When I was young, the concept of identity was hardly discussed, especially where I grew up in “countryside” eastern Washington. Little town America has little room for the likes of me, a now self-identified quasi-Chicanx writer who knows little about their Hispanic heritage but isn’t white passing enough to be considered “just American.” In high school, U.S. History class briefly introduced me to the Chicanx movement of the 1960’s, and until that day, I had no clue there were other identities to choose from. The Chicanx movement, spurred on by a bid for equal rights for Mexican Americans and dependents of land grantees whose grants were being denied by the U.S. Government, moved to take back agency over what was once considered a racial slur, according to Karen Juanita Carrillo, an author and photographer who researches African American and Afro-Latino history. Denotatively speaking, Chicanx means to be born in the United States of Mexican descent, but connotatively, I find it means something a little different to each one of us. Casa de Negro by Karla Y. Maravilla explores many aspects of identity in several poems, including the Chicanx identity. Maravilla not only explores identity in these poems, but there is also an exploration of the dominance of white culture and how it diminishes Chicanx identity. I will explicate two poems in Casa de Negro that show how dominate white culture in the United States destabilizes Chicanx identity with use of symbols and language. These two poems are “Border Crossing” and “Notes from the Hopyard.”
It’s important to note historical and cultural references presented in these poems before explicating them. The first topic to understand is the Indigenous history of Central America, mainly that of the Aztecs, and how the conquest and formation of Mexico ties into U.S. History. Several Indigenous civilizations found their beginning and end in Mesoamerica, what is now central Mexico and the rest of Central America (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). The most well known civilizations such as the Mayan and the Aztec civilizations outshine those of the Olmec, Zapotec, Totonac, and Teotihuacán (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). The first Mesoamerican civilization, the Olmec, dates back to 1150 BCE and was based in the lowlands of what is now southern Veracruz and Tabasco (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). The Zapotec people, prevalent between 900-300 BCE, developed the first writing in the region as well as the first written calendar (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). The major cultural and scientific developments happened during 700-900 CE, where astronomy, mathematics, writing, and architecture flourished and politics and commerce of Mesoamerica were born, brought on by the civilizations of the Maya, Zapotec, Totonac and Teotihuacán peoples (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). The Toltecs took over around 900 CE, and ruled the next several centuries to 1200, when the Aztecs migrated to Mesoamerica and became the dominant civilization.
It is believed the Aztecs originated from a nomadic tribe, possibly in what is now northern Mexico or what is now the southwestern United States, who migrated into the Mesoamerican territories from Aztlan in the 13th century (History.com). According to Wayne Elzey, an expert in prehistoric Mesoamerican cultures, Aztlan means the place of the Heron. It was said to be “filled with vast quantities of ducks, heron, and waterfowl” where “birds sang, great and beautiful fish swam in the waters, and shade trees lined the banks” (Elzey, 110). The Aztecs became the dominating civilization of Mesoamerica after the fall of the Toltecs, and developed “an intricate social, political, religious and commercial organization that brought many of the region’s city-states under their control by the 15th century” (History.com). It is said that the Aztec people saw an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its mouth, the same symbol used on the Mexican flag, and took it as a sign to build their city where the eagle sat (History.com). By the early 16th century, the Aztecs ruled over hundreds of states and five to six million people, and the capital of the civilization, Tenochtitlan, drove the economy of the civilization as the saddle of the markets and commerce of the territory (History.com). Hernán Cortés landed in central America, and quickly established the city of Veracruz on the southeastern coast of what is now Mexico, and after several attempts, ended up overtaking Tenochtitlan, where an estimated 240,000 civilians perished in the city, effectively ending the Aztec civilization (History.com). Cortés built Mexico City on top of the ruins and unmarked graves of Tenochtitlan.
From the 16th to 19th centuries, European immigration to North and Central America caused conflict after conflict and war after war due to European infighting finding its way to the Americas (History.com). After centuries of conquest, war and constant battles, the Mexican republic found independence. Despite finding independence, war and fighting did not end, and the Mexican-American war was fought between 1846 and 1848, ending in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, where Mexico ceded 525,000 square miles where Texas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming now exist (History.com)with the promise of the United States to Mexico that those choosing to remain on the ceded land would become citizens of the United States and retain the right to their culture, property, and language (Carrillo).
This history now brings us to the Chicanx movement of the 1960s. The citizens of the ceded land did not receive the promises from the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and in fact received discrimination and mistreatment instead (Carrillo). The term “Chicano” was a racial slur that meant not Mexican enough but not American enough either (Carrillo). Many activists not only took on the name to acknowledge their Spanish and European roots, but also took on the name to celebrate their Indigenous and African roots (Carrillo). The flag of Mexico took on a new symbol of pride, and the symbol of the eagle on the cactus with a snake in its mouth alluded to the Aztecan roots many people identified with their indigenous ancestors and the birthplace of the Aztec people, Aztlan (Carrillo). Carrillo quotes University of Minnesota Chicano and Latino Studies professor Jimmy C. Patino Jr., “A key term in Chicano Movement activism was self-determination, the idea that Chicanos were a nation within a nation that had the right to self-determine their own future.” The Chicanx movement helped many self-determine their identity, and gave the same opportunity to future generations.
Identity is “the memories, experiences, relationships, and values that create one’s sense of self,” according to Psychology Today. Identity is explored in several poems throughout Casa de Negro. In fact, readers are immediately met with an establishment of identity in the first line of the first poem, “Border Crossing.” The line is written, “I am Mexican, so I make up stories—” (Maravilla, 1). This poem shows the history of border crossings in three stanzas. The forced border crossing is introduced in the line, “herbal, sour, sweet Alkebelan/pours vinegar into Mediterranean/seas” (Maravilla, 1). Alkebulan is the ancient name of Africa, according to The African History. Through research, I was unable to find the exact translation of Alkebelan, so I can only assume Maravilla is using this as the name of Africa. The images used in this line give the impression that Maravilla is either speaking on the historical border crossings such as the forced migration of Africans to the Americas, or the original conquest and colonization of the Americas.
The poem ends with “all of this in the last hour of/cactus cradles, lengua on my knee, &/a Guantanamo vulture circles overhead” (Maravilla, 1). The images in these lines give the impression Maravilla speaks on the current state of border crossing; “in the last hour” referring to the last few decades, tongue on knees referring to how several people die of dehydration while crossing the border, and a Guantanamo vulture circling overhead could refer to both a vulture in a literal sense, but also various law enforcement agency, as Guantanamo Bay is a well-known U.S. army base in Cuba. This is the reality that several people live in order to come to the United States. Many, many people, myself included, have family that have lived this reality, people who wouldn’t be here or have this reality part of their familial history without crossed borders.
With some of the original border crossings came the first signs of destabilization of Latinx identity, which Maravilla alludes to in “Notes from the Hopyard.” For instance, the second part of the poem starts “It began with Aztlan, the place of the Heron/became the place of whiteness, it began with silk/devils bleaching brown kernels” (Maravilla, 12). Aztlan means the place of the Heron according to Elzey, but also states that Aztlan means “the place of whiteness,” though it is unclear where this translation comes from. Maravilla alludes to the fact that Aztlan became the place of whiteness after “silk devils,” begin to conquer the lands. The poem continues by describing a cleansing ritual, where “an escoba of canela,” the literal translation meaning “broom of cinnamon,” is used and oils are massaged onto a belly, where “each thunk as critiqued as queer theory,” alluding that this old ritual is discriminated. The imagery of the poem evokes a sense of ancestry, with the traditional rituals, and the images of the environment.
The third section of the poem continues to relate to old rituals and crossing the border. The line that stands out the most, however, is that “identities trans/gressed by old men politics we can’t even stand the devil’s dance/to win our souls,” which directly speaks to sexual identities, however, can also be spoken of identity in general (Maravilla). Politics surrounding identities have been debated for ages, and even as society seemingly progresses, America can’t seem to evade “old men politics.” For those crossing the border, it’s even more pronounced, because people are trying to evade the politics of Mexico, only to find a different kind of politics in America. Maravilla also alludes to a feeling of distress because people who cross the border feel they have the inability to do the steps of “the devil’s dance” in order to live the life they envisioned (12). Here we see the use of devil’s again, just as earlier in the poem, with “silk devils.” The ending line of the poem brings it all together as it says “one day we’ll say it ended with El Cometa [the comet], the jagged radical, with Atzlan’s blood” (Maravilla). The blood of Atzlan refers to the Chicanx identity, and the jagged radical most likely refers to a political or social activist, which is how the Chicanx identity was reclaimed.
Throughout these poems, Maravilla uses history and culture as ways to explore Chicanx identity and how conquest, restrictive politics, and the state of the border has destabilized Chicanx and Mexican identity. Maravilla used Aztec history to provide a backbone to the arguments she hidden just under the expressive imagery and language. The use of ancient and recent history sheds light on the crossing of borders and what that means to Chicanx. The essence of Chicanx identity is crossed borders. Without borders being crossed there wouldn’t be Chicanx.
Works Cited
Carrillo, Juanita. How the Chicano Movement Championed Mexican-American Identity and Fought for Change. 18 September 2020. 18 April 2022.
Elzey, Wayne. "A Hill on a Land Surrounded by Water: An Aztec Story of Origin and Destiny." History of Religions (1991): 105-149. Print.
History.com. Aztecs. 27 October 2009. 24 April 2022.
Maravilla, Kara Y. Casa de Negro; House of Black. 2022. Manuscript.
Navarrete, Federico. "The Path from Aztlan to Mexico: On Visual Narration in Mesoamerican Codices." RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics (2000): 31-48.
Psychology Today. Identity. n.d. Article. 16 April 2022.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Mesoamerican civilization. 11 May 2020. 26 April 2022.
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