A. Research Question and Significance
Literature is a vehicle for mental and emotional travel which can produce learning, ethic validation, understanding, and even solidarity (Vasquez, 2005). There is a growing number of research on the immigrants (documented and undocumented) in social science in relation to their economic importance in the economy, but few on their mental health and/or their contributions to literature (Simich et al, 2009; Litwick, 2010; Chavez, 2013). Aside from the historical presence of Mexican immigrants (first and second generation) in the U.S. there is a lack of academic work that studies the representation of identity formation of immigrants in literature, especially contemporary literature of female authors.
I propose an interdisciplinary approach to study the autobiographic texts of the authors Sandra Cisneros’s A House of My Own: Stories from My Life (2015) and Reyna Grande’s The Distance Between Us: A Memoir (2013) along with a fictional texts: Caramelo (2002) and Across a Hundred Mountains (2006). In my research I will answer the following questions: (1) How do Cisneros and Grande portray identity formations through their fiction characters? (2) Are the identity journeys, physical and emotional, of the authors reflected on their fictional protagonist? (3) How are the authors portray of their identity better understood through the concept of liminality? If it reflected, I will study what effect it has on the character regarding its complexities and how it affects their identity formation. The purpose of this study is to construct a framework of the formation of identity and highlight the importance of both: autobiographical work and literature influenced by personal experience. The findings of this study will address some gaps in the academia in regards of studying texts of Chicanas and/or Mexican-Americans, bridging contemporary literature and the anthropological concept of liminality. B. Project Design and Feasibility The anthropologist Paul Stoller defines disciplinary memoirs as an attempt to understand the social and cultural complexities of contemporary life, of a personal struggle to write about life in the world (Stoller, 2009). Contemporary life is understood as transnational global capitalism in which we cannot tackle intellectual work alone meaning that we must seek to understand literature through interdisciplinary approaches (Chabram-Dernersesian, 1999). For this reason I will be using an interdisciplinary …show more content…
(a) Across a Hundred Mountains (2006) a fictional novel that employs two different perspectives on the main character Juana, that travels across Mexico and the U.S to find her father.
b. (b) The Distance Between Us: A Memoir (2013) a memoir that narrates the experiences of Grande growing up in Iguala, Guerrero and later in Los Angeles fist as an undocumented immigrant and later as a legal resident.
In addition to my primary texts, I will use interviews and podcasts of Sandra Cisneros and Reyna Grande to better analyze the life and identity of the authors. I will conduct this study under with my faculty advisor Dr. Hector Calderon with whom I will have biweekly one-on-one meetings. Additionally, Dr. Sandra Ruiz will provide further feedback on my project.
For the purpose to have a fundamental understanding of the historical background of my literature, during the months of September and October I will conduct a literature review on Mexico-U.S. and U.S. immigration laws. To better approach my research in November I will direct my literature review on the best approaches to study nonfictional works and expand on my literature review of liminality. I will dedicate the mouth of December to organize my literature reviews and reframe my
Literature is a vehicle for mental and emotional travel which can produce learning, ethic validation, understanding, and even solidarity (Vasquez, 2005). There is a growing number of research on the immigrants (documented and undocumented) in social science in relation to their economic importance in the economy, but few on their mental health and/or their contributions to literature (Simich et al, 2009; Litwick, 2010; Chavez, 2013). Aside from the historical presence of Mexican immigrants (first and second generation) in the U.S. there is a lack of academic work that studies the representation of identity formation of immigrants in literature, especially contemporary literature of female authors.
I propose an interdisciplinary approach to study the autobiographic texts of the authors Sandra Cisneros’s A House of My Own: Stories from My Life (2015) and Reyna Grande’s The Distance Between Us: A Memoir (2013) along with a fictional texts: Caramelo (2002) and Across a Hundred Mountains (2006). In my research I will answer the following questions: (1) How do Cisneros and Grande portray identity formations through their fiction characters? (2) Are the identity journeys, physical and emotional, of the authors reflected on their fictional protagonist? (3) How are the authors portray of their identity better understood through the concept of liminality? If it reflected, I will study what effect it has on the character regarding its complexities and how it affects their identity formation. The purpose of this study is to construct a framework of the formation of identity and highlight the importance of both: autobiographical work and literature influenced by personal experience. The findings of this study will address some gaps in the academia in regards of studying texts of Chicanas and/or Mexican-Americans, bridging contemporary literature and the anthropological concept of liminality. B. Project Design and Feasibility The anthropologist Paul Stoller defines disciplinary memoirs as an attempt to understand the social and cultural complexities of contemporary life, of a personal struggle to write about life in the world (Stoller, 2009). Contemporary life is understood as transnational global capitalism in which we cannot tackle intellectual work alone meaning that we must seek to understand literature through interdisciplinary approaches (Chabram-Dernersesian, 1999). For this reason I will be using an interdisciplinary …show more content…
(a) Across a Hundred Mountains (2006) a fictional novel that employs two different perspectives on the main character Juana, that travels across Mexico and the U.S to find her father.
b. (b) The Distance Between Us: A Memoir (2013) a memoir that narrates the experiences of Grande growing up in Iguala, Guerrero and later in Los Angeles fist as an undocumented immigrant and later as a legal resident.
In addition to my primary texts, I will use interviews and podcasts of Sandra Cisneros and Reyna Grande to better analyze the life and identity of the authors. I will conduct this study under with my faculty advisor Dr. Hector Calderon with whom I will have biweekly one-on-one meetings. Additionally, Dr. Sandra Ruiz will provide further feedback on my project.
For the purpose to have a fundamental understanding of the historical background of my literature, during the months of September and October I will conduct a literature review on Mexico-U.S. and U.S. immigration laws. To better approach my research in November I will direct my literature review on the best approaches to study nonfictional works and expand on my literature review of liminality. I will dedicate the mouth of December to organize my literature reviews and reframe my