Disrupting the Dichotomy: 'Yo Soy Chicana/o?' in the New Latina/o South

摘要

Too often when we think of the realm of Chicana/o studies, we do not move beyond the Southwest despite the numbers that tell us it would be wise to do so. In this article I have offered a glimpse of such a move. Within diaspora studies there is a paucity of literature addressing the unique situations of Chicanas/os living both in and out of a conquered homeland simultaneously. I hope this begins to fill some of the existing gaps in the literature. I have argued that in spaces of new regional convergences and migrations, particularly between Mexican Americans, Chicanas/os, and Mexicans there are multiple border crossing that constitute transcultural exchanges that defy existing discourses that separate these groups in traditionally populated areas such as the Southwest. Borders are crossed and recrossed in new ways that defy static and essentialist notions of what it means to be Chicana/o, Mexican, and Mexican American. The lines are blurred and communities are formed that cross nationality, economics, and region. Inda (2000) has described the relationship between history, discourse, and place and the ways in which they inform and create fluid performative identities. Similarly, I have expanded Inda's descriptions of racial performativity by examining the ways that diasporic individuals perform and create community as the diaspora expands within the nation-state challenging preexisting ideas of home and homelands. Specifically, I have located these movements through the identification of three themes: "Yo Soy Chicano y Mexicano" examines the ways that Mario acknowledges and bridges the tensions between Chicanas/os and Mexicanas/os in order to gain a larger identification and community; "A Case of Diasporic Intimacy: 'You are My Chicano Space,'" exlores the ways in which Mario holds onto the rhetoric of Chicanismo and the Southwest while maintaining his connection to Mexican immigrant communities; and "Forever Foreign: A Stereotypical Mexican," demonstrates the ways in which Mario's interaction with other communities, African American and White, strengthened his connection to Mexican community through an affect of foreignness. Each of these three themes sheds light on the migrations that continue to change the face of the South.