Herrera, Renata

Hi, my name is Renata Herrera and I am a transfer student from San Diego Mesa College. I am majoring in Architecture.

I was born and raised in Mexico City and moved to the US after finishing high school. This is my first class in Chicana/o Studies. Before moving to L.A. two weeks ago I lived for a few years in San Diego, and I slowly began to learn about the Chicana/o movement, its history, and its art. While I am familiar with many of the symbols and themes in Chicana/o art, and recognize the connections and inspiration from Mexican and Precolumbian art, many of its messages are unfamiliar to my own experience. In a sense, I am still trying to understand what it means to be Chicana/o.

One of the things that struck me while reading Alma López' piece It's Not about the Santa in My Fe, but the Santa Fe in My Santa was how the Virgen de Guadalupe has essentially always been a political symbol, from the years after the Conquest through the Mexican Revolution and into our current times. I wonder what the link is between the Virgen as a popular religious icon (very benign and uncontroversial) and its use as a symbol of resistance in social movements (dangerous and controversial). Is it because, as the Mexican popular saying goes, "the Virgin moves the masses"?

The other question I have is about the importance of the female body in Chicana art. I see how this is mostly related to the feminist movement and modern identity politics, but it's also interesting to note the connection with Aztec mythology. For example, López mentions Coyolxauhqui and other goddesses, whose bodies are represented in a very physical way in Aztec art.