it was helpful to look at some of the posts on Anzaldua's Borderlands, for sure. Specifically on the quote that Megan used about the dominant white culture. To reiterate a little of what it said, here is a quote:
"The dominant white culture is killing us slowly with its ignorance. By taking away our self-determination, it has made us weak and empty. As a people we have resisted and we have taken expedient positions, but we have never been allowed to develop unencumbered... The whites in power want us people of color to barricade ourselves behind our separate tribal walls so they can pick us off one at a time with their hidden weapons; so they can whitewash and distort history" (2219)
I think this is interesting because the idea, to a certain extent, is indeed conquered in Zigzagger. In a review of Zigzagger, written by Lori O'Dea, she wrote "The white boys assume the brown boys are interested in their lives. Of corse the poot want to hear about the rich, about how good life can be. Of corse the poor want to forget about their deprived or even squalid pasts. But this is where the white boys fail or err. The brown boys curate their own details-their lack of shoes is remembered as walking 'barefoot and tiptoeing with painful grimaces across the hot asphalt' or in 'fifty-cent flip-flops.' They remember 'a ranchera being sung by a tiny girl in a green dress,' 'an old airstrip where crop dusters rise up to cloud the fields with fine mists'... " (review can be found here http://proxygw.wrlc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=13120590&site=ehost-live)
We often talk about this issue in my sociology classes, about to what extent does an upper class influence those of the lower class. does or is the lower class supposed to idolize those "above them," and what kinds of problems does this cause, under what conditions does the lower class not view themselves through the lens of the upper class. But in Zigzagger, the characters decline to focus on issues such as this.
Issues regarding homosexuality are definitely something to consider in Zigzagger, but the race and socio-economic tensions are also really prevalent. Munoz paints a picture of both which brings even more social commentary into the discussion, which i think is very captivating.
it was helpful to look at some of the posts on Anzaldua's Borderlands, for sure. Specifically on the quote that Megan used about the dominant white culture. To reiterate a little of what it said, here is a quote:
ReplyDelete"The dominant white culture is killing us slowly with its ignorance. By taking away our self-determination, it has made us weak and empty. As a people we have resisted and we have taken expedient positions, but we have never been allowed to develop unencumbered... The whites in power want us people of color to barricade ourselves behind our separate tribal walls so they can pick us off one at a time with their hidden weapons; so they can whitewash and distort history" (2219)
I think this is interesting because the idea, to a certain extent, is indeed conquered in Zigzagger. In a review of Zigzagger, written by Lori O'Dea, she wrote "The white boys assume the brown boys are interested in their lives. Of corse the poot want to hear about the rich, about how good life can be. Of corse the poor want to forget about their deprived or even squalid pasts. But this is where the white boys fail or err. The brown boys curate their own details-their lack of shoes is remembered as walking 'barefoot and tiptoeing with painful grimaces across the hot asphalt' or in 'fifty-cent flip-flops.' They remember 'a ranchera being sung by a tiny girl in a green dress,' 'an old airstrip where crop dusters rise up to cloud the fields with fine mists'... " (review can be found here http://proxygw.wrlc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=13120590&site=ehost-live)
We often talk about this issue in my sociology classes, about to what extent does an upper class influence those of the lower class. does or is the lower class supposed to idolize those "above them," and what kinds of problems does this cause, under what conditions does the lower class not view themselves through the lens of the upper class. But in Zigzagger, the characters decline to focus on issues such as this.
Issues regarding homosexuality are definitely something to consider in Zigzagger, but the race and socio-economic tensions are also really prevalent. Munoz paints a picture of both which brings even more social commentary into the discussion, which i think is very captivating.
Heartily agree, Merrill.
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