Latina/o Studies Commons^™

Full Issue, Front Matter 01

CouRaGeouS Cuentos: A Journal of Counternarratives

No abstract provided.

Navigating University Of Denver As A Latinx Male-Identifying Undergraduate Student, Quisi Rodriguez-Oregel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Students of color continuously persist at a lower rate than their white counterparts in higher education. Particularly for Latinx males, the number is lower than Latinx women. Universities have incorporated Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) strategies to focus on their diverse student population and address issues of race, ethnicity, class, and gender. Despite these efforts, low retention rates for Latinx males persist. This study explores how Latinx male undergraduate students navigate a predominantly white institution as well as explore some of the challenges of DEI efforts at that institution. I conducted participant observations at the University of Denver (DU) and …

[2024 Honorable Mention] Hasta Que El Cuerpo Aguante, Brisa Rosiles

Ethnic Studies Research Paper Award

The focus of this project revolves around a critical examination of the alarming occurrences of heat stroke-related deaths among field workers in California, with a specific emphasis on cases documented in the Salinas Valley. The core of my artistic expression lies in a digital painting that captures the reality of a laborer enduring the devastating effects of heat stroke in the agricultural fields.

“I Tell Them Generics, But Not The Specifics”: Exploring Tensions Underlying Familial Support For First-Generation Latinx Undergraduate Students, Stephany Cuevas

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Families continue to play an essential role in the experiences of first-generation Latinx undergraduate students and can serve as powerful partners to support student retention and socioemotional wellbeing. This qualitative phenomenological study uses the notion of emerging adulthood to explore how first-generation Latinx undergraduate students (n = 16) conceptualize their families’ role in their college education. Specifically, this study shows that while students describe feeling supported by their families, they also experience distinct and unique tensions tied to this support, which students associate with their first-generation student status. These tensions include (1) the family’s unfamiliarity with college culture; (2) bidirectional …

Aromas Y Sabores Para Los Dioses Mayas: Alimentos De Ixim Y Pom, Diana Peralta Cervantes

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Resumen: El presente texto tiene como objetivo analizar el papel que el binomio ixim (maíz)- pom (incienso) desempeñó en la ritualidad de los mayas yucatecos del Posclásico (900-1542 d. C.) y aporta algunos datos relativos a los lacandones y cho’rti’s del siglo XX, ya que existe una afinidad en los usos y funciones que le han dado estos grupos a la pareja a lo largo de la historia. Como parte de lo que Alfredo López Austin denomina “núcleo duro de la tradición mesoamericana” (López, 2008: 20) se encuentran el ixim (maíz) y el pom (incienso), elementos que se documentan en …

El Zacahuil: Lo Que Encubre Y Lo Que Se Quiere Ver, Ana Bella Pérez Castro

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Resumen: En este texto presento la importancia que cobra un gran tamal, conocido como zacahuil, bolin, tapataxtle, tlapepecholi o patlache en diversos rituales que se realizan en la Huasteca. Parto de mostrar al lector la ubicación de esta extensa región conocida como la Huasteca y la manera en que en ella encontramos la presencia de los teenek, grupo étnico de filiación maya, que ahí se asentaron interactuando con los nahuas y otomíes principalmente. La importancia que cobra también en Yucatán el mukbil pollo o pibil pollo me llevaría a suponer que fueron los teenek los que llevaron, en su equipaje …

Los Tamales De La Gente Del Pantano. Patrimonio Gastronómico De Los Yokot’Anob De Tabasco, México, Mauricio Hernández Sánchez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Resumen: Los tamales forman parte de la cotidianidad de los yokot’anob, un pueblo de filiación mayense que habita las planicies inundables de Tabasco, en el sureste mexicano. Constituyen las principales ofrendas de las festividades religiosas y de los rituales asociados a la muerte y a diversas entidades sagradas del monte, el agua y las cosechas. Además, están presentes en reuniones familiares, festivales escolares y, en general, en todo convivio que incluya alimentos. Sin embargo, poca de esta gastronomía local se conoce. El presente ensayo describe parte de la diversidad de tamales yokot’anob, entre los que se listan los de “presa”, …

Tamales Tsotsiles: Léxico, Usos Y Consumos, Margarita Martínez-Pérez, Jorge Alberto Jiménez-Hernández

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Resumen: Los tamales tsotsiles desempeñan un papel fundamental no sólo en la vida cotidiana, sino también en el contexto ritual. En el presente estudio se examinará cuál es el nombre genérico de tamal en esta lengua, cuántos tipos de tamales existen, en qué contextos se usan y cuáles son sus funciones. Veremos los diferentes tipos de envoltura que se usan para determinados tipos de tamales, señalaremos la relevancia de cada tipo de tamal y la razón de ello y finalmente se describirán las características del campo semántico y clase léxica. El presente estudio se sustenta desde el marco de la …

Los Tamales: Alimento Para Los Dioses, Los Espíritus De La Milpa, El Monte, Los Difuntos Y Las Personas Vivas, Laura Elena Sotelo Santos

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

El consumo de tamales en los pueblos mayas contemporáneos es una constante y se han comido de manera cotidiana, festiva y ritual en todos los estratos de la población. La cultura tradicional (que por supuesto siempre está en constante transformación) ha reconocido que los tamales se han consumido espiritualmente por los antepasados y también por entidades sagradas como las deidades, espíritus de la milpa y de la montaña.

Tamales In Yucatán: Reflections On 52 Years Of Piib Gastronomy, Allan F. Burns

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Abstract: “The first time I made tamales in the Yucatan of Mexico was in a village close to Tixcacal Guardia, Quintana Roo in 1972, some 52 years ago as I write this essay. It was in the fall and extended families were celebrating the harvest of milpas with something called “jaanali kol” (the feast of the milpa). We dug a pit, about four by eight feet oblong, lined it with stones, and built a fire. We were all men around the fire, and women were nearby in a house making chicken stew and other foods.” So begins this personal reflection …

Cocinar Para Dioses Y Hombres: Los Tamales De Los Lacandones Del Norte, Alice Balsanelli

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Resumen: En los estudios referentes a la religión lacandona, las mujeres han quedado prácticamente invisibilizadas, puesto que las principales labores rituales se encontraban a cargo de los varones. Sin embargo, eran ellas quienes elaboraban las ofrendas sagradas para los dioses, en particular, los tamales ceremoniales. Los lacandones contemporáneos separan los tamales en dos categorías: aquellos que se ofrendan a las deidades y los que se destinan al consumo doméstico. El texto presente, fundamentado en información etnográfica, esclarece las diferencias en el proceso de elaboración de los alimentos divinos y humanos. Asimismo, se ilustran los cambios en las recetas, que fueron …

Pa´Ts Petejul: Maíz Y Frijol En La Mesa, Fanny López Jiménez, María Méndez Vázquez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Resumen: La tradición del consumo de tamales entre los choles de Palenque está ligado al conocimiento y manejo ancestral de las plantas, así como al calendario de fiestas y ceremonias relacionadas con las fechas de días de muertos y de la Santa Cruz, entre otras. En este trabajo, hablaremos de este tamal (Pa´ts Petejul), que es propio de la región de Palenque, su relación con dos de las tradiciones más importantes de México y cuáles son los cambios o la evolución que ha tenido en la comunidad chol de Palenque desde tiempos muy remotos. Los tamales, por supuesto, tienen su …

Introducción Essay - Tamales Mayas. Sabores En El Tiempo, Laura Elena Sotelo Santos, Adriana Cruz-Manjarrez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Editors' introduction of Maya America Volume 6 Issue 1. This article is written in Spanish.

Introductory Note In English, Maya America Editors

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Editors' introduction of Maya America Volume 6 Issue 1

El Tamal Como Parte Integral Del Movimiento De Revalorización Gastronómica Guatemalteca, Tomás Barrientos Q., Mirciny Moliviatis

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Resumen: Desde finales del siglo XX, la continuidad de la gastronomía tradicional de Guatemala se ha visto afectada por cambios socioeconómicos a nivel doméstico y la introducción de productos procesados importados y nuevos valores en la cultura alimentaria. Como respuesta a dicha situación, se inició un movimiento para la conservación y revalorización de los ingredientes y recetas tradicionales, apoyado por una etnografía audiovisual realizada para la producción de programas televisivos, así como descubrimientos arqueológicos relacionados con la gastronomía prehispánica. Ante la reciente declaración del tamal como Patrimonio Intangible de la Nación, se resalta la importancia de esta comida dentro del …

Forced Family Separation: U.S. Crimes Against Indigenous Peoples, Lauren Heidbrink, Giovanni Batz, David W. Barillas Chón

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Forced family separation under the U.S. Zero Tolerance policy is not only a crime against humanity, but also a crime against Indigenous Peoples, which includes the Maya. Rooted in white supremacist ideologies and settler colonialism, contemporary forced family separation continues historical violence inflicted upon Maya Peoples by the U.S. government. Submitted to the International Criminal Court, this amicus brief contends that the Court should investigate and hold the U.S. accountable for crimes against Indigenous Peoples under the U.S. Zero Tolerance policy. The amicus brief begins with an overview of Maya Peoples in present-day Guatemala and the meanings and practices of …

Complete Issue: Volume 6 Issue 1, Maya America Editors

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

The full Issue 1, Volume 6 of Maya America, published June 2024

Un Recorrido Iconoglífico Por Las Antiguas Representaciones Del Tamal En La Mesoamérica Maya De Tierras Bajas, Daniel Martínez González

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Resumen: En el presente texto se ofrece un recorrido histórico milenario por las representaciones, tanto visuales o iconográficas, como epigráficas o escriturarias, de uno de los alimentos -al parecer- más antiguos, preciados y generalizados entre los pueblos mayas desde épocas tempranas. Como tal, la hoja de ruta de este recorrido en torno a las representaciones del tamal en el mundo maya -de sobre todo Tierras Bajas- inicia por las célebres pinturas murales del sitio de San Bartolo (ca. s. i a.e.c) y la subestructura I-4 de Chiik Nahb de Calakmul (ca. 650-700 e.c.); prosigue con algunos otros indicadores arqueológicos y …

Patchwork: 76km Between Juárez And El Paso, Naheyla Medina

Masters Theses

Located at the western edge of Texas where the Río Bravo ~ Rio Grande, becomes the border between México and the United States. Resides a spectacle of misconceptions that, along with an expansive corten steel border wall embedded into the earth, live to suppress the histories, culture, and environment entangled together like patchwork along this border space. The built environment influences our daily experiences, and our daily experiences can often influence our built environment. This project seeks to leverage, murals as a medium, creative writing, and architectural representations, to rework the mapping between Mexico and the US. Honing in on …

Industrial Tenderness, Elbert Girón

Masters Theses

Industrial Tenderness surveys the relationship between visual language, cultural expression, and diasporic practices through the design of functional sculptures. These designed objects seek to communicate cultural legibility, or intuitive cultural belonging, to Mexican-American peoples by challenging legacy notions of design language. Through a proposed design language framework and designed objects, Industrial Tenderness seeks to affirm a pluriversal practice of industrial design.

Legacy industrial design confines design language to a heavily prescriptive canon, resulting in a stark monocultural language that is unrepresentative of perspectives outside of a legacy dominant white eurocentricity founded in thinking from the Bauhaus and Ulm schools. Through …

The Realm That I Am: An Interdisciplinary Memoir On Identity And Healing, Maria Rowen Flores

University Honors Theses

This thesis is an interdisciplinary exploration into identity, self, and meaning-making. Engaging queer studies, Chicano/a Studies, narrative therapy, creative nonfiction, and visual arts, this project is both a collage and self-portrait in two parts. Part one uses the ideas of philosophers Gloria Anzaldúa, María Lugones, Jack Halberstam, and Judith Butler to explore identity formation in the author’s family and social contexts. Part two follows the experience of having C-PTSD and uses memoir and creative writing to explore the narrative therapeutic mode. Both sections explore themes of identity, social isolation, relationships, failure, mental illness, trauma, and addiction. The work is underscored …

Marvelous Ordinariness: Re-Engaging With Realism’S Social Function, Miranda Ochoa Natera

Comparative Literature M.A. Essays

Against Romanticism, European literary realism of the 19th century aimed to provide an objective representation of reality through mimesis that could capture the truth in an objective way. Yet, its positivist approach severely narrowed down the complexity of truth, reality, and the mundane by wrongfully drawing the universal from the particular. A new way of engaging with realist literature from any time period, called Marvelous Ordinariness, rearranges this triad in ways that expand our understanding of our own and other realities portrayed. Using Alejo Carpentier’s description of “lo real maravilloso,” Marvelous Ordinariness unfolds in three layers that resemble Carl Jung’s …

Perreando To New Lyrics: Integrating Feminist Reggaeton In Expressive Art Therapy A Literature Review | Perreando A Nueva Lírica: Una Revisión Literaria Sobre Integrar El Reggaetón Feminista A Las Terapias Con Artes Expresivas, Marilina Arsuaga

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This paper presents how feminist reggaeton can be used as a creative tool for women's empowerment. The literature review explores the work that has been done with feminism in expressive arts therapies, defines what feminist reggaeton is, and presents different considerations to incorporate the musical genre into a therapeutic intervention. Among these considerations, there is the social stigma that is held about the musical genre and female gender; the community-based work; the importance of cultural identity centered on the Latinx, more specifically Puerto Rican; and recognition of the LGBTQ+ community in the creative spaces. To navigate these issues, the author …

Impacting Queer Trans-Migrations In Mexico: A Case Study Of Civil Society Organization Casa Frida Refugio Lgbt+, Leticia Morales

Master's Theses

Mexico has historically been known as an emigration or transit country. In this context, civil society organizations have played pivotal roles in addressing the voids in support for migrants. Among these organizations, Casa Frida Refugio LGBT stands out as a significant service provider, specifically for LGBT+ migrants. This study engages in a qualitative case study analysis of the organization Casa Frida, drawing from interviews conducted with nine LGBTQ+ migrants and refugees, personal observations, and Casa Frida’s website and social media accounts. The research seeks to answer two central questions: Firstly, what role does an LGBT+ specific service provider like Casa …

Latinx Revolutionary Horizons: Form And Futurity In The Americas, Renee Hudson

English Faculty Books and Book Chapters

In Latinx Revolutionary Horizons, Renee Hudson theorizes a liberatory latinidad that is not yet here and conceptualizes a hemispheric project in which contemporary Latinx authors return to earlier moments of revolution. Rather than viewing Latinx as solely a category of identification, she argues for an expansive, historicized sense of the term that illuminates its political potential.

Claiming the “x” in Latinx as marking the suspension and tension between how Latin American descended people identify and the future politics the “x” points us toward, Hudson contends that latinidad can signal a politics grounded in shared struggles and histories rather than …

Understanding Civic Engagement Through The Perspective And Experiences Of Mixed-Status Latinx Students In Higher Education, Alexandra Alcantar

Honors Capstones

This paper captures the perspectives and experiences of eight Latinx college-aged students from mixed-status families related to civil engagement. This paper identifies varied definitions of civic engagement and shows that students’ experiences within their mixed-status families and their academic experiences shaped how they understood their level of civic engagement and informed their career paths. The eight oral history interviews conducted as part of this project show that most of the participants consider their level of political involvement as insufficient. Interviews reveal an understanding of “civic engagement” that exists on an evolving spectrum of participation. Participants shared that work responsibilities and …

Peace, Power, And Precarity: Examining Brazil’S Potential As An Emerging Global And Regional Leader, Mackenzie A. Berwick

Gettysburg Social Sciences Review

Brazil is poised to emerge as a critical player in the Southern Hemisphere. The nation’s economic success has been accompanied by efforts to play a prominent role in international peace and security. This financial dynamism has offered the country a degree of legitimacy on issues of global trade and energy. However, a protracted social conflict in Rio De Janeiro’s favelas threatens that status. Brazil cannot access international esteem and influence without addressing its domestic situation. This paper applies Edward Azar’s protracted social conflict theory to reveal an internal state of disorder in Brazilian favelas that impairs the nation’s ability to …

The Portrayal Of Stereotypes Of Latin American Men In American Television And Film, Karina Nava

Gender Studies Student Scholarship

In this project I seek to examine the ways in which Latin American men are stereotyped in American television and film in the form of controlling images and the impacts that these controlling images may bring. The purpose of this project is to show how television and film can not only contribute to the creation of stereotypes but enforce them as well. It also seeks to bring attention to the ways in which these stereotypes can affect societal and self-perception of Latinos, and the consequences that come with these perceptions. This will be done through a cross-disciplinary analysis using Gender …

Sonidos De Aztlán: A Historical Analysis Of Chicano Music, Alejandro Gomez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper analyzes music made primarily by Chicanos in the U.S. and social movements that the music was a part of. Case studies include the Zoot Suit Riots, the Delano Grape Strike, The Chicano Movement, Tejano/Conjunto and Tex-Mex, Narcocorridos, and the Chicanx Renaissance.

“We Take Crises And We Make Them Work”: Platicas And Testimonios Of Undocumented Latina/O/X College Students To Engage In Critical Race Feminista Praxis, Fernando Villalpando

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Undocumented Latinx college students have experienced and continue to experience challenges to earn their American dream (Pentón, Herrera & Obregón, 2018). Their aspirations and resiliency are facing one of the biggest challenges yet with the rhetoric and actions of the Trump Administration. These actions may have major implications on their journey through higher education and society. In California alone there are approximately 38,000 undocumented college students who could be in jeopardy of their future, and the implications of the current presidency’s actions could have enormous impacts on their lives (Gonzáles, 2009). By wanting to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals …