Liminalities and Displacements: The Rites of Passage to Self-Identification in Chicano Writings

The aim of this paper is to explore the hermeneutics of selfhood under conditions of excruciating socio-political injustice, and to detect the rites of passage to self-conceptualization as unravelled in two Chicano literary writings: Tomás Rivera’s “…y no se lo tragó...

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Main Author: Sophia Emmanouilidou
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses universitaires de Rennes 2013-06-01
Series:Revue LISA
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/5321
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author Sophia Emmanouilidou
author_facet Sophia Emmanouilidou
author_sort Sophia Emmanouilidou
collection DOAJ
description The aim of this paper is to explore the hermeneutics of selfhood under conditions of excruciating socio-political injustice, and to detect the rites of passage to self-conceptualization as unravelled in two Chicano literary writings: Tomás Rivera’s “…y no se lo tragó la tierra” (1971) and Tino Villanueva’s Scene from the Movie GIANT (1993). The purpose of this approach is to show how two different literary genres, namely a collection of vignettes and a book-length poem, tackle the problems of adolescent liminalities through the prism of Chicano experience in the borderlands. The two masterful texts present truthful and shocking testimonials of the inner conflicts endured by young Mexican-Americans toiling over the soil or experiencing marginalization in the back-row seat of a movie theatre in their attempt to carve a third space of existence among migrant campesinos and barrio inhabitants. Rivera and Villanueva venture bold explorations of the self-regulatory rites to ethnic identity, and provide the readers with stunning insights into the liminal aspects of identity, as realized in the contexts of discrimination and social oppression, and en route to an esoteric understanding of life.
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spelling doaj.art-860b0e13534241909c8e45a85d75ae1e2024-02-13T14:34:50ZengPresses universitaires de RennesRevue LISA1762-61532013-06-0111210.4000/lisa.5321Liminalities and Displacements: The Rites of Passage to Self-Identification in Chicano WritingsSophia EmmanouilidouThe aim of this paper is to explore the hermeneutics of selfhood under conditions of excruciating socio-political injustice, and to detect the rites of passage to self-conceptualization as unravelled in two Chicano literary writings: Tomás Rivera’s “…y no se lo tragó la tierra” (1971) and Tino Villanueva’s Scene from the Movie GIANT (1993). The purpose of this approach is to show how two different literary genres, namely a collection of vignettes and a book-length poem, tackle the problems of adolescent liminalities through the prism of Chicano experience in the borderlands. The two masterful texts present truthful and shocking testimonials of the inner conflicts endured by young Mexican-Americans toiling over the soil or experiencing marginalization in the back-row seat of a movie theatre in their attempt to carve a third space of existence among migrant campesinos and barrio inhabitants. Rivera and Villanueva venture bold explorations of the self-regulatory rites to ethnic identity, and provide the readers with stunning insights into the liminal aspects of identity, as realized in the contexts of discrimination and social oppression, and en route to an esoteric understanding of life.https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/5321identitytheoryChicano literatureliminalityRivera TomásTino Villanueva
spellingShingle Sophia Emmanouilidou
Liminalities and Displacements: The Rites of Passage to Self-Identification in Chicano Writings
Revue LISA
identity
theory
Chicano literature
liminality
Rivera Tomás
Tino Villanueva
title Liminalities and Displacements: The Rites of Passage to Self-Identification in Chicano Writings
title_full Liminalities and Displacements: The Rites of Passage to Self-Identification in Chicano Writings
title_fullStr Liminalities and Displacements: The Rites of Passage to Self-Identification in Chicano Writings
title_full_unstemmed Liminalities and Displacements: The Rites of Passage to Self-Identification in Chicano Writings
title_short Liminalities and Displacements: The Rites of Passage to Self-Identification in Chicano Writings
title_sort liminalities and displacements the rites of passage to self identification in chicano writings
topic identity
theory
Chicano literature
liminality
Rivera Tomás
Tino Villanueva
url https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/5321
work_keys_str_mv AT sophiaemmanouilidou liminalitiesanddisplacementstheritesofpassagetoselfidentificationinchicanowritings