Part II: Languages as Identities

     Carlos Fuentes said that we wouldn’t be anything without the history, language, and dreams of our ancestors.  This is a quote that has resonated with me since the first time I read 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, 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.  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 Chritie’s Kitechenspace as she interviewed different women throughout barrios.  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.  Identity 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, and helped her research.  In this sense language was a cultural identifier that unified two different groups of people, Mexicanos and a 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 because 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 you used in 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 spoke 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 effected people's lives.  To see how language can shape your own self identity.