I chose to read up on Gloria Anzalduas’ Border Arte because I always look forward to reading anything from her. Anzaldua always does well with putting things in perspective and appealing to the readers experiences as well. In this reading, she is walking around a museum, as many of us have, but she speaks on a particular feeling of contemplation. She contemplates on what it means to be walking in a museum with artifacts of her ancestors, but also the fact that there are awe-struck white visitors who are unaware of the Aztecs' continued history. I will never forget walking around the Autry Museum, looking at the La Raza newspaper/Chicanx Movement exhibit, and being followed around by a white security guard. It was intimidating and disrespectful considering I have more of a connection and “ownership” over the space. Why did this man have to police my knowledge, I thought. Anzaldua also makes mention of a friend who indicated that in Guatemala City, a museum held traditional garb on display as if indigenous people didn’t exist or dress like that today. Upon my visit to Guatemala years back, I was amazed at how prevalent and populous the indigenous community was in Antigua. They were out on the streets working, in the swapmeet selling, and in the mountains tending to their lands. I say this because before my visit I mistakenly thought that indigenous people were up in the mountains, secluded. Anzaldua makes it clear that border art is at the crossroads of our indigenous pasts/non-US national heritage and our complicated relationships with the American identity. Nepantla is Nahuatl for an inbetween state, like the Chicanx identity itself. Her relationship with Aztec art is a relationship of bridging the gap between a disconnect and the desire/struggle to understand one's ancestral past and relationship with it.
Hi Jorge! I am thankful that you included examples of your own experiences with the topics that Anzaldua elaborated on in "Border Arte." I will admit that before this reading I did not consider the colonizing aspects of having museums exhibit our histories. By this I mean, I did not readily see that not only had they stripped our homes of their culture, but now they also seek to educate us on it (further their profit). Of course, before I thought about the injustices of having museums hold essentially stolen artifacts. The reading truly make me consider how the Anglo world sees us, whether they consider our feelings and respect us.
ReplyDeleteHey Jorge,
ReplyDeleteI agree, reading anything from Anzaldua is always refreshing and enlightening. I've never heard of the exhibit you visited at the Autry, but I don't find it surprising that museum security was targeting you. Unfortunately, as Anzaldua makes clear, museum spaces are spaces of colonization, and many museum educators create exhibits for the enjoyment of other white folks, even if that is at the cost of Black and brown people. I'm sorry you had to experience this in a space that should seek to welcome you, but I hope our generations can change this narrative around.