Synopses & Reviews
As both an idea and an institution, the family has been at the heart of Chicano/a cultural politics since the Mexican American civil rights movement emerged in the late 1960s. In
Next of Kin, Richard T. Rodrandiacute;guez explores the competing notions of
la familia found in movement-inspired literature, film, video, music, painting, and other forms of cultural expression created by Chicano men. Drawing on cultural studies and feminist and queer theory, he examines representations of the family that reflect and support a patriarchal, heteronormative nationalism as well as those that reconfigure kinship to encompass alternative forms of belonging.
Describing how la familia came to be adopted as an organizing strategy for communitarian politics, Rodrandiacute;guez looks at foundational texts including Rodolfo Gonzalesandrsquo;s well-known poem andldquo;I Am Joaquandiacute;n,andrdquo; the Chicano Liberation Youth Conferenceandrsquo;s manifesto El Plan Espiritual de Aztlandaacute;n, and Josandeacute; Armasandrsquo;s La Familia de La Raza. Rodrandiacute;guez analyzes representations of the family in the films I Am Joaquandiacute;n, Yo Soy Chicano, and Chicana; the Los Angeles public affairs television series andiexcl;Ahora!; the experimental videos of the artist-activist Harry Gamboa Jr.; and the work of hip-hop artists such as Kid Frost and Chicano Brotherhood. He reflects on homophobia in Chicano nationalist thought, and examines how Chicano gay men have responded to it in works including Al Lujanandrsquo;s video SandM in the Hood, the paintings of Eugene Rodrandiacute;guez, and a poem by the late activist Rodrigo Reyes. Next of Kin is both a wide-ranging assessment of la familiaandrsquo;s symbolic power and a hopeful call for a more inclusive cultural politics.
Review
andldquo;A gorgeous tapestry of cultural forms and interpretive brilliance, Next of Kin reopens the debate over our conflicted understandings of la familia in light of the challenges produced by feminism and queer studies. A must read for all those interested in Chicana and Chicano politics, fiction, film, photography, performance, and painting. Richard T. Rodrandiacute;guez has given us a map with which to negotiate the twenty-first century uses of the family.andrdquo;andmdash;George Mariscal, author of Brown-Eyed Children of the Sun: Lessons from the Chicano Movement, 1965-1975
Review
andldquo;Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed
Next of Kin and would recommend it highly. I plan to include it the next time I teach a gender and migration course. I think it would work well for upper-division undergraduate as well as graduate students.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;By studying the works of writers, filmmakers, painters, and musicians, Rodrandiacute;guez assembles a rich cultural study and illustrates how andlsquo;alternativeandrsquo; family configurations (as opposed to the husband-dominated model) have existed in Chicano culture longer than previously thought. . . .andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;[T]he publication of Rodrandiacute;guezandrsquo;s book is exceptionally timely given widespread prejudices many Chicanosandndash;Chicanas are still facing. The book is engagingly written and will certainly be of great value for specialists in the Americas, queer and feminist theory, cultural studies, popular culture, kinship, and migration.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;The centrality of the family to Chicano culture is indisputable. One of
Next of Kinandrsquo;s merits lies in its push to expand the notion of exactly who makes up this family. The cultural studies approach, which allows for the analysis of various modes of cultural expression, explains the general absence of canonical literary texts, many of which prominently feature both biological and fictive representations of family. Rodrandiacute;guez counters this by critically engaging a rich variety of cultural practices, all of great relevance to the reconfiguration of la familia Chicana.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Next of Kin offers one of the most cogent articulations of Chicana/o cultural critique to date. Through elegant readings of a dynamic archive of Chicano literary and popular culture, Richard T. Rodrandiacute;guez scrutinizes the cultural authority of the biological Chicana/o family, critiquing its exclusionary impulses and championing transformative reconfigurations of la familia. Along the way, he provides a nuanced consideration of Chicana/o political and cultural history.andrdquo;andmdash;Josandeacute; Esteban Muandntilde;oz, author of Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics
Synopsis
As both an idea and an institution, the family has been at the heart of Chicano/a cultural politics since the Mexican American civil rights movement emerged in the late 1960s. In Next of Kin, Richard T. Rodrguez explores the competing notions of la familia found in movement-inspired literature, film, video, music, painting, and other forms of cultural expression created by Chicano men. Drawing on cultural studies and feminist and queer theory, he examines representations of the family that reflect and support a patriarchal, heteronormative nationalism as well as those that reconfigure kinship to encompass alternative forms of belonging.
Synopsis
A feminist analysis of the Chicano family that sees it as a site of political struggle with patriarchal masculinity, nationalism, and homophobia.
About the Author
Richard T. Rodrandiacute;guez is Associate Professor of English and Latina/Latino Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Table of Contents
About the Series v
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Staking Family Claims 1
Reappraising the Archive 19
Shooting the Patriarch 55
The Verse of the Godfather 95
Carnal Knowledge 135
Afterword: Making Queer Familia 167
Notes 177
Bibliography 211
Discography 235
Filmography 237
Index 239