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... The students' responses quoted above refer to two of the self-selected novels/memoirs they read (Diaz, 2008; Klein, 2008), and together the quotes get to the heart of constructions of normalizing discourses around the body: A thinner body will " get " you something; even when pressure is on men to get fit, the discourse still objectifies women; and no matter what you do you are being judged based on people's perceptions of your body. Essay after essay described students' ongoing battles with their bodies to be " thin enough, " their perceptions about what it means to have a " normal " body, the constant guilt and shame some of them had (and still have) because their " naturally thin bodies " were the focal point of comparison by peers who did not feel thin enough, and their growing recognition of bodies-as-objects. ...
... Through critique and discussion, students began to express new kinds of power over their thoughts about their bodies. A student responding to the novel Oscar Wao (Diaz, 2008) wrote, There is no harm in aspiring to better oneself, but we need to quit comparing ourselves to others—our normal is not their normal. Even that perfect person whom we placed on a pedestal and dreamt to be just like has insecurities and issues. ...
The United States is a society that is simultaneously consumed and repulsed by the body; a society where obsession over a constructed “obesity” epidemic runs alongside obsession over thinness; a society where advertisers manipulate digital images of bodies to present two-dimensional versions of ideal male and female physiques, and plastic surgeons cut, suck, tuck, and fill three-dimensional fleshed versions of those digital images. In this article, the authors articulate a theory of a critical body pedagogy that can contribute to a larger justice-oriented project. This project is one of shaping young women and men who are more comfortable in their bodies, who will engage in critical readings of body-related texts, and—perhaps—can one day help future early childhood and elementary students construct healthier relationships with their bodies and the larger world through a justice-oriented pedagogy.
... This article examines the role of " home " and how the barrio past of Mexican-origin " high achievers " informs their identities. I use the term " ghetto nerd " (partially informed by Diaz, 2007) interchangeably with " scholarship boy " (Hoggart, 1957; Rodriguez, 1982), as a way to capture intellectual identities informed by workingclass and critical positionalities. Home is not only a physical space connected to the scholarship boys' working-class roots, but also a psychic, emotional, spiritual, and cultural metaphor that serves as a life-orientation " compass. ...
This qualitative study examines the ways in which Mexican-origin scholarship boys (Hoggart, 1957/2006; Rodriguez, 1982) use their conceptions and connections to their working-class “home” to achieve academic excellence all the while resisting hegemonic discourses in higher education. “Home” is framed as site of political memory, hope, agency, and struggle. Bhabha’s (1994) notion of the unhomely provides additional theoretical grounding for exploring the schooling trajectories of the scholarship boys. This research moves beyond clean victory narratives by unpacking various traumas associated with social class mobility, bounded assimilation, and the politics of whitestream (Urrieta, 2009) knowledge and settings in higher education. The analysis of the students’ identities and coping strategies provides valuable contributions to the dearth of research on academically
In early 2008, two writers born on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola—Junot Díaz from the Dominican Republic, and Edwidge Danticat from Haiti—garnered unprecedented plaudits from the anglophone literary establishment in the United States. Díaz was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction, for his brilliant novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao; Danticat won the top prize in biography from the National Book Critics Circle for her family memoir Brother, I'm Dying. Reading Díaz and Danticat's prize-winning books alongside and in conversation with one another, this essay traces how each writer seeks not merely to illuminate their nations' hidden histories of violence, but to base their approach to those histories in a shared Caribbean identity—and in a conception of the Caribbean as the origin-place for what Díaz famously called the fukú americanus—“the curse or doom of the New World.” In both Díaz and Danticat's work, “Caribbean discourse” serves not merely as a means of limning their own nation's hurts but of understanding the cause and effects of historical traumas in the longue durée of the Americas at large—up to, and including, the epochal attacks of September 11, 2001.
The Natural Order of Things is a collection of unrelated short stories that focuses on the love, despair, happiness and sorrow prevalent in relationships. Another common thread is how the lack of communication between family, friends and lovers can create burdens that, in some cases, are simply too heavy to lift. Some of the stories have a humorous voice while dealing with those burdens. Many others deal with the complexities of those emotions in a more somber tone. These fictional stories are completely unrelated to each other, and yet they all aim to shine a light on life�s conflicts � and on the ramifications of how we deal with those conflicts.
This is the collection of a novel, Cuban Jam Sessions in Miniature: A Novel in Tracks, and an embedded short story, �Shred Me Like the Cheese You Use to Make Bu�uelos.� The novel tells the story of Palomino Mondrag�n, a Colombian mercenary who has arrived in New York after losing his leg to a mortar in Korea. Reclusive, obsessive and passionate, Palomino has reinvented himself as a mambo musician and has fallen in love with Etiwanda, a dancer at the nightclub in which he plays�but he cannot bring himself to declare his love to her. His life changes when he is deported from the United States at the height of the Cuban Missile crisis without having declared his love. Through the thirty years chronicled in the novel, Palomino does all possible in his quest to return to the United States to find Etiwanda despite the fact that he knows she has grown to be a fantasy, an obsession of his imagination. Palomino�s quest takes him to the United States and back three times, as he becomes more and more desperate, as he becomes involved with drug traffickers and for-hire murderers like Polo Norte, as he loses track of what it means to feel alive. Palomino is trapped in a tug-of-war between his rational desire for a normal existence and his irrational but inescapable longing for Etiwanda. In the end, his desperation to get to Etiwanda brings the underworld of Polo Norte to her doorstep. �Shred Me Like the Cheese You Use to Make Bu�uelos� tells the story of Polo Norte, Palomino�s antagonist, on his last day on earth, as he is followed by a writer who has agreed to watch him commit suicide. Together, the stories explore the history and nature of the Colombian Diaspora in the United States, and the violent circumstances surrounding the relationship between both countries and the migrants stuck in the middle of it.
Winner, 2010 Library Research Award for Undergraduates Since the 1960’s, Dominican bachata music has been associated with the poorest, blackest sectors of Dominican society. Recently, however, young Dominican music groups in New York City, most famously Aventura, have popularized the genre and made it a symbol of Dominican national pride. While the change in attitudes towards bachata music might initially suggest a move away from classist and racist nationalist ideologies, this paper argues that Aventura’s bachata articulates traditional racist ideas of Dominican nationalism that have circulated since the founding of the nation in the 19th century and reveal the nation’s colonial legacy. In particular, articulations of machismo and modernity in the music echo longstanding white supremacist ideals, which emphasize Spanish heritage and attempt to disguise or deny African traditions. The analysis draws on interviews with young adults in the Dominican Republic concerning Dominican music and migration, lyrics from popular Aventura songs, and Internet discussion posts about Aventura’s music.
What does it take to create an active and engaged population that can be successfully integrated into decision-making that affect its communities? Planners and public officials must answer this question when developing public policies or planning community development interventions. This thesis analyzes two cases in which community development activities were each undertaken under a specific set of social, cultural, political and economic conditions that shaped the context of civic engagement. The case studies are set in Lawrence, (a medium-sized city in Northern Massachusetts that is home to many immigrants) and Mexico City's Centro Historico (a neighborhood in the heart of one of the largest cities in the world). I use a mixed-method approach that includes in-depth interviews with key informants, direct observation on the ground in each community, review of media and other documentary sources and a review of distinct approaches to analyzing public participation and civic engagement in different contexts. This thesis discusses rapid changes that each community has undergone at a local level in the last 20-30 years, as well as the effects of regional, national and global trends. Next, the thesis describes public participation strategies implemented as part of key interventions in each community. In Lawrence, the analysis is focused on particularly inclusive and empowering public participation strategies employed by non-profit organizations. In Mexico City, community development activities have been primarily implemented by the municipal government and the private sector and the public participation strategies were more limited and dis-empowering. I show how such strategies interacted with the broader context of civic engagement, using a three- part framework: the organizational level, project level and individual level.
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