2550 Flashcards
“Some did assimilate/In de United States/They got rid of de accent/Tho whenever they spoke/That will always unmask them!/But de majority/Kept their identity/Never did lose their accent!/They were proud not ashamed/Of their Boricua names/If you don’t believe ask them”.
El Spanglish National Anthem
Pedro Pietri
This quote explores the theme of assimilation and how keeping one’s accent is a form in which immigrants resist assimilation, and preserve their culture. It also covers how even those who do drop their accents, are still identifiable as latinxs when they speak, reminding the reader that while you can hide parts of who you are, unlike an accent, your identity is not something you can lose.
“Deslenguadas. Somos los del español deficiente.We are your linguistic nightmare, your linguistic aberration, your linguistic mestizaje, the subject of your burla. Because we speak with tongues of fire we are culturally crucified. Racially, culturally and linguistically somos huérfanos –we speak an orphan tongue”.
How to Tame a Wild Tongue
Gloria Anzaldúa
In her quote, Anzaldua introduces the idea of Linguistic terrorism: when a dominant culture attacks or expresses condescension toward non-dominant languages with the intent of silencing or erasing them. She addresses the shame latinxs are forced to bear for not speaking perfect/proper Spanish. Anzaldua uses the term orphans to describe the feeling of being caught in between multiple cultures/languages, and not truly belonging to either.
“Being Latino also means that you lay claim to one (or more) of the rich and unique histories that each of these groups brings to the United States. Likewise, each of these groups has had a unique narrative in the United States, involving different times of arrival, areas of settlement, and types of migration and reception experiences”.
What it Means to be Latino
Clara Rodríguez
“I’m not a “California” writer, either, not even an American writer. I am a Latino writer, a mantle that I embrace and reject at the same time, because I feel that I’m as influenced by Walt Whitman as I am by Pablo Neruda”.
At the Crossroads: Latinos in the New Millennium.
Reubén Martínez
“Because the ethnic and racial designations are labels, they fail to express this multiplicity. They label, with a fixed stamp, one of the dynamic elements of a person’s self. Moreover, these identities have a structure, they fit together into a recognizable constellation”.
Is there such a thing as Latino Identity?
Otto Santa Ana
The main point Santa Ana makes is that identity is fluid and multifaceted. He warns of the danger of categorizing people with labels, as they often only capture one side of a person’s identity and homogenize diverse groups of people. He instead encourages readers to consider the multiple dimensions each person has and recognize that these can change throughout one’s life, depending on their situation and who they interact with.
“And while the mass media and other political elites often portray Latinos as a collective body with common interests, the actual existence of Latino unity—of a collective political consciousness and will distinct among Latinos—is far less certain”.
Sleeping Giants and Demographic Floods,
Cristina Beltrán
In her article, Beltran dismantles the term “Sleeping Giant,” arguing against its use to politically describe Latinxs. She primarily disagrees with the creation of a homogenous identity of Latinx politics, and the implication that Latinxs are politically passive. Beltran goes on to discuss Latinxs as a moderating force, suggesting that the diverse community may have the power to moderate polarized American politics.
“In fact, panethnicity can be understood as running counter to the driving energies of both Puerto Rican and Chicago nationalisms of the 1960—1970’s, by definition focused on the cultural legacies of their respective nations of origin, which give rise to the now classic literary texts of the Nuyorican and Chicano Movements”.
Latinidad
Marta Caminero Santángelo
“it suggests consciousness of—and politicization around—issues of oppression, racism, identity, and inequality; an anti-assimilationist attitude with regard to US culture; and a privileging of indigenous over Spanish colonial roots with regard to Mexican culture”.
Latinidad
Marta Caminero Santángelo
“Here I am chewing English/and spitting Spanish./Me da vergüenza poner la boca así./Now I’m another person”.
Dominicanish
Josefina Báez
“the essence of the new Nuyoricans poets was allowing varied voices that represented that early ’90s moment in the Lower East Side to speak, side by side, like a community speaking in tongues”.
Speaking in Spanglish
Ed Morales
Morales addresses the Nuyorican Poetry Movement, a movement in the 1970s that aimed to create a space of visibility and solidarity in which Puerto Rican Americans living in New York could reflect on their shared experiences and struggles. The use of Spanglish was common in these works, and Morales describes its use as a survival mechanism against assimilation, calling it not only a linguistic phenomenon but a cultural refuge. In other words, Spanglish helped create a new space for Latinxs in which they belonged and did not have to adapt to one side.
