The Chicano Familia Romance Rosalinda Fregoso

Central Themes (tropes) The place of indigenous music and iconography Circular migrations-old and new Mexico El Californio’s territorial claims Service workers Repatriation in the 1930s State repression-police and government Political activism-through Toni Incarceration-through Jimmy Recorded memory, the history-through Paco

Mi Familia and the “all out war over family values” 1990s time of “moral panic” Political agenda promoted the notion of the Republican social agenda and the strong family values perceived among Latinos. The “natural alliance”: marriage as sacred, replicated the ideal family image and gender heirarchies

My Family’s representation An idealized family: overlooks the complexity of the family arrangements Ignores the dynamic alternatives with family and its members Ignores the polarized family, the incest, the abuse, the rape, the spousal battery Ignores non-traditional familes: blended families, single parenting, abandonment, lesbian and gay possibilities

My Family and other themes Masculinized hope—through males, Jose, Jimmy, Paco Oedipal crisis: conflict between father and son (Jose and Chucho, Jimmy and Carlitos) No alternative for male authority, agency Reemphasis on male positions of power and authority within the family Toni: the great exception

My Family and Catholic Influences Jose and Maria: Joseph and Mary—her subservience to father (Jose) and son (Chucho and Jimmy) in the narrative choices Jimmy and Chucho as the “sacrificial lamb”-endure pain, incarceration, suffering and oppression Generalized female subordination