From "A Chicano in China" to Chicano-inspired subcultures in Japanwhen Aztlán intersects with Asia

  1. Julio Cañero Serrano
Revista:
Camino Real: estudios de las hispanidades norteamericanas

ISSN: 1889-5611

Año de publicación: 2022

Título del ejemplar: Rudolfo A. Anaya

Número: 1

Páginas: 25-47

Tipo: Artículo

Otras publicaciones en: Camino Real: estudios de las hispanidades norteamericanas

Resumen

In the travel writing “A Chicano in China” (1986), Rudolfo Anaya offers the reader his perception of a society and culture, that of China, which should be alien to him. However, the New Mexican author does not live his Chinese journey as a mere observer, but, on the contrary, he turns his trip into a pilgrimage, a quest for a reality that transcends mere observation. Through his works, and the symbols that are present in them, Anaya tries to understand the reasons behind the epiphanic moments that he feels when walking the streets of Chinese towns and cities. A revealing recognition that influences him on three levels, as a writer, when he sees his artistic motives reflected in the Chinese culture, as a Chicano, when he verifies how the inhabitants of Southwest U.S. and China share incessant experiential similarities, and as a Nuevomexicano, when he identifies parts of the Chinese landscape with his native New Mexico. Starting from the experiences described by Anaya in “A Chicano in China”, this article will study the cultural connections between Asia and Chicanos through Anaya’s eyes, but also through much more unknown and current influences ranging from lowrider subculture to Chicano inspired music in Japan. The ultimate goal will be to demonstrate that West and East have a common point in the Chicano people. Keywords: Anaya, Chicanos, China, Japan, lowriders, music.

Referencias bibliográficas

  • Abrams, Meyer Howard. A Glossary of Literary Terms. HBJ, 1941.
  • Alburquerque-García, Luis. “El ‘relato de viajes’: Hitos y formas en la evolución del género”. Revista de Literatura, vol. 73, no. 145, 2011, pp. 15-34.
  • Anaya, Rudolfo. A Chicano in China. University of New Mexico Press, 1986.
  • Anaya, Rudolfo. Alburquerque. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1992.
  • Anaya, Rudolfo. “A Writer Discusses his Craft”. CEAC CRITIC, vol. 40, no. 1, 1977, pp. 39-43.
  • Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. Warner Books, 1994.
  • Anaya, Rudolfo. Tortuga. University of New Mexico Press, 1979.
  • Anaya, Rudolfo. Zia Summer. Warner Books, 1995.
  • Anaya, Rudolfo, Lomelí, Francisco A. & Enrique R. Lamadrid. “Revisiting the Vision of Aztlan. Origin, Interpretation, and Theory vis-à-vis Fact and Fiction”. Aztlan. Essays on the Chicano Homeland. University of New Mexico Press, 2017, pp. 1-24.
  • Brettell, Caroline B. “Travel Literature, Ethnography, and Ethnohistory”. The American Society for Ethnohistory, vol. 33, no. 2, 1986, pp. 127-138.
  • Campbell, Mary Baine. The Witness and the Other World: Exotic European Travel Writing, 400–1600. Cornell University Press, 1988.
  • Cañero, Julio. “El español como factor vertebrador de la “latinidad” en la música popular de Estados Unidos”. Camino Real: estudios de las hispanidades norteamericanas, vol. 11, no. 14, 2019, pp. 27-49.
  • Cañero, Julio. Literatura chicana. La experiencia colonial interna en las obras de Rudolfo Anaya. Catarata, 2017.
  • Fernández Olmos, Margarite. Rudolfo A. Anaya: a critical companion. Greenwood Press, 1999.
  • Fussell, Paul. Abroad: British Literary Traveling Between the Wars. Oxford University Press, 1980.
  • Geuder, Patricia A. “A Chicano in China: A Chronicle of Oneiric Dimensions”. Confluencia, vol. 4, no. 2, 1989, pp. 73-77.
  • Helland, Kristin I. “MoNa aka Sad Girl: A multilingual multimodal critical discourse analysis of music videos of a Japanese Chicana rap artist”. Discourse, Context & Media, vol. 23, 2018, pp. 25–40.
  • Horncastle, Rowan. “We meet the people who’ve adopted the slow and low mentality of Chicano culture”. TopGear, 13 July 2019.
  • Laboy, Julio. “Clothiers Bring the Barrio to Japanese Teen Rebels”. Wall Street Journal, 8 April 1998.
  • McWilliams, Carey. North From Mexico. The Spanish-Speaking People of the United States. Praeger Publishers, 1990.
  • Oberholtzer, Heidi. “Pilgrimage in Literature of the Americas: Spiritualized Travel and Sacred Place”. Religion & Literature, vol. 35, no. 2/3, 2003, pp. 1-9.
  • Ortego y Gasca, Felipe D. Chicano Literature: From 1942 to the Present. Chicano Literature: A Reference Guide, edited by Julio A. Martínez & Francisco A. Lomelí. Greenwood Press, 1985, pp. 137-148.
  • Porras Castro, Soledad. “Hombre, sociedad y cultura popular. Viajeros italianos a España en el siglo XIX”. Garoza, vol. 4, 2004.
  • Porter, Dennis. Haunted Journeys: Desire and Transgression in European Travel Writing. Princeton University Press, 1991.
  • Raban, Jonathan. For Love & Money: Writing – Reading – Travelling 1968– 1987. Picador, 1988.
  • Regales Serna, Antonio. “Para una crítica de la categoría ‘literatura de viajes’”. Castilla: Estudios de literatura, vol. 5, 1983, pp. 63-86.
  • Romero Tobar, Leonardo. “La reescritura en los libros de viaje: las Cartas de Rusia de Juan Valera”. Los libros de viaje: realidad vivida y género literario, coordinated by Leonardo Romero Tobar & Patricia Almarcegui Elduayen. Akal, 2005, pp. 129-150.
  • Santos Rovira, Jose María & Pablo Encinas-Arquero. “Breve aproximación al concepto de literatura de viajes como género literario”. Tonos digital: Revista de estudios filológicos, vol. 17, 2009.
  • Syakirah, Azra. “A Look At Japanese Cholo Culture From Lowriders To Rappers”. Blog Japanjunky, 2021.
  • Shirley, Carl R. “Rev. of A Chicano in China”. MELUS, vol. 14, no. 1, 1987, pp. 95-97.
  • Suárez-Japón, Juan Manuel. “Geografía y literatura en los escritos de viaje de José Manuel Caballero Bonald”. Boletín de la AGE (Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles), no. 34, 2002, pp. 133-146.
  • Thompson, Carl. Travel Writing. Routledge, 2011.
  • Torres, Lourdes. “Rev. of A Chicano in China”. Western American, vol. 22, no. 1, 1987, pp. 66-67.
  • Xia, Li. “Perilous Journeys and Archetypal Encounters: Critical Observations on Chinese Travel Literature”. Neohelicon, vol. 28, no. 1, 2001, pp. 247-260.