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The Latino Community and Continuity in the Writings of Julia Alvarez, Judith Ortiz Cofer, and Achy Obejas

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The Latino Community and Continuity in the Writings of Julia Alvarez, Judith Ortiz Cofer, and Achy Obejas Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2005 Writing Memory: The Latino Community and Continuity in the Writings of Julia Alvarez, Judith Ortiz Cofer, and Achy Obejas. Amrita Das Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES WRITING MEMORY: THE LATINO COMMUNITY AND CONTINUITY IN THE WRITINGS OF JULIA ALVAREZ, JUDITH ORTIZ COFER, AND ACHY OBEJAS. By Amrita Das A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Degree Awarded Fall Semester, 2005 The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Amrita Das defended on 19th October, 2005. ___________________________ Roberto G. Fernández Professor Directing Dissertation ___________________________ Virgil Suarez Outside Committee Member ___________________________ Santa Arias Committee Member ___________________________ Delia Poey Committee Member Approved: __________________________________ William J. Cloonan, Chair, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics __________________________________ Joseph Travis, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEGMENTS I would like to thank my dissertation director Prof. Roberto G. Fernández for his insightful guidance, and allowing me the freedom to express my opinions. I also thank the committee members for their time and suggestions. I remember my father, who has always been an inspiration to me. I acknowledge my mother’s constant support and love. I thank my family for believing in me. I thank my husband for the companionship through out this process. To my other family I express my deepest gratitude and love for their friendship and the home away from home. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………... v 1. WRITING MEMORY: AN INTRODUCTION ……………………………………….. 1 2. RECUPERATING THE NATION: JULIA ALVAREZ’ IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES AND IN THE NAME OF SALOMÉ ..………………………………… 27 3. THE SELF AND THE COLLECTIVE: JUDITH ORTIZ COFER’S SILENT DANCING ……………………………………………………………………… 53 4. CONTESTING IDENTITY: ACHY OBEJAS’ MEMORY MAMBO AND DAYS OF AWE …………………………………………………………………….. 74 5. CONCLUSION: COMMUNITY AND CONTINUITY ……………………………….. 103 REFERENCES ..……………………………………………………………………….….. 117 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ……………………………………………………………… 123 iv ABSTRACT This is a study of narratives of three women authors of Spanish Caribbean origin writing in English in the United States- Julia Alvarez, Judith Ortiz Cofer, and Achy Obejas. The investigation theorizes the function of memory in narratives, used to carve a collective ethnic identity of the specific Latino groups, in order to maintain a continuity of the displaced community. The texts targets the second generation immigrants who find themselves in conflict with a society where they are at the margins because of differences from the dominant norms of society. Marginalization is countered by the creation of a link to the continuing cultures and establishing a collective identity, molded out of the collective memories of the people of the community. The texts look at three kinds of memories, namely the historical, the autobiographical, and the ethnic memory, which are instrumental in the construction of a collective, at different levels- the national, the personal, and the cultural. The textual narrative as an implement to circulate the notion of a common bond between the author, the narrator, the text, and the reader allows for the emergence of the Latina voice, as the subject through the female narrator and the characters, indicative of a social force resisting marginalization, and telling her history in her own terms. v CHAPTER 1 WRITING MEMORY: AN INTRODUCTION. The continuity of an ethnic community resides in the collective memories of a group. These recollections create a popular and contemporary history, which unlike traditional histories, do not necessarily look for archived evidences and facts, and rely on the personal recollections of the people of the community. On one hand the truth factor of these memories may remain questioned, but no official history ever provides us with a just and complete history either. There always are various histories just as there are memories that tell different stories. A personal memory is an integral part in the process of the reconstruction of the community, but only when the recollection moves from the personal plane to the collective, through the validation of the community, does it become significant. A collective memory does not have a specific author or origin. It is part of the unconscious of the community, and promotes a sense of solidarity within the group. The construction of collective memory is not an apolitical process. The understanding of the agency of this process is very essential. As in trying to understand the Latino groups in the United States, it is important to identify who composes the social group, especially the socio- economic class and the ethnic makeup or origin. Gender also plays an important role in this process. It is key to recognize who speaks for whom and what comprises as the content of the process of the creation of the collective. What is remembered and what is forgotten is imperative as to understand the groups’ agenda in projecting themselves in their present realities, associated with a particular kind of history and culture. This process is to be understood as a creation of an ethnic group. It primarily outlines a group in terms of its origins, shared beliefs, behavior, experiences, and memories. A person may choose or denounce to be part of an ethnic group as a conscious choice. The second-generation immigrant, whose reality lies within the adoptive country, forms his identity within the space of the mainstream culture. The mainstream culture may not always 1 be accepting because of the differences of cultural habits, skin color, accent variations, and physical appearance, making it an issue of conflict. The Latino communities in the United States face the conflict of identity because of the differences from the norm and from a need to be part of the mainstream. Carola Suárez-Orozco and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco note that the second generation differs from its parents, whose ties are stronger to the culture of the land of origin and grateful to the adoptive land (325-26). As citizens of this country the latter generations feel the complete right to be part of the mainstream culture, even though his or her original culture is located off the mainland. This claim is called “cultural citizenship,” a term coined by Renato Rosaldo: Cultural citizenship refers to the right to be different (in terms of race, ethnicity, or native language) with respect to the norms of the dominant national community, without compromising one’s right to belong, in the sense of participating in the nation-state’s democratic process. (Rosaldo and Flores 57) Historical Presence The Latino communities and their cultural productions have been present in the United States since the times of European colonial explorations and expansions. These simply remained unnoticed by serious academic thought until the mid-twentieth century. The Mexican American community has been part of the United States as the result of the annexation of Mexican territories after the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. The Spanish Caribbean communities, in which my work focuses, also have been present in the United States since the nineteenth century. Many came from Cuba to work in the cigar factories, and the growing dissident climate of the Caribbean colonies under Spanish Colonial rule forced many to immigrate for political and economic reasons. John A. García analyzing the 2000 census writes that the Latino population was recorded to be 12.5% of the total population with more than 35 million people. The U.S. Census Bureau projects this population to grow to be more than 47 million by the year 2010, 15.5% of the total population. Based on the 2000 census the Chicanos compose the largest block with almost 60% of this population. The Puerto Ricans comprise another 10% and Cubans and Dominicans 3.5% and around 2% respectively. The remaining Latino population is composed of 2 Central and South Americans (32-35). My study of the Spanish Caribbean Latino groups and their representative writings is not an attempt to establish their long-standing presence, rather to explore their contributions and make this presence more visible as part of American life and literature. The beginnings of Latino Studies emerged as a consequence of the awareness and inspiration generated by the Black Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. This movement gave the marginalized Latinos to imagine a better future for their community through an organized movement, just like the African Americans were starting to get their voices heard. In the 1960s and the 1970s the Chicanos and the Puerto Ricans were coming together under organizations. They were politically motivated, searching for socio-economic changes for the working classes. Cesár Chávez of the United Farm Workers is one of the leaders of the Chicanos from this period. As a consequence, Latino Studies was born out of the need to study the immigrant groups from Spanish America. For bureaucratic reasons all sub-groups of Latinos were put under one program.
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