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Rasquache Baroque in the Chicana/O Borderlands

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1 Rasquache Baroque in the Chicana/o Borderlands Katherine Austin The Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures McGill University, Montreal April 2012 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Katherine Austin 2012 1 Table of Contents Abstract i Résumé iii Resumen v Acknowledgements vii Introduction. Rasquache Baroque in the Chicana/o Borderlands 1 Introducing the baroque 6 Persuasion and engagement 7 Nearly 100 years of baroque modernity 14 Baroque revalorization 14 The New World Baroque as a response to European dominance 16 The New World Baroque as an expression of Latin American identity 18 Deconstruction and reconstruction of identity and culture 19 Criticism of the established order and the invention of alternatives 21 Conclusion 27 The Chicana/o borderlands 27 Chicana/o cultural production: six observations 35 Chicana/o cultural production takes a political stance. 35 Chicana/o cultural production addresses and produces subjectivities and 37 identities. Chicana/o cultural production privileges public and quotidian spaces. 38 Chicana/o cultural production employs rasquache techniques 39 Chicana/o cultural production articulates hybrid processes. 43 Chicana/o cultural production appropriates and transforms. 44 The baroque border 46 A colonial baroque historical foundation 46 Living in the crack between two worlds: the Chicana/o baroque experience 47 Rasquache baroque 49 Strategies for entering into the future 52 Conclusion 54 Chapter 1. Ana Castillo’s Xicanista Baroque: Allegory, Hagiography, and the Supernatural in So Far from God 55 Allegory in So Far from God 61 Martyrs of unpopular causes: modern day saints on the margins 74 Extraordinary events in So Far from God 87 2 Ay, corazón, no sufras más. 92 Chapter 2. Robo-baroque: The Performances of Guillermo Gómez-Peña and his Pocha Nostra 95 Allegory 105 Hagiography 115 Ethnography 122 Baroque spaces 130 Conclusion 146 Chapter 3. Amalia Mesa-Bains’s Domesticana Baroque 149 Amalia Mesa-Bains and her domesticana baroque 150 Der wünderkammer: baroque knowledge in the works of Amalia Mesa-Bains 152 Vanitas: Evidence, Ruin, Regeneration 153 The Library of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 161 The Curandera’s Botánica 167 The mirror 174 Venus Envy I: First Holy Communion before the End 176 Sor Juana’s Mirror 186 The Cihuateotl’s Mirror 194 The fold 203 Fold #1 First Holy Communion before the End 204 Venus Envy II: The Harem and Other Enclosures 207 The Study of Sor Juana 212 Venus Envy III: Cihuatlampa: Land of the Giant Women 213 Conclusion 215 Conclusion 220 The future 239 Bibliography 242 Appendix 1: Copyright Release 257 i ABSTRACT The Chicana/o borderlands have generated their own barroquismo which, having thrived on the fruits of a colonial Mexican heritage, intensified within the unique cultural climate of the Southwest US. As second-class citizens, Mexican-Americans have been excluded from the metanarratives of the nation. However, this position as outsiders has granted them a unique vantage point from which to see a multifaceted and contradictory reality. Living in the socio-cultural margins, a certain way of thinking emerged which allowed for contradictions, ambiguity, and plurality: essentially, a baroque way of thinking. This particular consciousness combined with a colonial baroque cultural foundation produced rasquachismo, a sensibility which mirrors the baroque in many ways. Operating on a constant interrelating of the baroque with Chicana/o thought and aesthetics, this dissertation will create points of suture so that the two may inform and enrich each other. All the works treated in this dissertation participate thoroughly in rasquache baroque sensibilities, citing baroque history and summoning the ghosts of the colonial past while generating inclusive structures, impure hybridities and juxtapositions, flamboyance, excess, bold transformations, and critical humour for the purpose of negotiating an adverse and complex reality and for culturally arming oneself against hegemony, in an attempt to ensure cultural survival and resistance. The first chapter, “Ana Castillo’s Xicanista Baroque: Allegory, Hagiography, and the Supernatural in So Far from God,” explores how this novel continues the colonial baroque traditions of allegory, hagiography, and miracles. The second chapter, “Robo- ii baroque: The Performances of Guillermo Gómez-Peña and his Pocha Nostra,” investigates the colonial baroque legacy which saturates the performances of Guillermo Gómez-Peña and his performance group, La Pocha Nostra. This legacy is demonstrated by a layering of baroque conventions—allegory, hagiography, and the wünderkammer—, as well as by an intensely baroque spatial and temporal ordering which harnesses the powers of decentralization, pluralism, coextensive space, and seriality. The third chapter, “Amalia Mesa-Bains’s Domesticana Baroque,” looks at the installation works of Amalia Mesa-Bains, investigating how these installations use the conventions of the wünderkammer and vanitas along with the concepts of the mirror and the fold to speak of baroque knowledge systems, female and non-Western identities, and feminine interior spaces. Finally, the conclusion relates the works studied in this thesis and elaborates on the benefits of Chicana/o baroque thought. iii RÉSUMÉ Les frontières chicanas ont généré leurs propres barroquismos qui, ayant fait pousser les fruits de l’héritage colonial mexicain, se sont intensifiés dans le climat culturel unique du sud-ouest des États-Unis. En tant que citoyens de seconde classe, les Mexico-Américains ont été exclus des méta-récits de la nation. Cependant, cette position extérieure leur a accordé un point de vue unique, d’où l’on pouvait percevoir une réalité multiforme et contradictoire. De l’habitation des marges socio-culturelles, une certaine façon de penser a émergé, permettant la coexistence de contradictions, l'ambiguïté et la pluralité: une manière de penser essentiellement baroque. Cette thèse se base sur une constante interrelation du baroque avec la pensée et l’esthétique chicanas, créant des points de suture entre ces derniers de manière à ce qu’ils puissent s’éclairer et s’enrichir mutuellement. Toutes les œuvres traitées dans cette thèse participent profondément aux sensibilités baroque-rasquaches, en citant l'histoire baroque et en évoquant les fantômes du passé colonial tout en générant des structures inclusives, des hybridités impures et des juxtapositions, de la flamboyance, de l’excès, des transformations audacieuses, et un humour critique afin de négocier les termes d’une réalité complexe et défavorable et de s’armer culturellement contre l’hégémonie de manière à assurer la survie culturelle et la résistance. Le premier chapitre, “Ana Castillo’s Xicanista Baroque: Allegory, Hagiography, and the Supernatural in So Far from God,” explore la manière dont ce roman poursuit les traditions baroques coloniales de l'allégorie, de l'hagiographie, et des miracles. Le iv deuxième chapitre, “Robo-baroque: The Performances of Guillermo Gómez-Peña and his Pocha Nostra,” examine les legs colonial-baroques qui saturent les performances de Guillermo Gómez-Peña et de son groupe de performance, La Pocha Nostra. Ce legs se traduit par une superposition de conventions baroques —l’allégorie, l’hagiographie, et le wünderkammer— ainsi que par une organisation spatiale et temporelle intensément baroque, qui exploite les pouvoirs de la décentralisation, du pluralisme, de l’espace coextensif et de la sérialité. Le troisième chapitre, “Amalia Mesa-Bains’s Domesticana Baroque,” se penche sur les œuvres d’installation d'Amalia Mesa-Bains, enquêtant sur la manière dont ces installations utilisent des conventions du wünderkammer et du vanitas, à travers les concepts du miroir et du pli, afin de parler des systèmes de connaissances baroques, des identités féminines non-occidentales et des espaces intérieurs féminins. Finalement, la conclusion relie les œuvres étudiées dans la thèse et explique les avantages de la pensée chicana-baroque. v RESUMEN Las tierras fronterizas chicanas han generado su propio barroquismo que, después de haberse nutrido de los frutos provinientes de la herencia colonial, se intensificó dentro del clima cultural único del suroeste de los EE.UU. Como ciudadanos de segunda clase, los mexicano-americanos han sido excluidos de los metarrelatos de la nación. Sin embargo, esta posición exterior les ha otorgado una posición ventajosa desde la que pueden ver una realidad multifacética y contradictoria. Al vivir en los márgenes socioculturales, emergió cierta manera de pensar que aceptó la convivencia de contradicciones, de ambigüedades y de pluralidades: en esencia, una forma de pensar barroca. Esta conciencia combinada con una base barroca colonial produjo el rasquachismo, una sensibilidad que se parece mucho al barroco. Funcionando en una constante interrelación entre el barroco y el pensamiento y la estética chicanos, esta tesis doctoral creará puntos de sutura para que los dos puedan informarse y enriquecerse mutuamente. Todas las obras tratadas en esta tesis participan profundamente de las sensibilidades barroco-rasquaches, ya que citan la historia barroca y convocan a los fantasmas del pasado colonial, a la vez que generan estructuras inclusivas, hibridaciones impuras, yuxtaposiciones, formas extravagantes, excesos, transformaciones audaces y un humor crítico. El propósito de estas prácticas es negociar una realidad adversa y compleja, armarse culturalmente
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