LITR 4332: American Minority
Literature
final
exam 2008 sample answers
Research Report on minority topic of choice
Alice Catherine Louvier
The New Virgin of Guadalupe
In December 1531, Mary, the mother of God appeared to an indigenous peasant man, Juan Diego, on the way to his village, near present–day Mexico City. The Blessed Mother asked that he petition the bishop to erect a church at the place of her apparition. After three refusals, the virgin provided Juan with a cloak full of roses to validate both his vision mission. The bishop then complied with her wishes (course website). Today we call this incarnation of Mary the Virgin of Guadalupe, and a basilica in her honor stands at the site of Juan Diego’s vision on Tepeyac hill in Mexico City. Worldwide, only the Vatican receives more visitors per year than this shrine to the noble Indian Mother of God, Queen of Mexico, and Empress of the Americas, (Hall 197). Most of the pilgrims come to pay homage to the peaceful, obedient mother of God who bestows her favor on the people of Mexico. Traditionally, the Virgin of Guadalupe represents a model of quiet submission for her female devotees. In the patriarchal world from which she hails, she supplies a means to control the social and sexual behavior of women in their day to day lives. However, a variety of women in feminist circles discount the virgin’s established model of passive submission, to embrace an image of strength, power, and endurance. They see the Virgin of Guadalupe as a symbol of female empowerment.
In her influential essay, “Guadalupe the Sex Goddess,” feminist Sandra Cisneros explains her new vision of Guadalupe that inspires such avid devotion. Every year on December 12, the author walks on her knees among hundreds of thousands of other pilgrims to honor the Virgin of Guadalupe’s feast day (Poniatowska 48). Before coming to such appreciation of the virgin, Cisneros spent years being angry at la Virgen de Guadalupe for providing a restrictive cultural role model for “brown women,” calling the virgin a “Goody two-shoes meant to doom me to a life of unhappiness” (Cisneros176). However, after studying the history, she merges the image on Juan Diego’s tilma with the pre-Columbian goddesses that came before the church de-sexed la Lupe --- goddesses of fertility and sex that celebrate the sexual indigena body (176). Cisneros sees la Virgen de Guadalupe as Tlazolteolteol “squatting in childbirth, her face grimacing in pain,” or Coatlique, a creative/destructive goddess “not silent and passive, but silently gathering force” (177). She calls la Lupe “a face for a god without a face, an indigena for a god without ethnicity, a female deity for a god who is genderless” (177). In the final passage of the essay, Cisneros explains why the Virgin of Guadalupe that inspires veneration with the words, “She gave birth. She has a womb. Blessed art the fruit of thy womb…Blessed art thou, Lupe. And, therefore, blessed am I” (177).
While Rosemary Radford Ruether, feminist theologian and activist in the Roman Catholic Church, acknowledges the historic association of Our Lady of Guadalupe with Nauhuatl goddesses, she puts more emphasis on the long and complicated role of the virgin in the political and military actions of Mexico (Ruether 190-217). Ruether notes a specifically feminist association with Guadalupe beginning in the 1980’s and 90’s, when liberation theology, feminist theology and “Indian” theology come together to reinterpret Guadalupe and reclaim indigenous religious traditions as positive (217). In their book, Mary, Mother of God, Mother of the Poor, Brazilian Catholic feminists Ivone Gebara and Maria Clara Bingemer reinterpret Mary as an advocate of the poor and therefore an advocate of women as the “oppressed of the oppressed” and try to remove “Marianismo” as a means to subordinate women (218). In order to empower women, Gebara and Bingmer cite biblical sources (218). They point out that Mary empowers women in the struggle for justice, as reflected in the Maginficat where the Blessed Mother says that, through her, “the mighty are put down from their thrones and the poor are lifted up” (Luke 1:52) (218). They consider the Virgin of Guadalupe a particular advocate of the oppressed, because God chose her to represent the oppressed Indian people of the Americas (218). Recently, the Virgin of Guadalupe crossed the border as an advocate to the oppressed Hispanic populace in the US when banners imprinted with her image led the march of the farm worker’s strikes orchestrated by Cesar Chavez (218).
Along the US-Mexican border, Murals depicting the Virgin of Guadalupe empowered make frequent appearances. In one such instance, across the support wall of a major freeway in El Paso, Texas, a group of high school students created a mural that depicts the virgin’s strength and her embodiment of social commentary. Guadalupe steps boldly from her traditional blue cloak wearing a dress of bright red rather than the customary muted pink (283). Instead of folding her hands in prayer, she spreads her arms out to the people (283). On a panel to one side of the virgin, a cherub holds a Mexican flag, and on the other another cherub holds a US flag, with the words “Nuestra Reina de El Paso Ombligo de Aztlan” (Our Queen of El Paso Navel of Aztlan) inscribed across the bottom of the picture (Aztlan is “the mythical homeland in the north (US southwest) from which the Mexica (Aztec) people originated”) (283).
In more conventional mediums, Chicana and Mexicana feminists frequently reinterpret the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. These images ensconce generations of mestiza women as Guadalupe and often incorporate the snake as a symbol of those early goddess images. Their appearance is met with mixed feelings by the public. Margaret F. Stewart (Barnes) paints a full length older Mestiza sitting on a seat draped with Guadalupe’s star dotted mantel, surrounded by the virgin’s areola of light. The abuella holds the skin of a dead snake in one hand while a cherub hovers near the bottom with a garland of flowers. She looks calmly out of the picture in the controlled manner of a family matriarch. In another rendition, Victoria F. Franco (Barnes) pictures a middle-aged Guadalupe sewing her mantel at a machine as a cherub gazes upward from the fabric piled on the floor, a single rose lying at her side. In Yoland Lopez’s (Barnes) “Portrait of the Artist as Guadalupe” the virgin wears running shoes and comes straight out of the picture smiling as she steps on a blue and red winged cherub, hair blowing in the wind. Her rose colored dress rises up to reveal her thighs in accordance with her active movements. With one hand she throws the mantle of Guadalupe over her shoulder and in the other she carries a living snake.
Alma Lopez, sparked a firestorm when her digital representation, “Our Lady,” went on display in a Santa Fe museum (285). In this picture, an Hispanic woman stands with a blue cloak thrown around her solders, hands on her hips, looking defiantly out of the picture. She wears a garland of flowers across her chest, with another around her hips. Her mid-drift and legs remain uncovered. Beneath her, rather than the usual cherubs, a bare-breasted angel spreads her arms in an arc. Lopez later said that Sandra Cisneros’s “Guadalupe the Sex Goddess” inspired the work (Lopez). Although eventually defeated, community activist Jose Villegas, joined by Archbishop Sheehan, led an ugly campaign to have the work removed from public display (Lopez). In a reply to Villegas’s attacks Lopez made the statement, “I see Chicanas creating a deep and meaningful connection to this revolutionary cultural female image. I see Chicanas who understand faith” (Lopez)
While the Virgin of Guadalupe has a reputation for silence and submission, she now makes frequent appearances in art, literature, and politics as a symbol of strength and power. While her presence does not historically represent the concerns of women, the image of the virgin as a strong role is model is an intrinsic, but ignored aspect of her long-standing position as a political and military icon. At this point in time, feminists look to a powerful Guadalupe as the model of empowerment for themselves. Rather than accepting the passive, subordinated image put forth by those who would control the behavior of women, feminists embrace the strength and endurance of the virgin for inspiration. With careful thought, women today study the old image of the Virgin of Guadalupe come to a new understanding of her nature.
Happy Lady of Guadalupe feast day Dr. White!!! [exam submitted on 12 Dec. 2008]
Works Cited
Barnes, Rhonda L. “Demanding Social Equality: A Feminist Re-Interpretation of the Virgin of Guadalupe.” ic Arizona. 10 Dec. 2008
Cisneros, Sandra. “Guadelupe the Sex Goddess.” 1996. Women’s LIves;Multicultural Perspectives. By Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-rey. Ed. Emily Barrose. Boston: Mcgraw Hill Higher Education, 2007. 175-177.
Google Images 11 Dec. 2008
Hall, Linda B. Mary, Mother and Warrior. Austin: U of Texas P, 2004.
Lopez, Alma. “The Artist of ‘Our Lady.’” las Culturas. 10 Dec. 2008
http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/chh/bio/castillo_a.htm
Poniatowska, Elena. “Mexicanas and Chicanas.” MELUS, Vol.21, No 3. 47-50. JSTOR. 8 Dec. 2008 <http://www.jstor.org//http://www.jstor.org/>.
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Goddesses and the Divine Feminine. 2005. Berkeley: U of California P, 2006.
Christina Holmes
Life on a Reservation
The mystery of the Native American remains constant in my mind, primarily because of the perseverance they have exemplified in the wake of a history that almost annihilated them. As a whole, they are a race of people that have met opposition and despite the adversity that surrounds them, they have miraculously remained true to their culture, and their traditions throughout history. In order to gain a concrete understanding of the Native American and his plight in American society I decided to investigate certain elements that surround the Native American; specifically life on the reservation.
I began by researching information that was directly related to reservations using topics such as; “Native Americans and reservations,” “reservations in America” “life on reservations,” and “reservations.” The information generated was extensive, dated and varied. It also entailed data ranging from population on reservations to council members of reservations. Because the information was so wide-ranging I felt it would be beneficial to define the research to specific topics related to reservations, such as;
§ Definition
§ Purpose
§ Statistics
§ Housing
§ Education
§ Reasons for leaving/staying
§ Present attitudes/benefits
In focusing on the above specifics I felt it would serve as a guideline in keeping the information cohesive thus enabling a concise research report.
The term “reservation” is defined as a “tract of land set aside for the ownership or use of a particular Native American tribe” (Encarta). The land is held in a trust by the government for the sole purpose of protecting the Native American from selling the land. This practice began in the 19th century under an agreement between the Native Americans and the US government in which the Natives had ceded (surrendered) their land to the US government. In exchange for ceding their land they were allowed to keep certain portions for their own use (Encarta).
The intent of this agreement had several purposes behind it; the Natives ownership of land had dwindled to 132 million acres, they were no longer able to live off the land, they were being forced to assimilate into the dominant culture and most significant, the older cultures were being lost and “shattered’ due to fraternizing with the whites. In an effort to repair these issues the government, after being approached by several tribal leaders, set up reservations that would enable the tribes to remain together thus protecting their way of life, traditions and customs. In addition to aiding in the preservation of the Native American culture, the reservations also helped to facilitate a venue to restrain conflict over the perimeters of land owned by the Natives Americans and the white settlers and it also enabled the government to keep close taps on the Natives. They were allowed to live on their “reserved” portions of land, as they chose, so long as they did it peacefully.
The Native American accounts for only 1% of the total US population (LOC). The census bureau reports 1,959,000 people declaring themselves as Native Americans. Of that amount 188,000 are documented as city dwellers choosing to make their home is New York, Chicago and California. The number of Natives residing on government funded reservations is documented at 637,000. There are over 500 tribes found in the United States with only 308 being documented by the federal government.
Housing on the reservation is only available to Native Americans and there are two ways to receive housing. One method, which is similar to regular housing practices outside the reservation, is to secure a mortgage. If applying for a mortgage the individual makes the application through the tribal council and must have good credit rating, monetary means, and gainful employment. Since few banks will make loans to Native Americans, due to previous defaults, the tribal council makes the agreement with the bank and pays for the house up front through the proceeds from gaming. The individual then pays their mortgage directly to the tribal council. This arrangement has work better for both the individual and the tribal council as the individual is less likely to default on their loan because it is held by their fellow brothers; the tribal council. The second method is through HUD Housing, which the individual must show a financial need and meet the HUD Housing qualifications. Under this practice the individual is given a house and made to pay only a portion of the rent with the remainder being offset by the government.
Schools that were once regarded as a means for coercing the Native American into assimilation are no longer in existence (Eric Digest). Education is now seen as a necessity for maintaining livable standards, and plays an important part of life on the reservation. There are scholarships available to Native Americans so that higher education can be attained. The expectation is that the individual educates himself and returns home to use their education for the benefit of the tribe. Doctors, lawyers, and teachers alike reside on the reservations and utilize their talents for their people (Pino). Since many children have had difficulty with fitting into the mainstream public schools many reservations have and are making plans to build charter schools within the reservation. The purpose of this is to maintain the tradition and culture as well as provide an environment for the Native American student that is conducive for learning; a place where their language can be taught and their traditions can be practiced.
Despite the familial environment, that the reservation can provide, there are those who chose to reside outside of the reservation in what is called “mainstream America” (Pino). The reasons vary. Many Natives Americans chose to leave the reservation because they want to assimilate into the dominant culture. However, the majority return back to the reservation due to identity crisis and the lack of acceptance from the dominant culture. Other reasons why individuals leave is due to marital status. According to Donna Pino, Director of Education on the Santa Ana Pueblo reservation:
If a Native American marries a non-Native American the Native American is not allowed to reside on the reservation and must leave. Old customs rules did not allow the individual to return except to visit family. They were not allowed to participate in festivities or traditional ceremonies. [However] as generations have changed, so have the rules. Presently the individual, who marries outside of the tribe, is said to have ‘two-feet’ one inside the reservation and one outside the reservation; meaning they and their children are allowed to participate in all festivities and traditional ceremonies.
Those who chose to make their home on the reservation do so because it offers them a traditional family setting, it is less costly than living outside of the reservation and the most significant reason, it helps maintain the customs of language, culture and tradition. In addition to the close knit environment, residing on the reservation entails mandatory participation of traditional ceremonies. Much like suburban communities in mainstream America neighborhoods on the reservation must adhere to certain standards; landscaping must be free of unnecessary debris, and repairs must be attended to in a timely manner. If the rules are not followed then a notice is sent out and the individual can be brought before the tribal council if the notice is ignored.
Present attitudes about reservations can differ depending upon who you speak with. In an interview with Ms. Pino, who resides on the Santa Ana Pueblo reservation, she indicated, “I prefer living on the reservation because I think it is safer and since I come from a traditional family I like maintaining the traditions of my culture and I think it is more affordable than living in mainstream America where we often feel unaccepted” (Pino). In addition to the safety and security that it offers there are other benefits to reservation life. Should a home be in need of repairs a work request is presented to the tribal council, and they find someone to come out and do the work and they pay for one-half of the repairs.
The question then becomes did the governments plan regarding reservation work? According to the information presented it is working to a certain degree. It does provide a safe haven for the Native American to live according to their own customs and it does enable them to own land (land of course, that was their own to begin with), and it has even began to deal with Natives who marry non-Natives, but there are some discrepancies. For instance more reservations would like to have charter schools on the reservations, but the ability to get the government to see the need is difficult. The government feels that attending public school is sufficient. Ironically, so do many of the tribal leaders since the majority of them also attended public schools and universities. Therefore, the ability to see the necessity of schools on the reservation is often overlooked. In order for the reservation to get approval for government funding of charter schools the request must be made by the tribal council and since the need is not recognized, the process has been a difficult struggle that continues.
In understanding life on the reservation I am now able to comprehend how the Native American has persevered throughout history; a solid foundation is provided in having strong family ties, acceptance is important in maintaining identity and strength is gained in groups all which are elements found on the reservation. This information only solidifies the perception I had of the Native American; they are strong beyond mere physical strength, their humility is indescribable and given the circumstances they have had to overcome they are a people that definitely deserve to be recognized with admiration and benevolence.
Works Cited
Hodgkinson, Harold. “ The Current Conditions of Native Americans.” Eric Digest (1992). 13 Nov.
2008 <http://ericdigest.org/1992-2/current.htm>.
"Native American Reservations". Encarta. November 13, 2008
<http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761568496/native_american_reservations.html>.
Pino, Donna. Personal interview. 2 Dec. 2008.
The Library of Congress. Ed. Leni Donlan et al.2001.Immigration: The Native
American. Destroying the Native American. 13 November 2008
<http://www.memory.loc.gov/larn/feature/immig/native_american.htm>