Ambivalent Identities in US-Mexico Border Literature: A Short Survey
Abstract
The essay introduces some of the main themes of Mexican American literature and suggests a connection with the phenomenology of the alien (Bernhard Waldenfels) and such resultant values as ambivalence and hybridity. This frame of reference allows a brief exploration of specific topics present in several US-Mexico border authors, including Rubén Martínez and the “zigzagging” consciousness of border life, Gloria Anzaldúa and the values of hybridity and indigenous ancestry, Tomás Rivera and intra-cultural conflict, Lucha Corpi and the clash between ideology and history, and Richard Rodriguez’ problems of assimilation and familial contradictions.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Latin American and Latino Studies
Latin American Literature Studies
Asian American and Pacific Histories
Publication details
- Journal / source
- TRANSMODERNITY Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 2
- Publication date
- 8 January 2026
- Language
- PT