Bailey
Moore
Anth
306: Modern Mexico
Fred
Krissman
Languages and Identities
I
made the decision to use language as my main topic for this blog assignment,
based on my Spanish major, without really having a specific focus. After
stressing over what I would focus on for this language blog, inspiration struck
me in my Spanish civilization class while watching El Espejo Enterrado (The buried mirror) by Carlos Fuentes, a famous
Mexican writer. "Ninguno de
nosotros existiría sin las biografías, la lengua y los sueños de nuestros
antepasados."-Carlos Fuentes. Translated this means, "None of us
would exist without the history, language and dreams of our
ancestors." What Carlos
Fuentes is trying to point out is that we are all connected by our past. We all are descendants from Africa and
have become so many different sets of people with thousands of different
languages. Language is a way of connecting culture and people together. In Mexico the community is a strong cultural
aspect, Mexicans identify themselves with their communities of origin rather
than the larger nation. Language
similar to the community is part of a person’s identity and can connect people
together in a similar fashion. The cultures and languages of people help them
identify themselves among the different communities throughout Mexico, but it
presents a dichotomy. The barriers it creates can promote a separation between
people. There appears to be a hierarchy of this among the indigenous speakers
of Mexico, deeply rooted in tradition, down to the Spanish speakers favoring
their language keeping them in the modern world, and also including English
speakers from the United States viewing Spanish speakers as a downfall in
America. The Spanish language is something that unifies Mexico, along with Latin
America, however it is also something that creates diversity within communities
both positive and negative. I am
looking forward to digging deeper into this relationship between language and
cultural identities.
Carlos
Fuentes said that we wouldn’t be anything without the history, language, and
dreams of our ancestors. This
quote has resonated with me since the first time I heard it, and also was
something in the back of my head as I read our assigned readings. An important theme throughout
Kitchenspace is the loss of tradition in the new generations in
Mexico. The new generations in
Mexico are more into the modern world than the traditional one. Traditional indigenous languages are
not widely spoken anymore, as they are seen as old traditional ways and not
something kids want to be apart of these days. Here lies a problem of who is
going to carry on these lingual traditions down to the next generation. Young
people in Mexico don’t want to identify with the traditional including the
language or the roles in the family.
The key problem seems to be one of identity, which is something language
correlates to. The younger
generations feel that old native languages correlate to not being successful in
this modern world. Language can
create so many different relationships between cultures, positive and negative,
which is demonstrated heavily throughout Mexico.
Languages are a key
component to a person’s identity just as much as family, religion, or
community. Language is something that can unify people together, giving them
some common ground. In Mexico a
community or barrio is what people identify themselves with. This is demonstrated repeatedly in
Christie’s Kitchenspace as she interviewed different women in different
communities including: Xochimilco, Ocotepec, and Tetecala. Some of the women she interviewed had
lived in a barrio for over thirty years, but still did not consider themselves
a part of that community simply because they were not born there. Identitying with the community is a
very strong aspect, just as language is.
Christie also points out in her introduction how her knowledge of
Spanish gave her the tools necessary to conduct this personal research of
women’s lives in the kitchen.
Having the same language of Spanish as the women in these communities
gave them a common identity, helping them feel comfortable around her, which
helped her research. In this sense
language was a cultural connecter that unified two different groups of people,
Mexicanos and a “guera” Spaniard named Christie.
Religion
similarly unifies a group based on certain beliefs and practices. My reasoning for comparing language to
religion as a cultural identity marker is that there are many similarities
between them, including the fact that these identities can also divide and
segregate cultures. I made these connections between languages and religions
after reading Cahn’s All Religions are Good in TzinTzunTzan, with the
tensions between Catholics and Evangelicals, not in TzinTzunTzan, but in the
surrounding areas of Michoacán and Chamula. These Catholics and Evangelicals are both Mexicanos, they
could even share the same barrio, and the same language, yet they are divided
because of their religion. This
can happen with languages as well.
The Los Angeles Times article titled, “In LA, speaking Mexican to fit
in” really demonstrates how language can be a cultural barrier, just like
religion. The Salvadorian immigrant who must pretend to be Mexican in order to
find work has to deal with pressures of being caught by his fellow Mexican
co-workers. The first thing that
gave him away was his accent, which didn’t sound like the accent of a
Mexican. The common language
really did nothing to bring together these groups of immigrants who have so
much in common, rather it created tensions between them.
While
it is true that Spanish language can divide people, it is also true that it can
unify them, especially immigrants here in the United States. It is comforting to use the language of
your home when you are in a place so foreign to you. There are also problems between the Spanish language and the
English language here in the United States. People view speaking Spanish here as a negative thing, I’ve
heard numerous times from a U.S. citizen that they don’t think anyone should be
here unless they understand and speak English. If we could just keep in mind what Carlos Fuentes said,
maybe we could understand that we are all products of the same culture that has
simply changed and divided over time.
I plan to interview a variety of students to gather different
perspectives, hopefully someone who speaks Spanish as their first language,
along with a student who has Hispanic background who does not speak Spanish. By
finding and interviewing my perspective informants, my hopes are to gain an
understanding on the different ways that language has affected people's lives,
to see how language can shape your own self-identity.
“F”
grew up in southern California and learned Spanish as her first language. She learned English by watching
children's cartoons on TV and through her older siblings. Her parent’s are first generation
immigrants and do not speak English very well. “F” says that her parents didn't show interest in teaching
her English as a language. Her
parents value traditions and customs and feared they would be lost by her
learning English. I asked
"F" if she experienced any discrimination in school but for the most
part she hadn't, the schools she attended always had a large Hispanic
population. However "F"
felt intimidated by the kids in her school who grew up speaking English because they seemed smarter and
more successful. While “F” has
many American English speaking friends she told me she always has felt more
comfortable around Spanish speakers no matter where they are from. "F" says Spanish speakers can
relate to each other off the back because of their cultural similarities. In this sense "F" saw the power
of language as a unifier that connected her together with Spanish speakers here
in the United States. She also
felt that her Spanish speaking skills were subordinate to English speakers,
which can lead to a disconnection between two groups.
“M”
is a Mexican-American born in the US but she returned to Mexico at the age of
7. Her parents had gotten involved
with child protective services and they were worried their children would be
put into the foster care system, so they all packed up for Jalisco,
Mexico. When “M” returned to
school in Jalisco it was obvious to everyone that she was American, and they
gave her the nickname gringa.
While Spanish was her first language she had an obvious American accent
and that created tensions between her and the classmates in school. After sometime she lost her “gringa”
accent and soon after lost all her knowledge of the English language. In order
to pursue a higher education “M” left her family at the age of 16 to return
back to LA and live with an uncle.
When she returned to school in LA she knew absolutely no English. “M” told
me she felt hopeful because there was a large Spanish speaking Hispanic
population at school. Her hopes
were mislead, the Mexican-American students labeled her as a “Chunt” and would
not speak to her, or offer any help.
“M” told me that these students made huge efforts to become American,
and didn’t want to ruin their reputations by speaking to her. For “M” language separated her
from her peers, even when it was the same language. Perhaps similar to the El Salvadoran entering a Mexican
workforce, the students felt that they had worked hard to feel comfortable
here, so they wanted “M” to work hard in the same way.
“J”
was my only interviewee that did not speak Spanish as a first language. “J” is a Mexican-American with Spanish
speaking parents who also grew up in the LA area. “J” said that not knowing Spanish has a negative impact on
his personal identity. He dealt
with a lot of taunting from other Spanish-speaking students in high school who
labeled him as a guerro or gringo because he did not speak Spanish, even though
he looked just as Mexican-American as the other students. He told me, “There
were even times I was told I wasn’t a “real” Mexican or Latino because I didn’t
speak Spanish.” During high school
“J” felt disconnected with his heritage, but now in college taking Spanish
classes has helped him feel more connected. For "J" language was something that separated him
from his peers, however after taking classes and learning Spanish he feels more
connected. Language and culture are so closely related that sometimes, as is
for the case of "J", without the language of your past you cannot
fully understand the culture that surrounds it.
Throughout
this entire process my blog has changed around quite a bit. This is something
that occurs regularly with anthropological studies. One topic or theme can evolve into so many different focuses
during the course of research and fieldwork. I personally experienced this evolution during these past
few months working on my blog. My main focus was connecting languages to
identity, along with key problems and benefits regarding this connection. There were some aspects of my blog that
I couldn't touch on with my interviews such as the loss of traditional
indigenous languages in a rapidly modernizing world. New generations feel pressure to adapt to this changing
world in order to succeed; this includes not taking interest in traditions,
customs, or languages of their ancestors.
I do believe that a variation of this idea can be seen in my interview
with "M". The high
school students would not communicate with her in Spanish because they are
adapted to their modern lifestyle here in the US, which includes speaking
English. The loss of language is not only occurring in Mexico with the
indigenous languages but also here in the United States with the Spanish
language. Of course there are
plenty of examples to show that the Spanish language is used to help people
connect and identify with one another.
This connection is even stronger when people are in a foreign country
without the language skills.
People can connect and identify within one another because they are both
experiencing the same confusion and stress of not knowing the language. This connection can be seen in my
interview with "F" she told me that she always felt more comfortable
around other Spanish speakers because they have more in common.
What I expected my blog to be and what my blog ended up being are
completely two different things. I did find evidence to support my claim that
language ties in with identity, along with the fact that language can unify
people together along with creating divisions. I found it is much easier for people to unify and bond over
sharing a language, "F" being my main example. What is more of a problem are the
divisions that different languages can create, mainly between Spanish and
English. The US and Mexico are two
different worlds yet we are all the same and we all strive for success. In a perfect world speaking Spanish
here in the US wouldn't cause any problems and everyone would take Carlos
Fuentes' quote to heart. That is a
world that I want to be a part of.
