Graduation Year

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.L.A.

Degree Granting Department

Humanities and Cultural Studies

Major Professor

Daniel Belgrad, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Adriana Novoa, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Ylce Irizarry, Ph.D.

Keywords

Chicano/a, border art, immigration, hybridity, borderlands

Abstract

This thesis explores Gloria Anzaldúa’s notion of

mestiza consciousness and its

relation to Mexican American performance and poster art. It examines how the traditional

conceptions of

mestizo identity were redefined by Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera

in an attempt to eradicate oppression through a change of consciousness. Anzaldua’s

conceptions are then applied to Guillermo Gomez-Peña’s performance art discussing the

intricacies and complexities of his performances as examples of

mestiza consciousness.

This thesis finally analyzes various Mexican American posters in relation to both

Anzaldúa and Gomez-Peña’s art works. It demonstrates that the similarities in the artist’s

treatment of hybridity illustrate a progressive change in worldview, thus exhibit

mestiza

consciousness.

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