What is Lorna Dee Cervantes known for?
One of the major voices in Chicana literature, poet Lorna Dee Cervantes’s writing evokes and explores cultural difference—between Mexican, Anglo, Native American, and African American lives—as well as the divides of gender and economics.
Is Lorna Dee Cervantes alive?
Lorna Dee Cervantes (born August 6, 1954) is a Chicana poet and activist, who is considered one of the greatest figures in Chicano poetry. She has been described by Alurista, as “probably the best Chicana poet active today.”
What is the poem refugee ship about?
Refugee Ship is a short poem that focuses on the experience of a person caught between cultures, that of Mexico and the United States. Language, race and family ties are the key areas explored.
What is beneath the shadow of the freeway about?
“Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway” communicates a dialogic struggle taking place within the protagonist who wants to reach a compromise between mother and grandmother. Yet the poem offers no clear mapping of how a real harmonization in male-female relationships is to be effected.
What ethnicity is Lorna Dee Cervantes?
Born in San Francisco and raised in San Jose, California, Lorna Dee Cervantes has Mexican and Chumash heritage on her mother’s side and Tarascan Indian heritage on her father’s side. When she was born, her family had been in California for several generations; she has called herself “indigenous Californian.”
Why is Lorna Dee Cervantes important to Chicana literature?
One of the major voices in Chicana literature, poet Lorna Dee Cervantes’s writing evokes and explores cultural difference—between Mexican, Anglo, Native American, and African American lives—as well as the divides of gender and economics.
How does Lorna Dee Cervantes describe Emplumada?
Lorna Dee Cervantes described Emplumada as a woman’s coming-of-age and as a rebellion against the male-dominated Chicano movement. She resented being considered disloyal to Chicano social justice ideals when she pointed out sexism in the movement.
Why did Jeanette Cervantes not speak Spanish?
Born in San Francisco in 1954 to Mexican and Native American ancestry, Cervantes was discouraged from speaking Spanish at home in an attempt to protect her from the racism prevalent at that time; this loss of language and subsequent inability to fully identify with her heritage fueled her later poetry.