Perez, Cynthia

My name is Cynthia Perez and my preferred pronoun is she, hers, and hers. I am a second year Anthropology B.S. major and a Chicano Studies Minor. I was born in Santa Ana, California but then later moved to Fontana and have lived there ever since. I have two loving parents, two older brothers, and a younger sister. I come from a really close Mexican family that values family extremely, so sometimes it gets really hard being away from them. I came to UCLA to study Anthropology because later in life I want to become a forensic anthropologist. These type of scientist identify human remains from just their skeletons.

One of the readings that I would like to discuss is “It’s not about the Santa in My Fe, but the Santa Fe in My Santa” Alma Lopez. In the beginning of the article the author talks about how so many images of La Virgen de Guadalupe were present in her life when she was growing up in LA. Then she moves on to how La Virgen got her image. She discusses about an indigenous man named Juan Diego created the image of La Virgen and demonstrated it to a Bishop. Lopez then states how she wanted to portray her as a Chicana women instead of a God. I find this piece of literature very interesting because artists are changing the way women are seen and break through the gender stereotypes of women and they due this through one of the most powerful female icons in Catholic history. It is also important to me because La Virgen de Guadalupe is a part of my life and my religion and being able to see her as a Chicana women instead of a God, I am able to relate her more.