You are what you eat. The essence of being is our identity, so what we choose to eat has a large impact on who we are. By defining identity and applying these definitions in relation to food we can discover how we identify through the foods we eat, creating a food identity. For Mexican Americans, it is la comida que sí se come! I have classified the following as our most basic forms of identity: mental versus the physical or biological, and individual versus group. Within the group identity stem the facets of race, ethnicity, nationality, language and culture that all make up a Mexican American identity. By thoroughly exploring the four basic classifications of identity we are able to apply the methods of identity creation towards our interactions with food, from our first learned experiences as children, to later cooking for our own children, which all lead to the creation of our food identities. Once food identity is understood it can be applied specifically to the Mexican American experience, therefore exploring how the food choices that Mexican Americans make contribute towards a unique food identity. Just like the Mexican American self identity, Mexican American food identity is neither “Mexican” nor “American,” and yet it can be both. Like self identity, this food identity consists of a long historical background, embracing dual nationalities and combining life experiences with culture. It is also heavily influenced by family- familia- more so than a generic food identity. / text

This thesis uses autoethnographic research of the Mexican American art community in Austin, Texas to demonstrate how edgewalkers, people to move between multiple cultural worlds yet retain their own identity, become informal art educators through the process of transculturation. The work describes this cyclical and on-going process that includes curiosity, knowledge gathering, and awareness of self and others and the summation of these elements, which leads to transculturation. For this research, four informal art educators practicing in Austin were interviewed. Each of the collaborators practices art in different media including visual art, curating of exhibitions, performance, and graphic design. The descriptions and analysis of the researcher’s experiences along with those of the informal art educators reveal a third landscape, or an alternative space and identity, where multiple cultural worlds overlap into bicultural, bilingual and/or biconceptual environments. This thesis demonstrates how informal art education, made possible through transcultural experiences, is an effective tool in art education and culturally responsive instruction. / text

This thesis examines the ways in which popular media forms explore ideas of national identity, citizenship, and the politics of representation with regards to queer Xicana women, especially those residing in Los Angeles. Specifically, through an analysis of the television show The L Word, Cherrie Moraga’s play The Hungry Woman and Aurora Guerrero’s film Mosquita y Mari, this thesis argues that the queer Xicana experience is best represented in popular culture by queer Xicanas themselves.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1993. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [238]-254).

O objetivo desta dissertação é investigar o viés coletivo da autobiografia ficcional de Face of an angel, da escritora estadunidense e de origem mexicana Denise Chávez. Desse modo, o trabalho pretende discutir a sociedade chicana descrita sob a ótica da narradora/protagonista, Soveida Dosamantes, investigando desde o processo histórico de que é resultado, passando pela iniquidade entre os papéis desempenhados por homens e mulheres até chegar ao discurso autorreferencial com que a narradora/protagonista representa o ambiente cultural em que se insere. Antes da narrativa propriamente dita, há a árvore genealógica da narradora/protagonista, assinalando que o que vai se descortinar ao longo da leitura é uma saga de família. Assim, Soveida Dosamantes utiliza a sua ambiência doméstica, bem como a comunidade da fictícia cidade de Água Oscura, sua cidade natal, como recorte de uma estrutura social maior. Fazendo uso do discurso autobiográfico, a narradora/protagonista criada por Denise Chávez expõe as mazelas de uma comunidade que, em virtude ser produto do colonialismo e do neocolonialismo, perdeu sua identidade cultural. Em Face of an angel, através do relato em primeira pessoa de sua narradora/protagonista, a autora Denise Chávez reproduz o universo em que nasceu e cresceu. Cedendo a Soveida Dosamantes componentes autobiográficos como complicadas relações familiares, personagens femininas nativas que funcionam como sentinelas de práticas ancestrais que o domínio europeu apagou, personagens masculinos que mascaram sua fragilidade por trás de uma força e de um poder aparentes, Chávez representa em Face of an Angel o microcosmos de uma comunidade que vem, aos poucos, subvertendo o discurso oficial e conquistando o seu terreno no panorama político e social estadunidense / The present dissertation aims to investigate the collective hue of Face of an angel, a fictional autobiography by Mexican American writer Denise Chávez. Therefore, this research intends to discuss the Chicano society described under the lens of its narrator/protagonist, Soveida Dosamantes, investigating it since the historical process it resulted from, moving to the iniquity between mens and womens roles, and finally reaching the self-referential discourse with which the narrator/protagonist represents the cultural environment she is inserted in. Before the narrative itself, the reader is presented to the narrator/protagonists genealogic tree, signaling that what is going to develop throughout the novel is a family saga. Thus, Soveida Dosamantes makes use of her domestic ambience and also the community of the fictional town of Agua Oscura, her homeland, as the cutout of a major social framework. Employing autobiographical discourse, the narrator/protagonist created by Denise Chávez exposes the ills of a community that, as a product of colonialism and neocolonialism, has lost its cultural identity. In Face of an Angel, by means of the narrator/protagonists first person account, Denise Chávez reproduces the ethos she was born and grew up in. Endowing Soveida Dosamantes with autobiographical components such as complicated family relations, native women characters who work as gatekeepers of ancestral practices erased by European domination, as well as men characters who mask frailty underneath the appearance of strength and power, Chávez represents in Face of an angel a microcosm of a group which little by little has been subverting the official discourse and gaining terrain in the U.S. political and social panorama

abstract: This dissertation examines how contemporary ideologies of race and “colorblind” discourse are reproduced, deployed, and reimagined in Mexican American literature. It demonstrates that the selected narratives foreground inconsistencies in colorblind ideologies and problematize the instability and perennial reformulation of race definitions in the United States. This study also contributes to the discussion of racial formation in Mexican American literary studies from 1970 to 2010. Chapter One provides the critical and literary context of Mexican American literature from 1970 to 2010. Chapter Two details the process of racial formation in the United States according to Michael Omi and Howard Winant. Simultaneously, this chapter describes the theoretical framework and concepts of experience and epistemic privilege, mestizaje, and intercultural relations as offered respectively by Paula M. L. Moya, Rafael Pérez-Torres, and Marta E. Sánchez. Chapter Three offers an analysis of racial discourse and assimilation via two autobiographical texts: Oscar Acosta’s The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (1972) and Richard Rodriguez’s Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez (1982). Chapter Four examines the colorblind racial ideology in two texts by Mexican American women authors: Erlinda Gonzales-Berry’s Paletitas de guayaba (1991) and Mona Ruiz’s Two Badges: The Lives of Mona Ruiz (1998). Chapter Five explores the rearticulation of colorblind racial discourse in the “postracial” United States. In this chapter, we examine three works of speculative fiction: The Rag Doll Plagues (1992) by Alejandro Morales, Texas 2077: A Futuristic Novel (1998) by Carlos Miralejos, and Lunar Braceros 2125-2148 (2009) by Rosaura Sánchez and Beatrice Pita. By combining theories from Chicana/o Studies, Critical Race and Gender Studies, and Cultural Studies in my textual analysis, my dissertation challenges notions of contemporary colorblind or postracial ideologies that regard present day discussions of race as counterproductive to U.S. race relations. [Text in Spanish] / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation International Letters and Cultures 2017

O objetivo desta dissertação é investigar o viés coletivo da autobiografia ficcional de Face of an angel, da escritora estadunidense e de origem mexicana Denise Chávez. Desse modo, o trabalho pretende discutir a sociedade chicana descrita sob a ótica da narradora/protagonista, Soveida Dosamantes, investigando desde o processo histórico de que é resultado, passando pela iniquidade entre os papéis desempenhados por homens e mulheres até chegar ao discurso autorreferencial com que a narradora/protagonista representa o ambiente cultural em que se insere. Antes da narrativa propriamente dita, há a árvore genealógica da narradora/protagonista, assinalando que o que vai se descortinar ao longo da leitura é uma saga de família. Assim, Soveida Dosamantes utiliza a sua ambiência doméstica, bem como a comunidade da fictícia cidade de Água Oscura, sua cidade natal, como recorte de uma estrutura social maior. Fazendo uso do discurso autobiográfico, a narradora/protagonista criada por Denise Chávez expõe as mazelas de uma comunidade que, em virtude ser produto do colonialismo e do neocolonialismo, perdeu sua identidade cultural. Em Face of an angel, através do relato em primeira pessoa de sua narradora/protagonista, a autora Denise Chávez reproduz o universo em que nasceu e cresceu. Cedendo a Soveida Dosamantes componentes autobiográficos como complicadas relações familiares, personagens femininas nativas que funcionam como sentinelas de práticas ancestrais que o domínio europeu apagou, personagens masculinos que mascaram sua fragilidade por trás de uma força e de um poder aparentes, Chávez representa em Face of an Angel o microcosmos de uma comunidade que vem, aos poucos, subvertendo o discurso oficial e conquistando o seu terreno no panorama político e social estadunidense / The present dissertation aims to investigate the collective hue of Face of an angel, a fictional autobiography by Mexican American writer Denise Chávez. Therefore, this research intends to discuss the Chicano society described under the lens of its narrator/protagonist, Soveida Dosamantes, investigating it since the historical process it resulted from, moving to the iniquity between mens and womens roles, and finally reaching the self-referential discourse with which the narrator/protagonist represents the cultural environment she is inserted in. Before the narrative itself, the reader is presented to the narrator/protagonists genealogic tree, signaling that what is going to develop throughout the novel is a family saga. Thus, Soveida Dosamantes makes use of her domestic ambience and also the community of the fictional town of Agua Oscura, her homeland, as the cutout of a major social framework. Employing autobiographical discourse, the narrator/protagonist created by Denise Chávez exposes the ills of a community that, as a product of colonialism and neocolonialism, has lost its cultural identity. In Face of an Angel, by means of the narrator/protagonists first person account, Denise Chávez reproduces the ethos she was born and grew up in. Endowing Soveida Dosamantes with autobiographical components such as complicated family relations, native women characters who work as gatekeepers of ancestral practices erased by European domination, as well as men characters who mask frailty underneath the appearance of strength and power, Chávez represents in Face of an angel a microcosm of a group which little by little has been subverting the official discourse and gaining terrain in the U.S. political and social panorama

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關於<<保佑我, 烏荻瑪>>這本書, 我主要想討論兩個重點. 首先, 是書中主角安東尼之奧德賽式之心路歷程, 第二則是要討論安東尼之人格發展在其特殊之奇哥拿(Chicano)文化背景下所受到之影響與其因應之道. 基本上, 我對此小說之討論著重在其文化背景之論述上, 故關於安東尼之人格發展之討論上, 我著眼其族群意識上之發展, 從小說中找出他如何去認同其奇哥拿族群. 而關於奇哥拿之特殊生活背景, 我將會引用奇哥拿族群中發展出來之觀念—“族群混和(mestizaje).” 由於這種不尋常的生活條件, 造就了奇哥拿族群生存之曖昧和矛盾性, 但他們也因此因應出其對策, 也就是墨藉女批評家安則杜雅(Gloria Anzaldua)提出之邊域意識理論 (borderland consciousness), 強調其政治地位上之流動性與多變性. 另一方面, <<保佑我, 烏荻瑪>>此書中採用了很多奇哥拿文化中深具本土印第安色彩之民俗神話. 就安東尼之族群意識發展來看, 這些神話具有極大之重要性, 但另一方面, 這部份之描寫也常常使此小說被評為流於懷舊式之民俗地方志. 我也將探討種族歷史與時代性之間之關係. 在此書中, 我們可看到此二者並非是以絕對之衝突關係, 而是一具銜結性/因果性之存在. 此外, 書中穿插了安東尼之富戲劇性之夢境, 我也將討論這些夢對整體結構與安東尼人格發展之間的關係. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv Chinese Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vi English Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii Introduction History of Struggles: The Chicanos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Chapter One Myth as the Cultural Root: Ethnic Consolidation . . . . . . . . 29 Chapter Two The Process to Individuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 Chapter Three Man of Synthesis: The New World Person . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Conclusion The Hard-won Survival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120 Works Cited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129 / From Bless Me, Ultima, I would like to present two major themes. First of all, it is the spiritual odyssey of the protagonist, Antonio. Second, my contention will move to Antonio’s psychological development, which is much under his Chicano cultural influences, and further on to his responding strategies. Basically, my emphasis will be laid on his gradual realization of his ethnic identity, regarding to the development of his personality. From the text, my task is to trace Antonio’s process of identification with his Chicano peers. I would apply to my discussion of the Chicano cultural background the idea of “mestizaje,” which is unique and evolved by Chicanos themselves. Such an unusual living condition creates a great degree of ambiguity and dilemma, but otherwise, Chicanos in response come out with their own strategy, which is called by Gloria Anzaldua “the borderland consciousness.” This notion largely draws from the dynamics and fluidity of their political status. On the other hand, Bless Me, Ultima is inserted greatly with indigenous Chicano/Indian folklore and legends. As far as Antonio’s ethnic consciousness is concerned, these myths contain a great importance. Whereas, this mythic aspect also tends to draw for the text negative criticism and hence the story is degraded as mere ethnography. From this discrepancy, I would lead my discussion of the novel further to the relation between ethnic history and contemporarity. In the text, these two units exist in a supplementary form, instead of being conflicting. In addition, the text is also inserted with a long sequence of dramatic dreams. I would like to discuss how these dreams affect the overall structure of the book and their relation to Antonio’s personality development.

Envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967, the Poor People's Campaign (PPC) represented a bold attempt to revitalize the black freedom struggle as a movement explicitly based on class, not race. Incorporating African Americans, ethnic Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, American Indians, and poor whites, the PPC sought a broad coalition to travel to Washington, D.C., and pressure the government to fulfill the promise of the War on Poverty. Because of King's death and the campaign's subsequent premature end amid rain-driven, ankle-deep mud and just a few, isolated policy achievements, observers then and scholars since have dismissed the campaign as not only a colossal failure, but also the death knell of the modern freedom struggle. Using a wide range of sources - from little-used archives and Federal Bureau of Investigation files to periodicals and oral histories - this project recovers the broader significance of the campaign. Rejecting the paradigm of success and failure and placing the PPC in the broader context of the era's other social movements, my analysis opens the door to the larger complexity of this pivotal moment of the 1960s. By highlighting the often daunting obstacles to building an alliance of the poor, particularly among blacks and ethnic Mexicans, this study prompts new questions. How do poor people emancipate themselves? And why do we as scholars routinely expect poor people to have solidarity across racial and ethnic lines? In fact, the campaign did spark a tentative but serious conversation on how to organize effectively across these barriers. But the PPC also assisted other burgeoning social movements, such as the Chicano movement, find their own voices on the national scene, build activist networks, and deepen the sophistication of their own power analyses, especially after returning home. Not only does this project challenge the continued dominance of a black-white racial framework in historical scholarship, it also undermines the civil rights master narrative by exploring activism after 1968. In addition, it recognizes the often-competing, ethnic-driven social constructions of poverty, and situates this discussion at the intersection of the local and the national. / Dissertation