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anthony gomez III
PhD Candidate, English Department
Guiliano Fellow, Fall 2021
“‘The Past Promised Nothing to the Future;’ Diasporizing Californio Identity in María Amparo De Burton’s Fictions”
I arrived in Austin, Texas, on the morning of April 12th and ventured to my hotel
near the University of Texas. Having never been to the city and having to wait for my appointment
to visit the Harry Ransom Center, I made sure to reserve time for visits to nearby libraries
and museums: the Mexic-Arte Museum, LBJ Presidential Library, and the Contemporary Art-Jones Center. Given that my project focuses on the difficulties that plagued Mexicans within
the
United States following the Texas Revolution and the later annexation of the Southwest
following the Mexican American War, I aimed to find firsthand evidence, artwork, and
reportage about the period. I also hoped to see how the period still plagues the cultural imagination. Expectations and plans meant I knew ahead of time what I wanted to see, and what objects
I hoped were available for view. The most alarming of these were signs from 1950s segregation
declaring “No Spanish and No Mexicans” on rotating view at the LBJ Library.
Startling hot compared to the rainy conditions back in New York, I underestimated the city’s heat and the need to take frequent pauses and breaks indoors. It was during a necessary retreat inside that I stumbled on two major finds in the Blanton Museum of Art. Located on the University of Texas campus, the museum was not on my radar beforehand, and yet, the exhibits and artwork on display seemed to articulate or visualize thoughts I had struggled to convey. Near the main floor, I found several rooms devoted to Columbian artist Oscar Muñoz. Through a visceral approach to photography and film, Muñoz uses Indigenous practices in his art to challenge how we understand historical testimony and methods used to remember the past. In Impressiones debiles (Weak Impressions), Muñoz repurposes photographs from textbooks and fades them to the point of uncertainty. In doing so, we are invited to rethink the influence of “official” images and records on our collective memories.
The second major discovery came from a room devoted to the American West. On the wall lay the work of Lafayette Maynard Dixon, an artist whose work focuses on preserving various Indigenous landscapes without settler interaction. Dixon avoids romanticizing the dangerous myths about the west and the pioneers by presenting the land as quiet, unadorned and free from melodrama. Dixon’s work provides a visual understanding of environmental conservation and the consequences of migration within the Southwest.
In what is probably a learned cliché for researchers everywhere, it was here, when I turned away from my intended objects of study and center of research, venturing out into local museums or stumbling upon other unaware items, that proved most surprising and fruitful to my current projects. Dixon and Muñoz were unknown names to me, and thanks to an unplanned sojourn into the Blanton Museum, I have found new artists to draw upon in my dissertation. I
Startling hot compared to the rainy conditions back in New York, I underestimated the city’s heat and the need to take frequent pauses and breaks indoors. It was during a necessary retreat inside that I stumbled on two major finds in the Blanton Museum of Art. Located on the University of Texas campus, the museum was not on my radar beforehand, and yet, the exhibits and artwork on display seemed to articulate or visualize thoughts I had struggled to convey. Near the main floor, I found several rooms devoted to Columbian artist Oscar Muñoz. Through a visceral approach to photography and film, Muñoz uses Indigenous practices in his art to challenge how we understand historical testimony and methods used to remember the past. In Impressiones debiles (Weak Impressions), Muñoz repurposes photographs from textbooks and fades them to the point of uncertainty. In doing so, we are invited to rethink the influence of “official” images and records on our collective memories.
The second major discovery came from a room devoted to the American West. On the wall lay the work of Lafayette Maynard Dixon, an artist whose work focuses on preserving various Indigenous landscapes without settler interaction. Dixon avoids romanticizing the dangerous myths about the west and the pioneers by presenting the land as quiet, unadorned and free from melodrama. Dixon’s work provides a visual understanding of environmental conservation and the consequences of migration within the Southwest.
In what is probably a learned cliché for researchers everywhere, it was here, when I turned away from my intended objects of study and center of research, venturing out into local museums or stumbling upon other unaware items, that proved most surprising and fruitful to my current projects. Dixon and Muñoz were unknown names to me, and thanks to an unplanned sojourn into the Blanton Museum, I have found new artists to draw upon in my dissertation. I
will show how these two elucidate Indigenous and Latinx methods of memorialization
that center the environment. So, for those eager to travel or ready to dig into an archive,
I would love to stress the importance of letting one’s attention wander to local resources.
And of course, my time researching at the Harry Ransom Center also proved helpful to cementing conclusions for a possible journal article and subsequent dissertation chapter. Over several days I reviewed periodicals and journals in the Alfred A. Knopf collection. Information collection from these papers helped me understand how literature from Latin America traveled the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century, and how it may have influenced Latinx
And of course, my time researching at the Harry Ransom Center also proved helpful to cementing conclusions for a possible journal article and subsequent dissertation chapter. Over several days I reviewed periodicals and journals in the Alfred A. Knopf collection. Information collection from these papers helped me understand how literature from Latin America traveled the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century, and how it may have influenced Latinx
writers within the country. I also spent time working my way through the papers of
J. Frank Dobie, a noted Texan writer and folklorist, and recorded his descriptions of Mexican
and Indigenous peoples. It is my plan to compare these notes to testimonies from migrants
in California in an effort to show how American settlers helped constructed and racialize
their new neighbors as a concerted push to displace them.
Overall, I am extremely grateful for the Edward Guiliano Fellowship for allowing me to travel. Not only did I get to experience a lovely city, I also took several major steps forward in my research, and renewed my interest in writing.
Overall, I am extremely grateful for the Edward Guiliano Fellowship for allowing me to travel. Not only did I get to experience a lovely city, I also took several major steps forward in my research, and renewed my interest in writing.
GRADUATE STUDENT APPLICATION INFORMATION
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