Reseña de "Who is White? Latinos, Asians, and the New Black/Nonblack Divide" de George Yancey (original) (raw)
Related papers
Book Review On Latinidad: US Latino Literature and the Construction of Ethnicity
2008
The most obvious but also the most important question for a field or a journal called Latino Studies is: how best to use the term Latino? Asking this question means considering the ways in which thinking in terms of such a category is both problematic and productive, as well as reflecting on exactly what the use of this label achieves. Marta Caminero-Santangelo’s book On Latinidad speaks to this issue in two fascinating, interlinked ways: first, she examines the identity ‘‘Latino/a’’ and the larger community that term is meant to describe, arguing as her point of departure that it exists only as an imaginary idea, and yet exerts enormous pressure on how people think about themselves and are thought of by others; and second, she considers the role that literature plays in constructing the content and boundaries of that identity. Books such as Suzanne Oboler’s Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives or Juan Flores’ From Bomba to Hip Hop have previously explored how categories like Latino/a are so...
TRANSMODERNITY: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World, 2012
López-Calvo has written several excellent studies of diasporic literatures within Latin America such as Imaging the Chinese in Cuban Literature and Culture (008) and Written in Exile: Chilean Fiction from 1973-Present (2001). Here, he turns to the literature of and about the Latino/a population of the greater Los Angeles area. As in his other books, López-Calvo's methodology, while focusing on readings of literary texts, branches out to many cultural and sociological aspects of the bodies of work surveyed, as well as focusing on underlying historical currents. He is not only an advocate, one with emancipatory intent, but also a scholar who will not cut intellectual corners in proceeding to that goal. The diligence, comprehensiveness, interpretive zest, and argumentative stamina so much in evidence in this critic's previous work are in ample evidence here. The "of and about" in terms of the Latino subject is important; López-Calvo analyzes not just works by Latino authors but looks at novels by Kate Braverman, Danny Santiago, and T. Coraghessan Boyle and a film by Allison Anders, all European-American artists who undertook more or less seriously to represent the Latino population as a major signifier in their Los Angeles-set works. Though López-Calvo points out stereotypical aspects of some of these works, he does not see them as inherently inauthentic because of the origin of their creators; instead using them to show that, even as demographic realities demand Latinos actually be represented in treatments of los Angeles rather than being marginalized or effaced, the opportunity to take a full view of their culture is often missed. In general, the works by Anglos are seen as insightful but possessing a comfort level with the status quo. Some may be more critically self-aware than others, but there is a gap-though not, López-Calvo indicates, a total one-between them and writers from the barrio who do not possess this sort of mobile social capital. The same is true, in a different way, of Latinos with an exceptional relationship to the region, such as the Chilean Alberto Fuguet, who in his Las películas de mi vida (2003) depicts a childhood in the Los Angeles of both film and reality which he evokes as both idyllic and essentially, though not unqualifiedly, admirable. Danny Santiago-an Anglo who wrote about Latinos with a Latino pseudonym, is seen as a bit more of an insider by López-Calvo, who grants that he was "born in Kansas City" (13) but sees his depiction of Latino Los Angeles as basically done from an internal rather than external perspective. Identity does not have to be purely biological or linguistic; but it does have to emanate from a felt cultural affinity. The writers from outside, however well intentioned, are trapped within certain paradigms. López-Calvo points out the limiting effects of these paradigms in his analysis of
“Es mi voz:” A Survey of Early Latina Writers in Latino Literature Anthologies
Label Me Latina/o, 2021
The production of anthologies is the result of a complex interplay of factors: the needs of teachers, the critical evaluation of editors and scholars, copyright limitations, and the demands of the marketplace. Determining the scope and contents of an anthology also has its challenges, such as genres, themes, authors, and dates. While this is true in general for anthologies, considerations for Latino literature anthologies are met with unique cultural specificities. Terminology, such as "Latina/o" or "Latinx" is still being meted out, as are parameters of the terminology, like if "Latino" only applies to people of Latin American descent living in the United States or can also include Latin Americans. It is not our intention to resolve these debates herein, however, we are interested in the question of gender representation that still persists in U.S. Latino literature anthologies. Our interest stems from the fact that Latina writers prior to 1960 have been largely excluded from Latino literature anthologies despite a growing interest since the 1980s in women authors within the U.S. Latino literary canon as well as the American canon. A survey of Latino literature anthologies is necessary to articulate the omission of early Latina writers' cultural legacy, even as the anthologies attempt to address them to some extent. We aim to explore the place that Latina authors who wrote before 1960 occupy in Latino literature anthologies published between 1997 and 2010, the date of the last publication to have an all-encompassing treatment. An analysis focusing on the degree of coincidences of the Latina authors included in these collections allows us to examine who, according to the editors, are considered the main early Latina writers. Turning our attention to these publications will shed light on the issue of Latino canon formation and the representation and legitimation of Latina voices within this canon. In this article, we argue that Latino literature anthologies have contributed to the double marginalization of early Latina writers through their patriarchal erasure from the literary canon. By double marginalization, we refer to their omission from the American canon, which overlooks Latino contributions of both sexes prior to 1960 while predominantly featuring white men as well as their exclusion as women within Latino canon formation. Our thinking aligns with that of Gloria Anzaldúa's in "Speaking in Tongues" (1981) when she states that the "woman of color is invisible both in the white male mainstream world and in the white women's feminist world" (165) and moreover, that her own culture tells her that writing is not for her (166). Since feminist frameworks underscore the significance of gender issues in history, politics, and culture (Bahri 200), then it is fair to ask why half the population is being so poorly represented and how that lack of representation is in turn de-emphasizing gendered themes. Our goal is not to intimate that the editors sought an essentialist viewpoint for their anthologies. Quite the contrary, the mere fact that these anthologies include over four hundred years of poetry, prose, and theater that feature Latina/o authors whose heritage looks to regions as varied as the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and South America affirms diverse representation. Additionally, we acknowledge that the omission of early women's voices is not specific to Latino literature anthologies, but rather a consequence of patriarchal influences of earlier periods that led to Latina writers being published and disseminated less than their Latino counterparts. In some cases, copyright permissions play a role as well, limiting use of certain texts. With that being said, our goal is to use quantitative analysis to demonstrate an imbalance in hopes that future anthologies will seek to rectify it. Although contesting a literary canon from a feminist approach is a tried-and-true way of exposing uneven
Reviewed Work(s): Latin-American Women Writers. Class, Race, and Gender by MyriamYvonne Jehenson
1996
Jim?nez); el creacionismo (Huidobro); el ultra?smo, y la generaci?n del 27 (Ortega y Gasset, Jorge Guillen, Cernuda, Lorca, D?maso Alonso y Pedro Salinas). El tercer cap?tulo sintetiza diat?nicamente, los distintos grupos intelectuales cubanos, no sin antes sentar las bases en Mart? y Juli?n del Casal. Larraga examina la poes?a visual de Regino Boti (fl. 1913-27) y la poes?a de sensaciones de Jos? Manuel Poveda (fl. 1917). Luego tantea la reacci?n de "los trece" (1923) las