1. “The Currency of Suffering”: The Migrant as Symbol and Commodity in Sympathetic Border Texts
- Author
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Giron, Mario Enriques, Martin, Desiree1, Giron, Mario Enriques, Giron, Mario Enriques, Martin, Desiree1, and Giron, Mario Enriques
- Abstract
This dissertation considers the relationship between the migrant as symbol and the commodity of suffering within sympathetic border texts. It considers the work of Francisco Cantú, Demetria Martinez, and Javier Zamora as prime examples of the complexity of this relationship and present a fruitful discussion on the legibility of migrants’ humanity to the US audience. Cantú’s The Line Becomes a River illustrates the failures of what I consider sympathetic texts that advocate for migrants arriving at the US southern border to truly humanize migrants since Cantú unintentionally borrows the same language commonly found in anti-immigrant rhetoric. Through the relationship of trash and the border, Cantú’s work illustrates how migrants may possibly challenge this dehumanization through performance of suffering while Cantú co-opts it for his benefit. Martinez’ Mother Tongue demonstrates a discussion on the intimate relationship Central American and Chicanx communities have during the Sanctuary Movement of the 80s and 90s. I argue that the romantic relationship between the two protagonists, a Chicanx women and a Salvadoran asylee, illustrate a need for established Chicanx communities to understand and not absorb Central American subjectivity and history into their culture. This then promotes a push against the formulation of the “ideal migrant” that is commonly used to create belonging within the US. Finally, Zamora’s works, Unaccompanied and Solito demonstrate how he utilizes his own personal suffering to meditate on his own personal subjectivity. Through this meditation I conclude that his work presents that individual Salvadoran subjectivity is constantly tied to communal identity. These three works in turn present the complexity of suffering as a commodity used to help marginalized groups belonging within the nation space, but also how migrants may symbolically challenge this form of belonging.
- Published
- 2024