FYS: Border Crossings

Tuesday November 10th

Homecoming with Turtle – Diaz Discussion

v Where you’re born vs. where you live

Ø Which matters more?

v Need for acceptance by native culture

Ø Diaz kept going back to Dominican Republic

Ø He felt the need to be one of them, and not to be American

v Disconnection from heritage

Ø Expectations are unreal, he thought he would be warmly welcomed as a lost son

Ø He was called white by his own people

Ø He was ripped off by natives

Ø Taxi cab driver laughed when he said he was native

v The language barrier

Ø He couldn’t even speak Spanish,  “his” language, correctly

Ø This pushed him away from natives

§ This offended them, he claims to be one of them and doesn’t know the language

§ Like a slap in the face

v The Girlfriend metaphor

Ø One could make the connection that he was cheating on both his girlfriend and his country

Ø As a result he is having rough times with both.

v Pushing his home away

Ø Diaz seems to be trying to get away from is American background

Ø Then his “own” people are pushing away from him

Ø He is lost between two countries

v Salman Rushdie

Ø Exile from Iran for ten years

Ø Wrote “satanic verses”

§ Greatly upset Islamic community

Ø Diaz compared himself to Rushdie

Wamba Discussion

v African Americans returning “home”

Ø Black Africans are not totally accepting of the African Americans that return

Ø The Africans expect them to assimilate very quickly and easily

§ In the end they still end up calling most of them “white”

v Ignorance on both sides

Ø Americans are mainly oblivious to the African traditions and culture

Ø The Americans are expecting to find home.

Ø Africans are expecting assimilation and them to know the culture

Ø Africans are also oblivious to the American position in the world

v Diaz vs. Wamba

Ø The Africans are more accepting of the Americans than Dominicans

Ø Dominicans have more recent history of people “leaving them behind”

§ This leads to a resentment of those returning

v Leaving homeland

Ø Hold on or let go of culture

Ø You can know your heritage or live your heritage

v Cultural vs. Ethnic

Ø Diaz seems to face a cultural barrier more than ethnic

§ They say he is white not because of his skin color but because of his culture

Ø In Wamba’s stories he seems to identify with a ethnic barrier

§ The Africans were more accepting simply because they were black

Thursday November 12^th

Nita Chavez – on Ecuador

v Quick Facts

Ø Capital – Quito

Ø Language – Spanish

Ø Religion – Roman Catholic

Ø Ethnic layout – 20% Indigenous, 80% Spanish Influences

Ø Influences – Spanish colonization, Inca

Ø Diet – lots of corn, beef, chicken, potatoes, Guinea pig, and fruit juices

v Geography

Ø 3 main regions

§ Amazon: Native culture

§ Highlands: Native/Spanish culture

§ Coast: Spanish/black culture

Ø Hometown

§ Otavaio

§ In the La Sierra mountain range

§ Culture native Inca

v Mestizos

Ø They are indigenous people who have abandoned their native roots.

Ø They choose to do this because they are looked down upon as natives

Ø They move to a more Spanish culture

Ø Many natives leave comeback and abandon their native roots

v Berlin wall exhibit

Ø The tormented soul

§ Communist propaganda collogue

§ Person seemed to be greatly conflicted or tortured by something not physical like the wall but mental, like the separation it creates

Ø The invisible wall

§ Wall of racism, and sexism

§ Not always seen but always present

Ø Quotes from the wall

§ “The experience of oppressed people is that the living of one’s life is confined and shaped by forces and barriers…being caged in” – M. Frye

§ “If I can’t be free I can’t be me”

§ “I want my home”

§ “Words can build walls”

v Puro Border

Ø Border: La frontera

§ Empty place of passage

Ø The frontier is gone

§ Buffer zone gone, now only border is left: liminal space

Ø Walls and words

§ Walls can tear down walls as well as build them

§ Hates leads to hate, love leads to love

Ø Lock the door

§ Manifest destiny has moved to the Chicano people

§ They are taking their land back

§ America is trying to keep them out with laws and walls

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