The Underside of Borders: Reading Chican@ and Native American Literature at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century
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THE UNDERSIDE OF BORDERS: READING CHICAN@ AND NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE AT THE TURN OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BY ISABEL QUINTANA WULF DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English with a minor in Latina/ Latino Studies and in Gender and Women’s Studies in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2013 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Richard T. Rodríguez, Chair Associate Professor Siobhan B. Somerville Professor Robert Dale Parker Associate Professor Jodi A. Byrd Assistant Professor Nancy E. Castro ii Abstract “The Underside of Borders: Reading Chican@ and Native American Literature at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century” focuses on Chican@ and Native American novels published from 1990 to the present. Teasing out the common denominators of different methodologies grouped under the umbrella term “border theory,” my project expands the material and discursive range of the field, creating a critical platform that puts Native American and Chican@ concerns in conversation. Finding common ground between these two bodies of literature in overlapping histories of colonialism, violence, and oppression, this comparative project takes on the literary representation of borders both as geopolitical lines and metaphorical constructs. The analysis in it draws connections between the ideologies that shape the discourse around borders in the cultural imaginary and the pervasive violence that mires Indigenous and Chican@ histories in the US. In doing so, I reveal discursive spaces where issues relevant to Chican@ and American Indian Studies converge, overlap, and stand at odds. Using literary examples from Chican@ and Native American writers my project expands our understanding of how borders affect the way we read each other culturally and socially. To this end, I draw a connection between the ideological premises underlying processes of Americanization and the violence inflicted on non- dominant histories and lived experiences that disrupt a homogeneous and sanitized version of national genealogy. Overall, I argue for a critical perspective attuned to the implications of borders, a perspective that gives voice to peoples and historical narratives often willfully erased by master narratives of the nation. iii Acknowledgements Writing a dissertation can be a very lonely process. It is a beast that demands your time, your energy, your emotional investment, and your undivided attention while guilting you into giving up or only half-enjoying many life moments over a long period of time. Then, all of a sudden, it is finished—almost when you didn’t see it coming. When this happens you realize that it took a small village to sustain you and see you through. I have a host of people to thank for standing by me as I fought the demons this process conjured up in my mind at every turn. I would like to thank my chair, Richard T. Rodríguez for being there for me and offering me his unflinching enthusiasm for my project. His belief in the timeliness and the importance of the work I do here kept me afloat many times. Thanks Ricky for being the beacon of hope in my stormy waters, for being kind and thorough and bright: your careful intellectual engagement is only rivaled by your marvelous attitude and your wonderful hugs—I am lucky to have you as my chair. I am also deeply grateful to Siobhan B. Somerville for staying firmly in my corner as I found my way though this dissertation-maze process. As I hit dead ends and when I saw bright paths ahead you were there to ask the right questions and to encourage me to think beyond the obvious—I can only hope to follow your example for years to come. Robert Dale Parker has also offered his generous and thoughtful engagement with my work. I thank you for your enthusiasm, your rigor, and your encouragement at every step of the way—you are always present in anything I write. Nancy E. Castro saw it all come full circle: she was there when I started and she was gracious enough to be there as the dissertation came to fruition. Thanks for your keen eye and your wonderful mind—I vow to remember the trees, always. Jodi A. Byrd graciously came on board and offered her guidance and enthusiasm. I thank you for being an inspiration and a role model, and I hope I can follow the path you lay before us. iv I am absolutely grateful to Stephanie Foote as well—thanks for being my Jedi master of academic forces and for being always there, cheering me on, having faith in my when I had none. There are other people without whom this dissertation would not have been written: thank you Karo Engstrom for being the other half of our very small gang. Working with you in person and from a distance over the years has been a lifeline. I’m glad to have learned about discipline and constancy and hard work with you—I would not have written this beast without you. Thanks for being my unbiological sister. Also, Rebecca Weber has made my life much better all these many years: thanks for keeping me sane, for keeping me honest, and for baking for me every step of the way. You were right: Dissertation Lemon Loaf—suddenly it was a piece of cake! Thanks as well to Avenel Joseph for being there always: your love, your friendship, and your unfailing faith in me have made it possible for me to finish. I miss you much although you are always here with me, cheering me on. Many thanks to Àstrid Lozano as well, for leading the way, for teaching me to curve my caustic writing so many years ago on a bench by the harbor, looking at the Mediterranean Sea. This is as much for you as it is for me dear. And thanks to Elizabeth Baldridge for showing me that this was possible and for painstakingly helping me with my writing so many years ago—you make it all seem more doable, more fun, and much more bright. To the wonderful community of Room 248: Karo Engstrom, Sarah Dennis, Melissa Girard, Kerstin Rudolph, Frank Ridgway, Lisa Oliverio, and Cristina Stanciu… thanks. You have helped in many ways, especially just by being you. By being always there ready to share, ready to think, and ready to fight the battles worth fighting for. Angie Parker helped me during a cold winter in Lansing, MI—your company and your awesomeness came at a much-needed time, thanks mighty beaver. Also, my brilliant peeps Sarah Alexander Tsai, Jill Hamilton Clements, and v Ariana Ruiz have kept me encouraged, happy, and loved. Thanks for being so great. To my parents Javier and Marion I owe a debt of gratitude for never being too insistent with the “how is the dissertation going” question, for having faith in my choices, and for encouraging me to keep going all along. Rick and Jane have kept me grounded, sane, loved, and close to meep-heaven all these years—thanks for your friendship, for believing in me, and for all the hours of life-sharing around the board game table. I’m so lucky to have you in my life. Thanks as well to Zohreh for being the most wonderful woman ever, for feeding our souls with a lot more than delicious food. Your insistence and your determination made me see the light—I’m so glad you are next door. My biggest debt of gratitude is to Rashid Robinson: you have always been able to see where I was going even when I couldn’t. You believed in my work when I lost faith, you encouraged me to say what I wanted to say when I thought I had no voice. I’m grateful you are my partner in crime—all this would make no sense without you. Thanks for making the stars a bit brighter. vi Contents Introduction Reading contemporary Chican@ and Native American literature through borders … 1 Project overview…………………………………………………………………………….. 22 Chapter 1 Border theories: finding a critical lens.…………………………………………………… 30 1. Time frame: the 1990s and border troubles ……………………………………………... 32 1.1. The literal border: lines, divisions, and starting points…………………………....... 35 1.2. Metaphorical borders: social and cultural barriers.…………………………………. 40 2. Border theory as an interdisciplinary field of study…………………………………...... 46 2.1. Cultural anthropology: the role of the border……………………………………...... 47 2.2. History: from frontier to borderlands……………………………………………...... 55 2.3. Literary and cultural studies………………………………………………………… 59 2.4. Borders and American Indian Studies………………………………………………. 67 3. Border theory as a critical perspective………………………………………………...... 75 Chapter 2 From Sinaloa to East LA: the US-Mexico border, nativism, and patriotic quests……... 79 1. National Public Radio’s “The US-Mexico Border: A Changing Frontier”: the idea of the border in the US social imaginary…………………………………………………… 81 1.1. The frontier: historical echoes of a common national genealogy…………………... 82 1.2. The frontier vs. la frontera: the imaginary past and the stark reality of border spaces……………………………………………………………………………….. 86 1.3. La frontera: a hydra-headed creature in today’s global economy………………….. 90 2. Helena María Viramontes’s Under the Feet of Jesus: migrant workers and the struggle for social space…………………………………………………………………………... 102 2.1. Closing the frontier and opening the nation: competing narratives of belonging as historical context……………………………………………………………………. 103 2.2. Social backlash and Proposition 187: living life under the veiled threat of ideological violence………………………………………………………………… 106 2.3. La frontera viaja conmigo: politics of location and the burden of proof…………… 109 2.4. A life of labor: the erasure of social agency from the national consciousness……... 112 2.5. Living under surveillance: unshakable borders and spaces of violence…………….