While the testimonio shows resistance against American militant interference indirectly through Vallejos protest of American culture and her embracement of the spanish language, the corrido rejects Texans inferior treatment directly and physically through Trevino’s unapologetically confrontational comments and violent actions. Thus, both texts use a distinct tone and repetitive phrases in order to expose how people with Mexican ancestry have found ways to resist a long lineage of historical repression caused by their American neighbors.

Everyone has heard, “Remember the Alamo”, but the Alamo remembered today is not reality. Rather than seeing the Alamo as a symbol of Texas independence or American spirit, Richard Flores contends that the resurrection of the Alamo in the 1880s by Anglos was about social class and racial identity. To prove his argument, Flores presents the actual history of the Alamo, compares two women who influenced the Alamo—Clara Driscoll and Adina De Zavala, and analyzes the representations of the Alamo in film. Flores structures his argument by first presenting a social theory to explain why and when this occurred and then presents his evidence. In the greater context, Flores’s work attempts to explain the history of Anglo and Tejano relations in

Whether it be on prayer cards or gold chains, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe has resonance with the nation of Mexico. Modern Mexican icons, such as the Virgin of Guadalupe, have foundations in Post-Conquest New Spain's plight in forming an identity separate from that of Spain. In James Cordova's "Colonial Rhetorics," a chapter within The Art of Professing in Bourbon Mexico, Cordova asserts a similar notion. This chapter argues that local emblems, such as the Virgin of Guadalupe and the crowned nuns, were manipulated to articulate integral portions of New Spain's identity in the eighteenth century. This paper summarizes this chapter's three subheadings: European Images of the Americas, Local American Emblems, and New Spanish Patriotism

Throughout history, myth has taught lessons, explained phenomena, and perpetuated common knowledge and thought. Myth is threaded into history all over the world, and along the border of the United States and Mexico is no different. In “Woman Hollering Creek,” Sandra Cisneros reinscribes myths that have perpetuated the patriarchy, breaking down stereotypes and the narratives that we have come to associate with them. This essay will explore the roles of La Llorona and La Malinche in “Woman Hollering Creek” and “Never Marry A Mexican.” These myths are inscribed within Mexican American women and Cisneros combats these archetypes by retelling them. The reinscription of these myths by Sandra Cisneros gives up hope that there is more than just the fate of the mourning mother, the colonized victim, and the virgin.

The database of Chicano Por Mi Raza conveys the lives of these many great and inspiring women from the earth of history to the light. One of these great lives was of Sonia Lopez. Though it was hard to decide on which these women carried the best story, because many of their stories carried the weight of a great-lived history. However, Sonia’s story, her history resonated brighter and glowed with a greater depth. Her struggle in early life, political activism in and out of college, and her path toward Chicano academics is what makes her story an adventure that Robert Frost would say, “I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”

In Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/ La Frontera: the New Mestiza and “La Prieta”, Gloria Anzaldúashe deals with the Chicana identity within the United States. The main theme of the texts is to relay the experience of female Mexican American in the border of Mexico and the United States, in particular the ones residing in the Rio Grande Valley area. In order to make her audience understand, Anzaldúa explains the history of South Texas and the area’s various traditions/customs that occur in the area. Additionally, she discusses the experiences that minorities, especially sexual and ethnic minorities, in the United States endure . Although Anzaldúa never explicitly uses the term cut cultural oppression, it is a concept that comes to mind after

In considering both the novel and film as primarily concerned with feminine identity and female contribution to the formation of the Mexican national identity, it is important to raise several questions. Who has agency throughout the texts? To what extent is this agency beneficial? How are the crises resolved? What has been altered or omitted in the adaptation from novel to film? How is ideology infused in the texts? How does this comment upon the cultural dynamics of modern Mexico? Each of these questions require scrutinizing the texts in order to determine the relevance of the revolutionary ideals and a feminine notion of mexicanidad.

Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa was born on September 26, 1942. Anzaldua identified as Queer Chicana and studied Chicana cultural theory, feminist theory, and queer theory. Anzaldua grew up on the Mexican-Texas border and her experiences and lifelong feelings of social and cultural marginalization was the bases on which she wrote her novel, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Through the analyzation of Gloria Anzaldua’s, How to Tame a Wild Tongue through poetry I was able to relate to Anzaldua through identity by speaking in our similar narrative as female minorities in America, referencing power movements, groups and people who fight for equality and equity among races and genders, by reflecting on my writing process, and sharing the significance

Sandra Cisneros’s Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories depict the hardships that Mexican Americans face because of their complicated identity. In the story “Little Miracles, Kept Promises,” Chayo’s letter to the Virgin of Guadalupe illustrates the pressures placed on Mexican American women in a patriarchal society. Mexican American women are expected to conform to the role of being obedient, however Chayo illustrates the struggles she faces when she deviates from the customs enforced on her. Chayo’s experiences are common to Mexican American women; the obstacles that women encounter such as attaining sovereignty in their community is explained in Gloria Anzaldua’s “Borderland’s/La Frontera.” While Chayo resists conforming to her culture’s beliefs she grows to embrace her Mexican heritage once she begins to view it from a new and liberating perspective.

The mural is a grand statement, with a host of allegorical and ideological components, but it maintains a cohesive narrative throughout. The dual identities of Mexico and the United States are explored under a common umbrella, the two nations’ futures inextricably bound by their common pasts. Orozco erases the idea of American exceptionalism by refocusing U.S. creation myths through a lens of common origin: colonialism, indigenous genocide, and the cyclical nature of violence, revolution, and labor rights universal to both countries.

Holding degrees in American Culture, English and American Literature, and English, Dr. Neil Foley specializes in the evolving components of race and social identity in what he calls the Borderlands: Mexico and the American West. The White Scourge: Mexicans, Blacks, and Poor Whites in Texas Cotton Culture bridges the gap between the narratives of two Borderlands histories, that of African-Americans and southern history, and that of Mexican-Americans and southwestern history. Looking at Texas, and specifically the area from Dallas in the north, Corpus Christi in the south, San Antonio in the west, and Houston in the east, Foley analyzes how Mexicans, blacks, and poor whites maneuvered and dealt with the racial space in this Borderlands province of cotton culture during the first half of the twentieth century.

In present-day America, the Virgin of Guadalupe is held in high regard for her strength, love, and hope that she emanates to Mexican-Americans. One can say that she is the symbol and role model of Mexico, or even a part of the private flag of Mexicans.1 However, the symbolism behind the Virgin of Guadalupe is ambiguous; it holds both positive and negative meanings.2 The Virgin could also be seen as an image of oppression towards Indians and women during the era of colonization in the New World. To combat those views, Jeanette Rodriguez considers the Virgin as a beacon of hope for those who were marginalized. Richard Rodriguez also argued that the Virgin created a new and lasting identity for Mexican-Americans despite the fact that the Spanish converted them into Catholics. That new identity is explained in Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz’s essay, and highlights the significance of having solidarity within the Latino community and identifying and fighting against the root causes of oppression. Although the Virgin historically carried negative views of oppression among Latinos, she can also be a symbol of maternal love, strength, and hope to fight against oppression that was and is present in American society.