Lecture 7 Outline

Galilean Journey:  The Mexican-American Experience

Preface: This book presents “a cultural rereading of the gospels, and a gospel rereading of cultural dynamics.” (Jacques Audinet, p. xi)

1. Chapter 1: Mestizaje - double mestizaje - twice conquered, twice oppressed – dynamics of mestizaje
   Mestizaje: Elizondo’s Analysis of Mexican American Identity
1. Elizondo states that Mexican American historical process (which includes identity formation) is rooted in
1. ancient past of pre-Hispanic Mexico,
2. sixteenth-century Spain,
3. gospels and their cultural implantation in the life of the people
4. the Anglo-American history of Mexican Americans (p. 2, introduction).
2. Explain terms “mestizo” and “mestizaje” – there is no equivalent word in English
3. Introduction of dominant group’s religious symbols is the ultimate act of violence (p. 10)
4. Mexican Americans as a people are twice conquered, twice oppressed
5. Mestizaje of peoples has happened frequently in human history
6. Three anthropological laws/tendencies of human behavior (pp. 17-18):
1. group inclusion/exclusion,
2. social distance (even when people from different groups are in relationship, it is difficult to break through the barriers set up by group exclusivity),
3. those who threaten to diminish or destroy the barriers of group separation must be eliminated.
7. Mestizaje is feared by established groups because it threatens existing social norms and structures. The mestizo person is seen as a threat to both parent cultures.
2. Chapter 2: From Cultural Birth to Maturity - ongoing assimilationist pressures – Mexican-American responses: survival efforts, “development” efforts, liberation – acceptance of mestizaje is at the heart of a life-giving Mexican-American identity
1. Mexican American responses to historical situation of mestizaje and assimilationist pressures (p. 19):
1. survival effort
2. “development” effort
3. liberation movement
2. All of these responses are linked to questions of identity. It is not surprising that the Chicano movement encompassed a strong theme of indigenization, recourse to the mythical Aztlán. The impact of racism is to impose the image of the dominant group as the image that is most beautiful and most human (through education, media, economic and political rewards, etc.). Some Mexican Americans simply run away from this conflict to the enclaves of family and barrio (survival efforts); others embrace the assimilationist expectations of the dominant society (“development” efforts).
3. For those who seek liberation, “the acceptance of mestizaje is at the root of reversing the Mexican-American inferiority complex” (p. 23). This entails a refusal to embrace the “us vs. them” paradigm in favor of a “common we.” Mexican Americans have begun to do this through push for bilingual education, contemporary art forms, embrace of group heroes, and especially the collective experience of fiesta/celebration. According to Elizondo, their purpose is not to reconquer and take over the place of their oppressors, but to create a more liberated society/community for all.
3. Chapter 3: Living Faith: Resistance and Survival - celebrations that lead to hope: symbols of ultimate identity and belonging; symbols of struggle, suffering, and death; symbols of new creation
1. Foundational faith expressions are those religious traditions which the majority of a people
1. celebrate voluntaril
2. transmit from generation to generation
3. persist in celebrating with the clergy, without them, or even in spite of the
2. Mexican American foundational faith expressions flow from the experience of mestizaje, especially elements of discrimination, suffering, rejection and being pressured to assimilate, to abandon the Mexican way for the American way, i.e. seeing one’s own culture and humanity as inferior and in need of being “developed” in order to become like “dominant” Anglo Americans
3. Functions of popular faith expressions for Mexican Americans:
1. reinforce identity and a sense of belonging: posadas, continuing Mexican celebrations under U.S. rule, San Martín de Porres, Ash Wednesday, padrinos/madrinas (meaning of compadrazgo, desire for more padrinos in more sacraments, concern that they occupy a prominent place in the ritual celebration
2. enable people to endure struggles, suffering, even death: Día de los Muertos, Good Friday (Vía Crucis, siete palabras, servicio de santo entierro, pésame)
3. celebrate hope and new life: baptism, Our Lady of Guadalupe