Week 5

In response to Katie's request to bring back a past text relating to this week's readings I would definitely bring back Anzaldua's La Frontera from week 1. A major shift in the readings this week that I felt from previous weeks has been the coming together of two clashing cultures. La Frontera demonstrates much of the impact of the border on the traditions and culture of Mexico and its inhabitants but this weeks readings about Chicano culture demonstrates how the border has created a new culture that both creates and takes away identity. Chicano and Pachucos are viewed by Americans as Mexican yet Mexicans cannot understand their language. Language and identity are clearly so important in border culture and have become so confused, as Anzaldua portrays through her writings and as Chicano and Pachuco cultures demonstrate in their everday speech. The language and identity confusion is so frustrating and I think it would also be interesting to explore more of the legal conflicts like that of Zoot Suit and what freedom of expression truly means in America and why it does not seem to apply to all.

Additionally I would like to say that my greatest takeaway from this reading was that this whole time we have been looking at the physical border and cultural border of Mexico and the USA but the Chicano culture seems to embody the border conflict through its individuals. Where else in the world has this occurred and what has been the result of such an occurrence? Anzaldua seems to think that Chicano culture will prevail over all others and perhaps this is true but why? America is so often believed to be a melting pot of different cultures so why would Chicano culture out endure American culture - what sets it apart?

Lastly, in Zoot Suit we see the racism that Chicanos had to endure. There were mentionings of the same types of racism at the time towards Japanese Americans who were treated far worse than were Chicanos in 1930s-1940s WWII context. Today, Japanese Americans have received apologies and compensation for their endurance. Is it possible that such actions could occur in response to the treatment of Mexican Americans in the near future? What obstacles would have to be overcome?