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mirARTe: ART, RESISTANCE, AND LIFE IN EAST LOS A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CREATIVE RESISTANCE IN EAST LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA A Senior Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in American Studies By Clara Amparo Mejía Orta Washington, D.C. April 26, 2017 mirARTe: ART, RESISTANCE, AND LIFE IN EAST LOS A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CREATIVE RESISTANCE IN EAST LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA Clara Amparo Mejía Orta Thesis Adviser: Ricardo Ortiz, Ph.D. ABSTRACT Latinx communities, like East Los Angeles and Boyle Heights are negatively targeted by external forces that distort how these communities are viewed. This distorted reality or mental border is present throughout media outlets. Negative rhetoric towards undocumented immigrants and Latinxs is at the forefront of political debates. Their stories are reduced to numbers, their struggles reduced to “those people,” and their power overshadowed by the criminalization of their dreams. This qualitative project explores how Latinx communities resist the negative labels that are imposed on them by outside forces. By compiling photographs of community art and collecting community narratives, mirARTe: Art, Resistance and Life in East L.A., aims to both, highlight the beauty and diversity of experiences that exists within Latinx barrios, and showcase how creative resistance is used in the community to promote cultura. In this research, creative resistance is used to define art as means of activism. To be labeled as such, creative resistance must a) radically change a physical environment or a community space; b) drastically transform the perception of an individual; and/or c) promote collective and individual healing. In addition, the term creative resistance is used to describe art that is created within and for Latinx barrios. Creative resistance employs artistic outlets. East Los Angeles is characterized by murals present in the streets of the neighborhood. The murals both, depict Mexican history and serve as a reminder of the common roots that Mexican-American/Chicanxs share. This shared culture provides the basis of an artistic exchange; were activists and artist expose the criminalize reality of living in a barrio from fear of being undocumented to gentrification. The community of East Los Angeles uses creative resistance to navigate between their Mexican roots and their American reality. Barrio culture is something ni de aqui ni de alla (not from here nor from there), but something that exists in between two cultures. Barrio culture in East Los Angeles instigates creative resistance during waves of community activism. Drawing from interviews of community art-activist and archives from the Chicano Movement, this thesis illustrates how residents use creative resistance as a tool to embrace their multi-layered identities, as a source of empowerment, and as a coping mechanism. Ultimately, this project centers narratives of strong spirited residents of East Los Angeles, who refuse to be disenfranchised. By using creative resistance, East Los residents not only resist systematic injustices, but they also reclaim their environment and experiences as Mexican-Americans in the United States—they will endure. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Our DREAMs have wings to lift us up for when our feet are too tired to march. I dedicate this thesis to my familia, my friends, my resilient East Los community, and to the loving memory of my oso carpintero. This thesis would have not come together without support from the Center for Social Justice David F. Andretta Fellowship, the East Los Angeles Chicano Center, the American Studies Program, Prof. Seamon and Colva Weissenstein, American Studies Librarian Maura Seale and the countless artists, activists, scholars, and community members who met with me during my field research. Gracias. My deepest gratitude goes to my advisor Prof. Ricardo Ortiz, who fueled my intellectual curiosity and gave me ganas through this process. I offer my sincerest thanks to Prof. Diana Guelespe, Prof. Denise Brennan, and Prof. Joseph McCartin, whose mentorship and guidance molded me as a curious researcher and brave academic. Gracias, to my amigxs whose love, support, and friendship made Georgetown hOme. Thank you to my abuelitos, Rafael Orta and Maria del Carmen Sanchez, who grounded in me a love for our roots and history. Special thanks to my loving familia, Martha, Manolo, Tía Car, Franky, Cora, and Vido. Lastly, I want to thank my poderosa mom, Rosalinda Orta, whose magic inspires me daily. Ma’ you made me unafraid to dream big and unapologetic to share my voice. I feel honored to have shared this experience with my family, mentors and friends. Y’all are my wings. Thank you. C/S TABLE OF CONTENTS Note to Reader ................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 2 Chapter I: A Brief History of a Barrio ......................................................................... 14 Chapter II: Arte de Corazón: Defining the Chicanx Aesthetic ..................................... 30 Chapter III: From Brown and Proud to Undocumented and Unafraid ........................ 39 Chapter IV: La Flaca Roams the Streets of East Los.................................................... 53 Chapter V: Barrios and Borders .................................................................................... 67 Conclusion: La Cultura Cura ......................................................................................... 79 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 83 Appendix ......................................................................................................................... 87 BIENVENIDOS WELCOME Spanish/Spanglish gives my writing integrity. A glossary of Spanish terms is included at the end of the thesis and translation is provided when needed. The definitions of the term Mexican American and Chicanx are provided below, this is how I will choose to define them for the purposes of this thesis. Note that other scholars might use them interchangeably. Thank you. Mexican American: In this thesis Mexican American refers to U.S. born citizens with Mexican ancestry. A distinction is drawn to Mexicans immigrants residing with or without documentation in the United States. Chicanx: For purposes of gender inclusivity, I will use the term Chicanx as opposed to Chin@ or Chicana/o. Chicanx is someone who immigrated or was born in the United States with cultural or ancestral ties to Mexican culture. They must self-identify as a Chicanx. This term was reclaimed by Chicanxs as early as 1940s and was popularizes through the Chicano Movement in the 1960s. This thesis will use Chicano Movement, as opposed to Chicanx Movement, to abide by current academic standards. 1 INTRODUCTION Mexican artisans spend months of arduous work creating little clay figurines of mythical animals, colorful flowers, and people to create Árboles de la Vida (Trees of Life). The trees are handcrafted by artists in my home state, Estado de México, México. Using only the visual images artisans share complex and rich literary narratives (Appendix A). The Trees of Life tell stories that are salient to the community. The Trees of Life and their narratives have become icons that preserve cultural memory. These Árboles de la Vida, were one of my first exposures to storytelling through art. To “read” an Árbol de la Vida, you start from the roots, then make your way to the trunk and follow the branches until you reach the leafs that make up the tree. This thesis is my version of an Árbol de la Vida. Its pages will stay true Chicanx aesthetic and embody the spirit present in East Los Angeles. These pages will take you through the narratives of people from East Los Angeles, California. These are their stories of struggle and resistance, but most importantly they are stories of resilience. “Who tells our stories? How are we remembered?” are some of the questions that I scribbled in my field notes during my field research for this project. In East Los Angeles, it became clear that those stories were told through art that beats through the streets of the barrio.1 This thesis will attempt to tell those narratives—stories of struggle and resistance of a community that refuses to be disenfranchised. The research question centers on the endurance of art within activism in East Los Angeles and Boyle Heights. At its core the thesis will use the interdisciplinary nature of American Studies to draw from cultural, urban and ethnic studies to analyze how the community of East Los Angeles uses creative resistance to navigate between their Mexican roots and their American reality. The thesis will explore how creative resistance; visual, literary, and performance art, has shaped the Latinx community in East Los Angeles. The 1 I use East Los Angeles, East Los, and East L.A. interchangeably but they all refer to the same location. 2 project seeks to explore the changes that the community has undergone by comparing the peak of the Chicanx Movement to contemporary waves of Latinx activism in a post-Dream Act era. In addition, it will aim to illustrate how aspects of Mexican-American/Chicanx/Immigrant identity have endured through the years and how East L.A. residents