This book presents a study of the figure of the stranger in US Latinx literary and cultural forms, ranging from contemporary novels through essays to film and transborder art activism. The focus on this abject figure is twofold: first, to explore its potential to expose the processes of othering to which Latinxs are subjected; and, second, to foreground its epistemic response to neocolonial structures and beliefs. Thus, this book draws on relevant sociological literature on the stranger to unveil the political and social processes behind the recognition of Latinxs as ‘out of place.’ On the other hand, and most importantly, this volume follows the path of neo-cosmopolitan approaches to bring to the fore processes of interrelatedness, interaction, and conviviality that run counter to criminalizing discourses around Latinxs. Through an engagement with these theoretical tenets, the goal of this book is to showcase the role of the Latinx stranger as a cosmopolitan mediator that transforms walls into bridges.
Author(s): Esther Álvarez-López, Andrea Fernández-García
Series: Narrative Theory and Culture
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 190
City: New York
Cover
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Figures
Contributors
Introduction: Latinx Strangers Revisited: From Othering to Effecting Social Change
Encountering the Latinx Stranger
Of Immigrants, Strangers, and Borders
Building Bridges, Not Walls
Notes
References
1 Transforming Empathy Into Extratextual Action: The Latina Writer as Stranger and Mediator in García McCall’s All the …
Policing the Presence of the Mexican Other
The Cosmopolitan Stranger
Narrative Empathy, Schema Criticism, and Social Change
All the Stars Denied: Empathy, Erasures, and Extratextual Action
Conclusions
Note
References
2 Hospitality and Borders in Oscar Cásares’ Where We Come From
Introduction
Border Traceability: Spatial and Conceptual Doublings
Guests, Shadows, and a Reluctant Host
Shadows and Fuzzy Hosts
From ‘Mojadito Out Back’ to ‘Mijito’
Hospitality as Engagement
Notes
References
3 Beyond the Wall: Luis Alberto Urrea’s The House of Broken Angels
National and Transnational Forces in the Borderlands
Literature in the Trump Era: The Real Versus the Imagined
The Self Seen as the Other/the Other Seen as the Self
Otherness Versus the Cosmopolitan Stranger
Conclusion
Notes
References
4 Inhabiting Nepantla: The Stranger in Contemporary Chicana Fiction
Nepantilism and the Chthulucene
Chicanx Border Narratives: Writing the Stranger
Felicia Luna Lemus’ Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties
Reyna Grande’s A Ballad of Love and Glory
Notes
References
5 The Cosmopolitanism of Latinx Natality in Jennine Capó Crucet’s Make Your Home Among Strangers and My Time Among the …
Cuban–American Testimony/Latinx Autohistoria
Nepantla and the Cosmopolitan Imagination
The Aesthetics of Latinx Judgment and the Critique of Whiteness
Latinx Natality and the Theorizing of Cuban–American Identity
Cultural Interpellation and the Experience of Nepantla
Testifying for Latinx Critical Thinking
Theorizing the Latinangst in Latinx Cosmopolitanism
Notes
References
6 Strangers in the City: Cosmopolitan Strangers and Transnational Urbanism in the Literary Imagination of Valeria Luiselli
Mexican Harlem: Strangers On the Move
Ingrávida and Cosmopolita: A Stranger Lost in the City
Strangers and Ghosts: The Ethereal Presence of the Cosmopolitan Stranger
Zapata Boulevard: Spaces of Social Negotiation, Integration, and Acceptance
Notes
References
7 Hostipitality and Solidarity in Ivannia Villalobos Vindas’ Casa En Tierra Ajena
The Latino Threat Narrative, Anti-Latinx Sentiments, and Hostipitality
The Criminalization of Salvadorans: Maras, Deportations, and the Third Border
Dehumanizing Strangers: Disposability and Exclusion
The Creation of the Great South Border: Policing Migratory Movements
Hospitality Versus Hostility: Conviviality and Solidarity in Casa En Tierra Ajena
Convivial Solidarity and Grassroots Activism in Shelters for Migrants
Note
References
8 Humanizing the Wall: Cosmopolitan Artistic Interventions On the US–Mexico Border
Face to Face With Immigration and Deportation: “Playas De Tijuana Mural Project”
Beautifying the Wall Through Conviviality: “Mural De La Hermandad”
Sewing Up the Wall With a Seesaw: “Teeter-Totter Wall”
A Dream Come True: “Erasing the Border”
Notes
References
Index
