The Legend of : Historical, Cultural, and Feminist Significance By: Alexia Tomio-Armorer

About the author: Alexia Tomio-Armorer is currently in her fourth year of the Marine and Freshwater Biology program here at the University of Guelph. Although she is a Bachelor of Science student, she has always held a deep love and appreciation for the arts. After taking History and Culture of Mexico (HIST*3150) with Professor Karen Racine, her passion for exploring the world’s diverse cultures was reignited. From the legend of La Llorona, or “The Weeping Woman”, to tacos al pastor, Mexico’s rich culture and vibrant folklore will always hold a special place in her heart.

53 In the guttural and haunting voice of Chavela Vargas’ 1994 song “La Llorona,” resonate the words, “El que no sabe de amores, llorona, no sabe lo que es martirio [He who does not know about love, llorona, does not know what martyrdom is].”1 These words perfectly describe one of the most well- known and enduring myths in Mexican culture, the legend of La Llorona. She is a complex female figure that is very familiar in the Mexican psyche and similar to others such as the Virgen de Guadulape/Virgin of Guadalupe or La Malinche.2 The legend of La Llorona, a woman whose cries for the children whom she murdered are thought to be heard throughout Mexico and the United States, is above all a tale of love and suffering. These are aspects of human nature that resonate with all humans regardless of background. While there is large disparity in its origins and specific details, the common elements and themes allow the myth to be poignant for many people. The myth lends itself to interpretation by all who hear it and each individual can come to find their own meaning and relationship to it.3 The themes of societal expectations, gender roles, the battle between individual desire and familial obligations, as well the experiences of suffering, regret, and betrayal are universal. Thus, the legend of La Llorona is endlessly evolving and adapted by storytellers of different sexes, ages, socio-economic statuses, and ethnocultural backgrounds to reflect their own lives, experiences, and pyscho-social development.4 Each version of the story is a manifestation of one’s own hopes, anxieties, and fears, as well as a reflection of their primary life foci.5 This essay will examine the importance of the legend of La Llorona in Mexican, Chicanx, and non-native culture, specifically its historical, cultural significance and its role in feminism and pop culture, as well as how meanings evolve for different storytellers and audiences.

Origins and Historical Significance The antiquity of the story is difficult to discern because La Llorona is reminiscent of similar female figures from folklore of other cultures.6 Early 20th century scholars posited that the legend is, in fact, not Mesoamerican at all, but European in origin. Others argue that it originates in the primarily Indigenous state of Oaxaca.7 In these versions, La Llorona is an Indigenous

1 Chavela Vargas, La Llorona, Turner Records, 1994. 2 Jacqueline Doyle, “Haunting the Borderlands: La Llorona in Sandra Cisneros’s “Woman Hollering Creek,”” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 16, no. 1 (1996): 53. 3 Domino Renee Perez, “Interludes and Encounters, La Llorona Redux,” Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas 43, no. 1 (May 2010): 112. 4 Pamela Jones, ““There Was a Woman”: La Llorona in Oregon,” Western Folklore 47, no. 3 (July 1988): 197. 5 Jones, “La Llorona in Oregon,” 210. 6 Michael Kearney, “La Llorona as a Social Symbol,” Western Folklore 28, no. 3 (July 1969): 199. 7 Ibid.

54 woman, lending credence to the theory that La Llorona is whoever the individual needs her to be in order to find meaning. The story is most beneficial and meaningful when audiences see themselves reflected in the character and so it is only right that La Llorona could be Indigenous also. In the region of Ixtepeji, Oaxaca, La Llorona is often equated with a similar figure in the area’s folklore, Matlaziwa.8 She has also been equated with Aztec goddesses Cihuacoatl, Coatlicue, and Tonanztin.9 La Llorona has been likened to La Malinche, the Aztec translator for Spaniard colonizers and lover of Hernán Cortés (1485-1547),10 and so La Llorona lamenting for her children and her own demise can be a metaphor for Spanish colonization and the fall of the Aztec empire.11 The most common version of the legend is an early fictitious adaption that has inspired many later versions and the oral tradition. In this version, La Llorona is Spanish, having been brought from Spain by her father and orphaned young. She lived a quiet, modest, virtuous life alone, surviving on her craft-making ability, until she is swept away by the rich Don Nuno, Marquis of Monte-Claros (1571-1628).12 La Llorona and their three children lived in a luxurious home but her beauty was not enough to keep his attention, as he soon abandoned her for a younger bride of his own class. In a fit of rage and to save them from the suffering that they could face as impoverished ‘bastard’ children, she murdered the children with their father’s dagger. Immediately after realizing what she had done, she ran into the streets screaming for her children and those are the screams that echo in Mexico today-in dark alleyways, in the wailing wind, across riverbanks, or in a bird’s song. Luisa was hanged and, ironically, Nuno suddenly died after his honeymoon. Over the years, many who claim to have seen La Llorona become very ill,13 as she induces overwhelming fear14 in her victims. Generally, she is either a temptress or bogeywoman that kidnaps children.15

8 Ibid. 9 Bacil F Kirtley, “La Llorona” and Related Themes,” Western Folklore 19, no. 3 (July 1960): 157. 10 Bernal Diaz del Castillo, “The First Sight of Tenochtitlán,” in The Mexico Reader: History, Culture, Politics, ed. Gilbert M. Joseph and Timothy J. Henderson (London: Duke University Press, 2002), 99. 11 Betty Leddy, “La Llorona Again,” Western Folklore 9, no. 4 (October 1950): 365. 12 Y.H. Addis, “The Wailing Woman: “La Llorona,” a Legend of Mexico,” The Argonaut (March 10, 1888). Reprint, Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers 36, no. 1 (2019): 132. 13 Leddy, “La Llorona Again,” 363. 14 Ibid., 365. 15 Patricia Marina Trujillo, “Becoming La Llorona,” Chicana/Latina Studies 6, no. 1 (Fall 2006): 100.

55 Cultural Identity The legend of La Llorona and other folktales has been passed down through oral tradition as reminders of lives lived long before one was born.16 Those who claim to have seen or been a victim of Llorona are also key to the transmission of the myth as it becomes a part of that family’s tradition and identity.17 There is also regional variation in the myth that leads to dispute about its origin. However, the legend of La Llorona is a powerful unifying force as an example of a character that is distinctly Mexican. Whether one believes in the tale or not it is central to Mexican cultural identity. There are several common themes in all versions of the myth, such as air, water, and sin, which have religious undertones. As La Llorona can be invisible and float or fly through the air, she is associated with air and spirits because those who are not accepted into Heaven by God are condemned to float though the air of earth. Thus, the air and outside can be surrounded with dangerous spirits.18 While the idea of spirits strays from the Catholicism, it aligns with the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration in which the souls of loved ones are said to walk the earth to reunite with their families.19 Many have argued that since La Llorona is sometimes depicted as mestiza [mixed race], she is representative of the “crossroads” of Mexican and American identity (Chicanx),20 as well as the mestiza Mexican nation itself is a hybrid of Spanish and Indigenous ethnicity and culture.21 The tale is also particularly relevant in Mexican culture because it is used as a disciplinary tool to elicit good behaviour from children. Parents and children have different renderings and memories associated with the myth as well.22 Some families have even resorted to making their own La Llorona figures to scare children who wander too far from home.23 The figures teach children of the dangers that exist outside of the home base, whether it is a physical threat such as a predator, or the lure of an unsafe lifestyle that goes against social and religious beliefs (i.e. drugs, alcohol, sex).24 By scaring children to the point where they may themselves become like La Llorona

16 Trujillo, “Becoming La Llorona,” 96. 17 Leddy, 364. 18 Kearney, 200. 19 Amy Fuller, “The evolving legend of La Llorona.” History Today, November 2015. 20 Jacqueline Doyle, “Haunting the Borderlands: La Llorona in Sandra Cisneros’s “Woman Hollering Creek,”” Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies 16, no. 1 (1996): 65. 21 Stephanie Serrano, “No More Tears: La Llorona at the Crossroads of Feminism, Postmodernism and Futurity in Chicana Theory and Criticism” (PhD diss., Arizona State University, 2009),7. 22 Jones, 195. 23 Trujillo, 104. 24 Rudolfo A. Anaya, “La Llorona, El Kookooee, and Sexuality,” Bilingual Review / La Revista Bilingüe 17, no. 1 (April 1992): 53-54.

56 through their wailing and tears,25 the legend acts as a powerful didactic tale because disobeying and straying from ideals can lead to trouble and danger. It teaches an important lesson about safety and reflects parents’ fears about being powerless to the dangers that exist in the real world - that they may not be able to protect their children from.26 Thus, La Llorona is an important Mexican figure like the Virgin of Guadalupe and La Malinche because she provides cultural connection and a unified Mexican identity and worldview.27

Feminist Perspective Many researchers have interviewed Mexican and Mexican-American subjects to hear the variation in La Llorona renditions and have found a clear distinction between male and female versions.28 Despite the various interpretations of La Llorona, they all speak of the consequences for a woman who strays from her proper role as wife, mother, or lover, failing to comply with the ideals of femininity and marianismo in Mexican culture.29 Ultimately, this story is reflective of the patriarchal views of women in the Catholic Church and patriarchal Mexican society. Any women who do not fulfill their perceived roles will be punished and condemned eternally, like La Llorona.30 It is didactic for women and serves as a warning about defying prescribed gender roles. The means by which the story is transmitted, through oral traditions, leaves it open to much interpretation especially between male and female perspectives. Males tend to vilify La Llorona, calling her a bad, evil woman and find justification in her punishment because she did not live up to her expected roles. Many claim that if women are not careful, they can receive the same fate as La Llorona.31 Men especially emphasize the idea of La Llorona leaving her family to walk the streets, which is very telling of attitudes to women’s sexuality, since the idea has sexual connotations. Male accounts exemplify the virgin/puta (virgin/whore) dichotomy that Mexican women face and the importance of machismo in Mexican culture.32 Women, on the other hand, tend to sympathize with La Llorona for being abandoned and having

25 Trujillo, 103. 26 Ibid., 100. 27 Bruce H. Ziff and Pratima V. Rao, Borrowed Power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation (New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1997), 9. 28 Holly F. Mathews, “Intracultural Variation in Beliefs About Gender in a Mexican Community,” American Behavioural Scientist 31, no. 2 (November 1987): 222. 29 A. Mirande and E. Enriquez, La Chicana (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 33. 30 Mathews, “Intracultural Variations in Beliefs About Gender in Mexican Community,” 221. 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid., 222.

57 to take care of the children on her own. They justify her actions because ultimately the husband’s infidelity was the cause of the tragedy.33 Machismo is male virility, superiority over women, sexual aggression, and dominance in life in Mexican culture.34 Subsequently, ideal women passively follow the lead of men in her life, from fathers and brothers to husbands. In doing so, they adhere to marianismo, the counterpart to machismo (the ideal male). This ideal is inspired by the Virgin Mary, and dictates that a married woman should act as the Holy mother of the family, being pious, nurturing, and long suffering. Women who were yet to be married should maintain their virginity, and, thus, their perceived purity. Alternatively, women who do not conform to marianismo fall into to the whore archetype, being seen as temptresses and failing their families. The stereotypical mujer mala [bad woman] neglects her family duties and puts herself above her moral obligation to those dependent on her.35 The concept of La Llorona walking the streets shows the male perception that women are sexually uncontrolled. Many believe that women can initially fool a man into marrying them by being decent (like Dona Luisa) but eventually their true nature will be revealed and cause them to pursue personal desires.36 “Good” women do not walk the street alone and to do so means that she is receptive to the male advances that she may elicit. Women’s desires might be controlled through subordination, but there seems to be a male fear that if not properly controlled, the whole family unit is jeopardized.37 Additionally, males often depict La Llorona as a conceited woman who shunned the advances of men in her town, believing she was too good for them because they did not match her beauty.38 This carries the connotation that she is a bad woman due to her vanity and that this vanity was the root cause of her demise and suffering. Ironically, women are condemned for vanity and are discriminated against based on looks, yet most men attribute value to women based on their beauty and youth. La Llorona’s beauty is emphasized for the purpose of male pleasure, yet she is simultaneously condemned for owning her own sexuality and beauty. This illustrates the fear of many men about female sexual power that they (men) ultimately cannot control.39 La Llorona fits into the common archetype of the beautiful, and thus dangerous, temptress who deceives men.40 By gaining the trust of male victims through

33 Ibid. 34 Evelyn P. Stevens, “Marianismo: The Other Face of Machismo in Latin America,” In Female and Male in Latin America, ed. A. Pescatello. (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973), 89. 35 Stevens, “Marianismo: The Other Face of Machismo in Latin America,” 95. 36 Mathews, 226. 37 Ibid., 225. 38 Trujillo, 99. 39 Mathews, 226. 40 Kearney, 200.

58 her beauty and charms, she is able to benefit from him and then harm him either out of malevolence or desire for revenge. This is reflective of the view that many women are interesadas, motivated solely by selfish desires, taking what they want from men and leaving.41 In their interpretations, women often include the demise of La Llorona’s husband as a clear indication of their view that men who cheat and abandon their wives have failed to meet their obligations as husbands and should also be punished.42 In their opinion, La Llorona had no choice because it is in a man’s nature to have an insatiable sexual appetite like “animals.”43 Thus, women also feel as though men are sexually uncontrolled. Additionally, women often interpret La Llorona’s filicide and suicide as justifiable to end her situation and to deprive her lover of a man’s main source of pride, his family.44 This exemplifies the gender roles in Mexican culture and the prototypic relationship as the man should provide for his family and his wife should meet the needs of her husband and children. Both positions require loyalty, however the wife must be wholly dedicated. The successful marriage in the eyes of the Church and Mexican society requires the sacrifice of personal desires to obligations that must be endured.45 The myth is also didactic in its teachings about sexuality and gender roles. La Llorona’s fate is a clear warning to women about not fulfilling their roles and the consequences of turning one’s back on God and men.46 The myth is used to induce shame47 in women for their sexual indiscretions, inability to mother, and trusting deceptive men.48 It also curtails so-called “inappropriate” displays of femininity,49 such as sexual desire and independence, thus forcing women to prescribe to marianismo, through self-denial,50 and by being a long-suffering mother and wife. Otherwise, like La Llorona who spends eternity searching for her children, women who do not follow their prescribed gender roles may be eternally punished as well. This is also a metaphor for the patriarchal roles forced upon women that are inescapable and make for long-suffering mothers, even in death.

41 Mathews, 226. 42 Ibid., 222. 43 Ibid., 227. 44 Ibid., 229. 45 Ibid., 223. 46 Domino Renee Perez, “The Politics of Taking: La Llorona in the Cultural Mainstream,” Journal of Popular Culture 45, no. 1 (2012): 162. 47 Serrano, “No More Tears: La Llorona at the Crossroads of Feminism, Postmodernism and Futurity in Chicana Theory and Criticism,” 2. 48 Ibid, 3. 49 Ibid. 50 Ibid., 7.

59 Additionally, La Llorona committed the ultimate sin of a woman by failing her duties as a mother. She failed by not adhering to marianismo and is condemned by God to an eternity of suffering. Interestingly, unlike other worldviews that consider redemption and atonement, there is no redemption for her sins.51 This could validate that the myth does indeed have Meso- American origins due to the fatalistic perspective. However, this could also be a hyperbolic metaphor for the Church’s and patriarchal view that there is no greater sin for a woman than a wife’s/mother’s betrayal.52 Also, while both La Llorona and her lover abandoned those who trusted them, the female’s actions were deemed far worse, showing the power imbalance and hypocrisy of patriarchal views.53 Some argue that Llorona’s actions of filicide and suicide were her only choice to escape the patriarchy54 and thus she embodies women’s liberation. Sometimes women may indeed feel like this is their only choice. For example, Juana Leija, a Mexican mother in Texas, attempted to kill her seven children in 1986 to spare them from their abusive father. Afterwards, she claimed to be La Llorona.55 The legend of La Llorona has inspired many women to take the brave step of removing oneself and children from an abusive household and sparing them from the pain of poverty and abuse.56 La Llorona is often depicted as the archetype of negative motherhood,57 however, the multi-dimensionalism of her character is evident, as she can represent both maternal betrayal yet maternal resistance and protection of the innocent by sparing them.58 Moreover, due to the fact that she was left for another woman in most versions, she also can be seen avenging women by acting as a temptress to entice parranderos (men who gallivant and drink at night, especially with other women), thus punishing them for neglecting their families.59 The tale also teaches that men have a duty to be at home to support their families. La Llorona can be seen as a defender of women who might experience abuse at the hands of intoxicated husbands. La Llorona is a hero60 against

51 Kearney, 201. 52 Ibid. 53 Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, “On Men’s Hypocrisy,” In The Mexico Reader: History, Culture, Politics, eds. Gilbert M. Joseph and Timothy J. Henderson (London: Duke University Press, 2002), 157. 54 Doyle, “Haunting the Borderlands: La Llorona in Sandra Cisneros’s “Woman Hollering Creek,”” 53. 55 Perez, “Interludes and Encounters, La Llorona Redux,” 112. 56 Doyle, “Haunting,” 65. 57 Serrano, “No More Tears,” 12. 58 Ana Maria Carbonell, “From Llorona to Gritona: Coatlicue in Feminist Tales by Viramontes and Cisneros,” Myth and Ritual 24, no. 2 (Summer 1999): 54. 59 Mathews, “Intracultural Variation in Beliefs,” 230. 60 Ibid., 229.

60 the predatory (macho) male, mostly from female perspectives.61 This could also be a metaphor for protecting women from not just individual men, but the oppression of the patriarchy itself. She reclaims the demeaning view of women as temptress by using her beauty that men so often condemn, yet unashamedly enjoy, to bring them to their own demise. Interestingly, while females comply with prescribed gender roles and thus perpetuate them, their defiance in evident in their sympathy and sometimes reverence for La Llorona, especially as she acts as feminist figure. There are mixed feelings about the actions of La Llorona, as some empathize with what she did. She is not a saint, but not wholly a sinner. She represents the complexity of what is means to be female. Few women fall perfectly into the virgin/whore dichotomy despite what they outwardly present or what society dictates. Women are a combination of many roles and descriptors, much like La Llorona – and they cannot fit into the categories that patriarchy wishes to put her in, such as scorned lovers, sinners, or pitiful women with no choice. La Llorona raises above an alienated archetype62 to become a multidimensional character. With each adaptation, she evolves to fit each writers’ and audience members’ multiple intersecting identities of gender, sex, age, class, ethnicity, religion, and culture.

Media and Appropriation La Llorona is an archetypal figure that has inspired multiple re-imaginations through various media with authorship Mexican,63 American Indigenous,64 and non-native65 in origin. The central themes of the legend are so universal that it remains largely relevant today and can easily be transplanted into contemporary media and different cultures. The long-time native Mexican inhabitants of America’s southern states and the migration of Mexicans into the Unites States means that the legend has transmigrated into Chicanx and larger American culture, media, and consumerism.66 In a way, La Llorona herself is a “cultural emissary” by bridging cultural differences to give an understanding of the legend’s central themes.67 She has been represented in a

61 Kearney, “La Llorona as a Social Symbol,” 203. 62 Serrano, “No More Tears,” 10. 63 Rudulfo A. Anaya, The Legend of La Llorona (Berkeley: Tonatiuh-Quinto Sol International, 1984), 43. 64 Deborah A. Miranda, The Zen of La Llorona (Cambridge: Salt Publishing, 2005), 33. 65 Michael Shewmaker, “La Llorona,” In Penumbra: Poems (Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2017), 12. 66 Betty Leddy, “La Llorona in Southern Arizona,” Western Folklore 7, no. 3 (July 1948): 272. 67 Blake, Debra J. Blake, “There was a woman: La Llorona from folklore to popular culture and Day of the dead in the USA: The migration and transformation of a cultural phenomenon,” Review of There Was a Woman: La Llorona from Folklore to Popular Culture, by Domino Renee Perez and Day of the Dead in the USA: The Migration and Transformation of a Cultural Phenomenon, by Regina M. Marchi. Latino Studies 8, no. 4 (2010): 579.

61 variety of media since the myth’s origin , but has especially inspired multiple contemporary artists due to her cross-cultural appeal. The character of La Llorona and her legend in constantly re-imagined and featured in books, poems, plays, artwork, films, television shows, graphic comics, advisements, and consumer products.68 However, the potency and cultural significance of the myth has mostly been lost, reducing La Llorona to a villain in the horror genre69 more than an important symbol of Mexican oral tradition. The legend has become whitewashed, and a distinctly Mexican mythical figure has been turned into another faceless superstition.70 For example, she is featured in an episode of a television series called Supernatural (2005), but she is given an English name, being referred to as the “Wailing Woman” or the “Woman in White.”71 Media representations such as these have been critiqued for their cultural appropriation because they perpetuate racist stereotypes of Mexicans as superstitious while still exploiting and benefiting from the myths they belittle.72 La Llorona is often lumped in with American Indigenous myths in media adaptations that reinforce the stereotypes of superstitious naivety, primitivizes them, and thus de-emphasizes the cultural significance to other cultures whose folklore was appropriated.73 The general public and unsuspecting reader who perhaps wants to learn more about Indigenous and Mexican legends is presented with erroneous information. For example, Tony Hillerman’s “The Wailing Wind” claims that La Llorona is an old Spanish myth.74 This can be seen as yet another illustration of colonization and cultural appropriation because the importance to the Mexican community is invalidated. Representations like these erase the true origins and the sensitive colonial history intertwined with the myth.75 Additionally, the myth is sensationalized to appeal to the general public by taking away the distinct cultural origin. For example, in the television series Angel (1999-2003), an actress of ambiguous ethnic identity plays La Llorona.76 While this may allow the wider audience to identify with her, it takes away Mexican ownership of the myth. Also, actresses portraying La Llorona are hypersexualized in tight-fitting costumes that indicate how Latinx peoples, especially women, are often exoticized and objectified.77 This appropriation of the La Llorona myth in mainstream media is another

68 Ibid. 69 , The Curse of La Llorona, 2019. 70 Perez, “The Politics of Taking,” 154. 71 Ibid. 72 Ibid., 155. 73 Ibid. 74 Ibid., 168. 75 Ibid., 158. 76 Ibid., 157. 77 Ibid., 159.

62 form of colonization in which non-natives, predominantly white American writers, directors, and producers become the cultural authority and re-write the legend as they see fit, trivializing the myths of disenfranchised peoples. Not only does this lead to misinformation for the general non-Mexican audience about the myth and culture, but it severs the ties of Mexicans and Chicanx people with their own myth. Mexican children who grow up watching these media representations get the wrong story and idea of their culture instead of through oral tradition.78 The myth no longer achieves its original goal and the meaning can altogether be lost if it continues to be butchered in contemporary mainstream adaptations. For example, in The Curse of La Llorona (2019), Supernatural (2005), Angel (1999-2004), La Llorona is reduced to a villain or malevolent spirit that can be defeated, often by a white, sometimes male, protagonist, which undermines the cultural importance and teachings.79 That being said, La Llorona’s appearance in mainstream media is a chance for intercultural dialogue, especially in America’s current political climate in which residents of Latin descent are vulnerable and vilified.80 It allows for an understanding and appreciation of Mexican culture and myth. Controversies such as this also open dialogue about cultural appropriation in general and the need to consult valid cultural sources when using aspects of different cultures, especially those that are frequently marginalized such those of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.

Conclusion Thus, the legend of La Llorona continuously reincarnates to remain relevant.81 It cannot be viewed as stagnant because it evolves with the times to be revolutionary and meaningful.82 Through myth and oral tradition she remains immortal as her myth evolves to mean different things to each person who hears it. In essence, La Llorona is simultaneously all of these incarnations and also not quite any of them - whether one believes that she is a historical figure, an incarnation of a deity, a boogey woman who kidnaps children, a didactic myth about motherhood and infidelity, or a feminist figure. The legend serves so many purposes for the collective psyche of the Mexican and Chicanx peoples, as well as the larger non-native public, as she takes her own form and meaning in each person’s mind. Her tale resonates with so many because, above all, she is the embodiment of the most primordial human emotions: love and pain.

78 Ibid., 168. 79 Ibid., 158. 80 Serrano, “No More Tears,” 9. 81 Ibid. 82 Ibid., 10.

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64 Mathews, Holly F. “Intracultural Variation in Beliefs About Gender in a Mexican Community.” American Behavioural Scientist 31, no. 2 (November 1987): 219-233. Mirande, A. and E. Enriquez. La Chicana. Chicago: University of Chicago  Press, 1979. Miranda, Deborah A. The Zen of La Llorona. Salt Publishing, Cambridge, 2005. Perez, Domino Renee. “Interludes and Encounters, La Llorona Redux.” Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas 43, no. 1 (May 2010): 110-115. --. “The Politics of Taking: La Llorona in the Cultural Mainstream.” Journal of Popular Culture 45, no. 1 (2012): 153-172. Powers, Karen Vieira. Women in the Crucible of Conquest: The Gendered Genesis of Spanish American Society, 1500-1600. New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 2005. Google Play. Serrano, Stephanie. “No More Tears: La Llorona at the Crossroads of Feminism, Postmodernism and Futurity in Chicana Theory and Criticism.” PhD diss., Arizona State University, 2009. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing (3361294). Shewmaker, Michael. “La Llorona.” In Penumbra: Poems 12. Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2017. Stevens, Evelyn P. “Marianismo: The Other Face of Machismo in Latin America.” In Female and Male in Latin America, edited by A. Pescatello. Pittsburgh, 89-102. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973. Trujillo, Patricia Marina. “Becoming La Llorona.” Chicana/Latina Studies 6, no. 1 (Fall 2006): 96-104. Vargas, Chavela. La Llorona. Turner Records, 1994. Ziff, Bruce H., and Pratima V. Rao. Borrowed Power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1997. Print.

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