Considering that my family and I came from Mexico to the United States I find that I can relate to this imaginary home called Aztlan. Not having strong ties to my place of origin and what we all consider to be our cultural and ethnic “identity” yet not completely achieving that “beyond identity” in our future here in the United States makes me feel stuck in the middle. It was not until I read “There’s No Place Like Aztlan: Embodied Aesthetics in Chicana Art” that I understood that there’s a name for that imaginary in between space where I am currently at. Also, reading this made me comprehend that living in “several interstices that exist between our individual and collective differences” is totally normal despite it being a fictional and ideal utopia. I would like to know in what other places in the world besides Latin America face this culture identity shock leaving one in that “in between space” reflecting Chicano/a principles (ni de aqui, ni de alla) I now know I can call Aztlan. Clearly, knowing the immensity of the world and the large amounts of people living in it makes me wonder what other cultures and in what ways do they parallel the Aztlan mythology.
I found interesting under the “A Trip to the Men’s Room” how it is mentioned that Kay Turner says she considers the existence of altars within the home to represent resistance to “patriarchal alienation” and a woman’s way to have her own beliefs and ideas. I have known that some of my ancestors have had altars in their homes and after reading this I have begun to wonder if what they represented is related to what Turner points out. Coming from a Mexican family where some principles of machismo have been present, I would like to know what other meanings are behind the altars within Mexican and Chicano cultures, those specifically preached to by women.
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