Borderland Narratives in Contemporary Chicano and Chicana Literature

Chicano and Chicana literature are highly heterogeneous with temporal and spatial diversities, which can be traced to the respective histories in Southwest states involved. Despite of the diversity, the relationship between different cultural factors - Native American culture, Spanish Catholic culture and Anglo-American culture - remains to be one of the commonest themes ever since. The conflict, negotiation and reconciliation of cultures have been the focuses of Chicano discourse. In contemporary Chicano literature, the concept of "borderland" is just a case in point. It signifies differences, barriers and misunderstandings, but also possibilities of communication and prospects of understanding. In Chicano and Chicana literary representations, "borderland" becomes both a concept and trope, to represent the cultural in-between status and diaspora of Mexican Americans. This paper is designed to study various forms of Chicano and Chicana narratives anchored in Chicano acculturation and cultural hybridity, with the metaphor "borderland" as the focus. By studying diverse borderland narratives as discursive representations, it seeks to reach an overall understanding of contemporary Chicano and Chicana literature, to trace their growth from earlier invisibility to modern indelibility.