The Realist Latina: The Arts

10 July 2009

The Arts

Here is a list of some of the most influential individuals in the arts, literature, playwriting, fine arts, etc. Again, in order to make this a short list, I have limited it to Latin@s who have influenced American popular culture! Feel free to add as you see necessary!

1. Miguel Pinero (Puerto Rico) - Co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe; poet

2. Julia Alvarez (Dominican - NY) - Author of In the Time of the Butterflies; and the Garcia Girls series

3. Sandra Cisneros (Chicana - IL) - Author of The House of Mango Street

4. Gloria Anzaldua (Chicana -TX) - Author of Borderlands/La Frontera and This Bridge Called My Back

5. Cristina Garcia (Cuba) Born in Cuba, but fled at the age of 2 years old; author of Dreaming in Cuban

6. Rudolfo Anaya (Chicano - NM) Author of Bless Me, Ultima

7. Junot Diaz (Dominican Republic) Author of Drown and Pulitzer Prize winning, The Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao

8. Simon Silva (Mexico) Painter and artist depicts country life in bright oranges, reds, and yellows

9. Jean-Michal Basquiat (Puerto Rican/African-American - NY) Internationally renown artist, graffiti artist

10. Julia de Burgos (Puerto Rico) - Poet and civil rights activist

11. Oscar Hijuelos (Cuban -NY) - First Latino to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction for The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

12. Lin-Manuel Miranda (Puerto Rican - NY) Tony award winning composer and star of "In the Heights" musical

13. Luis Valdez (Chicano -CA) Father of Chicano theater; founder of Teatro Campesino; director

14. Americo Paredes (Chicano - TX) Seminal Mexican-American scholar

15. Lalo Alcaraz (Chicano -CA) Political cartoonist of La Cucaracha

**For an interesting collection of Latin@s in various aspects of American culture, check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hispanic_and_Latino_Americans

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Definitions

For a greater understanding of this blog and my outlook on fashion, culture, and politics, a few definitions are necessary:

Chicana/o: Various scholars have defined Chicano/as as Mexican-Americans who view themselves as non-Anglo, proud of their indigenous culture, and politically active. For the sake of this blog, Chicano/as will be used to mean any Americans with Mexican decent.

Chicanismo: This term will be used to denote the political activism, cultural identity, and the connection to the indigenous heritage of the Aztec Empire by Chicano/as.

Latina/o: While used in the US to describe anyone of Latin American decent or citizenship, for this blog, Latino/a will encompass anyone who defines themselves as Latino/a. It does not matter whether they are US citizens or Latin Americans or Spanish, but live and contribute to US popular culture, politics and fashion.

Hispanic: WILL NEVER BE USED IN THIS BLOG! This term was a term given to individuals of Latin American decent by the US government in an effort to classify these individuals as a monolithic group for the Census.

Gendered Spellings: In the Spanish language, most nouns must have a gendered spelling. In order to avoid misrepresenting anyone or any group, I will use the following: "Latina/o" or "Latin@" to mean both men and women within a particular group. When just talking about women, you will see "Latinas" or "Latina".

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that because of my own cultural identity, my knowledge of the histories of various Latin American groups in the US is limited. I apologize in advance if I have omitted important histories of my fellow herman@s. Feel free to add histories and individuals who you think fit within the contents of this blog.