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LOPEZ-DISSERTATION.Pdf Copyright by Christina Garcia Lopez 2012 The Dissertation Committee for Christina Garcia Lopez Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Social Violence, Social Healing: The Merging of the Political and the Spiritual in Chicano/a Literary Production Committee: Cary Cordova, Supervisor José E. Limón, Co-Supervisor Nhi Lieu Domino Perez James Cox Social Violence, Social Healing: The Merging of the Political and the Spiritual in Chicano/a Literary Production by Christina Garcia Lopez, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2012 Dedication This work is dedicated to my parents, who taught me discipline, integrity, and the value of hard work, and to my son, Joaquin, to whom I dedicate everything. Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge José E. Limón for his patience, generosity, and guidance throughout the entire process of writing this dissertation. Further, I extend my sincere appreciation to every member of my committee, each of whom contributed invaluable expertise and perspective. v Social Violence, Social Healing: The Merging of the Political and the Spiritual in Chicano/a Literary Production Christina Garcia Lopez, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2012 Supervisors: José E. Limón and Cary Cordova This dissertation argues that spiritual and religious worldviews (i.e. Mexican Catholicism, indigenous spiritualities, and popular religion) have historically intersected with social and political realities in the development of Mexican origin communities of the United States. More specifically, as creative writers from these communities have endeavored to express and represent Mexican American experience, they have consistently engaged these intersections of the spiritual and the material. While Chicano/a criticism has often overlooked, and in some ways dismissed, the significant role which spiritual and religious discourses have played in the political development of Mexican American communities, I examine how the works of creative writers pose important questions about the role of religious faith and spirituality in healing the wounds of social violence. By placing literary texts in conversation with scholarship from multiple disciplines, this project links literary narratives to their historical, social, and political frameworks, and ultimately endeavors to situate literary production as an expressive cultural product. Historical and regional in approach, the dissertation examines diverse literary narratives penned by writers of Mexican descent between the 1930s and the current decade. Selected textual pairings recall pivotal moments and relations in the history of Mexico, America, and their shared geographical borderlands. Through the lens of religion and spirituality, a broad array of social discourses emerges, including: gender and sexuality, landscape and memory, nation-formation, race and ethnicity, popular traditions, and material culture. vi Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 Chapter Overviews..........................................................................................7 CHAPTER 1: Chicano/a Literary Production and Discourses of the Sacred ........15 Chapter Overview .........................................................................................15 Defining Terms & Concepts .........................................................................17 Review of the Literature: Mexican American Religions ..............................23 Early Development of the Field ...........................................................23 The Emergence of Feminist Voices .....................................................29 Spirituality and the Visual Arts............................................................33 Regional and Historical Case-Studies ..................................................39 Collections & General Surveys ............................................................43 Violence and Healing: An Epistemological Confrontation ..........................46 The Gulf Between Chicano/a Studies Practitioners & Lived Communities .49 Curanderismo as Healing Strategy & Discourse ..........................................50 Reading Critical Responses to Spiritual Discourse ......................................51 Case Example: Ana Castillo’s So Far From God: A Novel ..........................52 CHAPTER 2: ‘No Brotherhood of Man’: Colonization, Modernization & Religion in Texas Border Narratives ...............................................................................55 Chapter Overview .........................................................................................55 Overturning ‘Official’ Histories & Dominant Narratives of Texas ..............58 Reading Caballero: A Historical Romance as Christian-Feminist Critique of Patriarchal Nationalism ........................................................................66 Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Jovita González and Margaret Eimer ..66 Historical Contexts of Caballero .........................................................70 Caballero: “Dios es señor de esta casa” ..............................................74 Reading George Washington Gómez: A Mexicotexan novel as Religious Critique & Modernist Anxiety .............................................................88 Américo Paredes: A Man of the Borderlands ......................................88 Historical Contexts of George Washington Gómez .............................89 vii George Washington Gómez: “There should be a God at Times like This” .....................................................................................................93 Conclusion ..................................................................................................119 CHAPTER 3: From ‘Nuestro Pueblo’ to the Atomic Bomb: Trauma & Healing in Nuevo Mexicano Narratives .......................................................................122 Chapter Overview .......................................................................................122 Modernization & the Emergence of ‘Spanish Heritage’.............................127 Reading Leonor Park as Fear and Loathing in Albuquerque .....................134 Nash Candelaria: A Nuevo Mexicano by ‘Heritage & Sympathy’ ....134 Historical Contexts of Leonor Park ...................................................136 Leonor Park: Spiritual Alienation in ‘Nuestro Pueblo’ .....................142 Reading Bless Me, Ultima as a Narrative of Healing and Reconciliation ..155 Rudolfo Anaya: New Mexico’s Narrator ...........................................155 Historical Contexts of Bless Me, Ultima............................................160 Bless Me, Ultima: “I Want to Know the Mysteries of God” .............166 Conclusion ..................................................................................................191 CHAPTER 4: The Miraculous, the Supernatural & the Patrón: Transnational Narratives of Paternalism ............................................................................194 Chapter Overview .......................................................................................194 The U.S. and Mexico: A Shared Story of Nation, Migration, & Spirituality196 Reading Politics & Pilgrimage in The Hummingbird’s Daughter ..............204 Luis Alberto Urrea: A Humanizing Voice .........................................204 Historical Contexts of The Hummingbird’s Daughter.......................210 The Hummingbird’s Daughter: “All These Women, Mothers of God”221 Reading the Spoiled Garden in The Brick People ......................................251 Alejandro Morales: Writing the Family Story into History ...............251 Historical Contexts of The Brick People ...........................................263 The Brick People: Infestation, Excavation & Regeneration in the Garden of Eden ......................................................................................279 Conclusion ..................................................................................................348 viii CHAPTER 5: God, Are You There? Gender, Labor & Faith in Migrant Narratives349 Chapter Overview .......................................................................................349 Voicing Adolescence, Gender & Labor ......................................................351 Reading …y no se lo tragó la tierra as Celebration of the Rational Self ...353 Tomas Rivera: Writing as Witnessing Migrant Humanity ................353 Historical Contexts of …y no se lo tragó la tierra.............................359 …y no se lo tragó la tierra: “What’s to be Gained from Doing All That, Mother?” ...................................................................................366 Reading Feminism & Faith (Lost and Remade) in Under the Feet of Jesus390 Helena María Viramontes: Writing as a ‘Prayer to the World’ .........390 Historical Contexts of Under the Feet of Jesus .................................395 Under the Feet of Jesus: An Angel on the Verge ..............................401 Conclusion ..................................................................................................431 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................433 WORKS CITED ..................................................................................................456
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