Migrant Daughter: Coming of Age as a Mexican American Woman (review)

Abstract

298 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies caso que ya ha sido concluido. Sin embargo se ve incapaz de detenet a un hombre cuyo delito ha sido el de amai a una mujei y el de matar al machismo, "un delito que el código penal deja impune" (276). La originalidad del autoi ha sido la de habei simado en un género marginal como es acrualmente la novela negra en España una parábola sobre la condición femenina y el machismo, el amor y el odio, el engaño y la lealtad, la hipocresÃ-a y la sinceridad , los "otros excesos" mencionados en el tÃ-tulo. Verónica Añover California State University San Marcos Migrant Daughter: Coming of Age as a Mexican American Woman University of California Press, 2000 By Frances Esquibel Tywoniak and Mario T. Garcia The uniqueness of this autobiography is that it initially originated from an oral history paper written by a student in Professor Mario T. GarcÃ-as history class at the Univeisity of Santa Barbara. When Mario T. Garcia read die oral history project about Frances Esquibel's life, he was instandy intrigued and decided to interview this woman himself. From these extensive interviews, both Fiances Esquibel and Mario T. Garcia cowrote her autobiography. This work traces a young Mexican-American woman's coming of age during the thirties, forties and early fifties. Fiances recalls her very early years in iural sourheastern New Mexico as happy times. Howevet , during the Great Depression she re-tells the story of being uprooted and forced to move to the San Joaquin Valley in California. This story details Fiances' experiences growing up in less than favorable farm-labor camps and working with her fathet in the fields at a young age. She recounts her life experiences from the time she was a small girl, through the years of adolescence when she discovers her gender, sexual, and ethnic identity, up to her graduation from the prestigious University of California, Berkeley, where she also married and had her first child. Frances' story is an exceptional one not only because she was one ofthe few Mexican Americans , and even fewer Mexican-American women, to attend Berkeley in the post-Worid War II period , but also because this autobiography provides us with an important historical document. Hei story addresses the role of Mexican-American women in history with respect to family, migration , education, labot, issues of gender and sexuality in American history, and the role of leadership among Mexican-American women. This narrative is a great source of analysis to study the process of bridging cultures for many ChÃ-canos. Frances writes about her multiple positions of identity and how she learns to juggle het Mexican-American culture with the Anglo culture . She discusses the importance of mastering the English language in order to succeed in mainstream society and although she recalls instances in which she witnessed oi experienced discrimination , het tone is never that of bitterness oi resentment , just mattet of fact. She nevet idealizes one culture over the other but states clearly rhat in oidei to succeed in society one must choose those aspects from both cultures that can help in achieving success in society. Foi example, Fiances maintained hei native tongue, her strong work ethic learned from her parents and her Catholic upbringing , but knew that the key to her success was in her education. In conclusion, Frances' story concerns a period in Chicano history that is still not well researched . She not only relates her experience as a Mexican American during this historical period but at the same time indirectly questions certain assumptions about Mexican history and the idea stemming from the Chicano Movement that presented Latinos as a unified subject, that is to say a homogeneous community. Frances' story reveals quite the opposite, that of a community fai more diverse with historical, regional, cultural, linguistic , generational, racial, and class differences. The autobiography of this extraordinary MexicanAmerican woman could even serve as a textbook for a variety of different courses, such as history, literature or Chicano studies. It is a wonderful tool Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 299 for the analyses of a variety...