Billalobos, Alicia

Hi, my name is Alicia Billalobos and I am fourth year transfer student majoring in Chicana/o Studies with a minor in Education.  I plan to go onto Law school to become an immigration attorney so that I can provide considerate and professional legal support to the vast immigrant population in the U.S. I grew up in Ramona Gardens housing projects near Boyle Heights where I live now. 

Alicia Gaspar de Alba writes, “There’s no place like Aztlan” where she explores the relationship between identity aesthetics with a concept of home that goes beyond a tangible entity. This home is a result of past, present and their products of displacement, misplacement and replacement that shape ones identity. More specifically, Gaspar de Alba studies Chicana artist’s acts of disidentification to Aztlan aesthetics through “politics of feminist embodiment in their aesthetic productions” (p 109). For instance, Chicana artist Patssi Valdez depicts her own process of disidentification within ‘inner-city Aztlan’ (p 128) that is different from male dominated Aztlan definitions of representation. Through out the process of disidentification Chicana artist undergo a politicization process that allows for personal and communal change. I wonder how students can undergo a process of disidentification?