UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Making Familia from Scratch : : U.S. Latina/o Narratives of Rupture and Resistance Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0q26n9xp Author Cázares, Gabriela Publication Date 2014 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Making Familia from Scratch: U.S. Latina/o Narratives of Rupture and Resistance A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Literature by Gabriela Cázares Committee in charge: Professor Rosaura Sánchez, Chair Professor Dennis Childs Professor Fatima El-Tayeb Professor David Gutiérrez Professor Tiffany López Professor Shelley Streeby 2014 Copyright Gabriela Cazares, 2014 All rights reserved. The Dissertation of Gabriela Cazares is approved, and is of acceptable quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2014 iii EPIGRAPH “It is like making familia from scratch, each time all over again . with strangers, if I must.” Cherríe Moraga iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page .............................................................................................................. iii Epigraph ......................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ v List of Figures .............................................................................................................. viii Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................... ix Vita ............................................................................................................................ xiii Abstract of the Dissertation .......................................................................................... xiv Introduction: (Re) shaping and (Re)Defining the Latina/o Family .................................... 1 Chapter I: Fresh Produce, Broken Bodies: Migrant Agricultural Workers’: Struggles and Resistance Through Community Building ................................................................................14 Held Captive: The Agricultural Industry, Poverty Wages, and a Culture of Fear .......................................................................................... 21 Synopsis and Background of Roosters ................................................................ 26 The Dangers of Closed-Off Family Units................................................ 27 Roosters and Magic Realism: Contesting Gender Confines ..................... 28 Under the Feet of Jesus and the Strength of Alternative Collectives ................... 32 Daño (Sickness) of the Fields: Pesticide Poisoning Amongst Agricultural Workers ............................................................... 35 Demanding Justice: (Lack of) Access to Migrant Health Care ................ 37 Heroes and Saints: Pesticide Poisoning and Contesting Bodilessness ................. 44 Building Alternative Collectives by Redefining Chicana Positionality ........................................................................................... 47 Cerezita’s Closing Words ....................................................................... 48 “Zoo Island”: The Census and Community Building .......................................... 49 v Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 54 Chapter II: Yo Existo (I Exist): Centering Alternative Collectives: Chicana Cannery Line Workers in Cherríe Moraga’s Watsonville: Some Place Not Here ..............................56 Contextualizing Mexican and Mexican American Women Cannery Workers in the Late Twentieth Century .........................................................................60 Centering Marginalized Voices: Cannery Line Workers in the Archive .............. 63 Weaving the Archives into Watsonville through Actos (Improvisation) .............. 76 Behind the Acto: The Archive of Reyna Guzmán ............................................... 80 Building Solidarity on the Picket Line ................................................................ 82 Watsonville: A Closer Examination .................................................................... 84 Re-Defining Latina/Chicana Gender Confines .................................................... 86 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 94 Chapter III: Gentrification in New York City Barrios: Resisting Dislocation and Displacement in Quiara Alegría Hudes and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights and Ernesto Quiñonez’s Bodega Dreams and Chango’s Fire ...........................96 Juntos pero no revueltos (Together but not Intermingled): The Pan-Latina/o History of New York City Barrios ................................................................................................ 104 New York City Barrios: A City of Disinvestment and the Dysfunctional Consequences that Result ........................................................................................................ 109 Public Housing: Restrictions, Regulations and the Construction of Crime ................ 114 Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Programs ............................................. 117 Reclaiming the Barrio: Memorial Murals as the Reassertion of Space .............. 119 Abuela (Grandmother) Claudia: “Paciencia y Fe (Patience and Faith” Memorial Mural in In the Heights .................................................................... 125 Redefining Vacant Lots: Asserting Lived Space Through “The Brown House”........................................................................... 131 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 135 Chapter IV: In the Shadow of the Prison: Mass Incarceration, Racial Targeting and vi Familial Fragmentation in Migdalia Cruz’s El Grito del Bronx, Lourdes Santiago’s Outside the Wall: A Puerto Rican Women’s Struggles, and Ashley Lucas’ Doin’ Time: Through The Visiting Glass ..................................................................................... 137 The High Cost of Prisons ............................................................................................... 144 Historical Materialism: The Continued Impact of Colonization ............................ 149 Xenophobia and Social Death: Beyond Formal Prison Walls ............................... 151 Resistance Through Alternative Collectives: Organizing Against Mass Incarceration on a Grassroots Level.......................................................................................... 157 Synopsis of El Grito del Bronx ..................................................................................... 160 Colonization and Imprisonment: Parallel Histories of Confinement ................. 162 Haunted by a Violent Past ................................................................................ 169 On the Creation and Production of Doin’ Time ................................................. 170 Beyond “Inmate number 752948”: Maintaining Familial Connections ............. 171 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 173 Epilogue: The Personal as Political: Forging Change Through Community Building .. 175 Works Cited ..................................................................................................................................... 182 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Map of Upper Manhattan. (Source: The New York City Department of Information Technology & Telecommunication: 2012) ..................................... 98 Figure 2: “Abuela Claudia ‘Paciencia y Fe’ Memorial Mural.” (Source: Anna Louizos Designs, LLC. New York: 2007) ...................................................................................... 128 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As the saying goes, “it takes a village.” I have been very fortunate to have numerous astounding and inspirational individuals help me through this journey. To my amazing chair, Rosaura Sánchez, I am deeply indebted. Through the years the mentorship she has so generously provided has cultivated my mind by carving a path that has exposed me to depths I would never have imagined. She has constantly pushed me to greater heights, never shying away, and always expecting more. Her commitment and ardor continue to function as the critical tools to fuel and empower. Por ésto y mucho más estoy eternamente agradecida. To my amazing advisers, Dennis Childs, Shelley Streeby, David Gutiérrez, Fatima El-Tayeb, and Tiffany López, I am also immensely grateful. Dennis has always lead by example and taught me the importance of fueling my work with passion and conviction