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English Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Winter 2014
Publication Source
MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States
Abstract
Sandra Cisneros's Caramelo, or, Puro Cuento: A Novel (2002) dramatizes the functions of travel and tourism for members of the Mexican and Chicana/o diaspora, particularly for second-generation Chicana protagonist and narrator, Lala Reyes. Caramelo showcases travel's critical role in cultural identity formation, maintenance, and contestation for diasporic peoples, while also demonstrating the variability and mutability of diasporic cultural identity as mediated through travel. My explication of the novel's representations of cultural identity formation through travel contributes to critical conversations regarding the relationship between diaspora and tourism, argues for elastic understandings of diaspora itself, and brings needed attention to the particularities of the Chicana/o diaspora. Drawing from relevant strands in Chicana/o Studies, Indigenous Studies, Travel/Tourism Theory, Diaspora Studies, Postcolonial Theory, and Human Geography, I argue that Lala Reyes contends with multiple monolithic, colonially rooted views of what it means to be Mexican, US American, and Chicana, and that she ultimately forges a sense of self that refuses cultural binaries. In the process, she critiques and refutes expectations of cultural purity that suggest migration and change over time necessitate a tainting or dilution of that identity. For Lala, storytelling becomes a medium with the elasticity she requires to interweave competing aspects of her cultural inheritance and lived experiences in the two nations she regularly inhabits, identify links between herself and generations of Reyes women, and thereby cultivate what Gloria Anzaldúa terms a mestiza consciousness.
Inclusive pages
162-185
ISBN/ISSN
0163-755X
Document Version
Preprint
Copyright
Copyright © 2014, Oxford University Press.
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Volume
39
Issue
4
Peer Reviewed
yes
eCommons Citation
Szeghi, Tereza M., "Weaving Transnational Identity: Travel and Diaspora in Sandra Cisneros’s 'Caramelo'" (2014). English Faculty Publications. 29.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/eng_fac_pub/29
Comments
The item in this repository is the a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in MELUS: MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, following peer review. It is provided for download after a two-year embargo from the date of publication in compliance with publisher policies on self-archiving.
Some differences may exist between the accepted manuscript and the published version; as such, those wishing to quote directly from this source are advised to consult the version of record.
Permission documentation is on file.