Article
Corporeal Activism in Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X: Towards a Self-Appropriation of US Afro-Latinas’ Bodies
Author/s | Martín Martínez, Macarena |
Department | Universidad de Sevilla. Departamento de Filología Inglesa (Literatura Inglesa y Norteamericana) |
Publication Date | 2021 |
Deposit Date | 2023-11-24 |
Published in |
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Abstract | Scholars have typically studied Chicanas/Latinas in the US and African American women separately. However, this paper explores both the cultural appropriation of Afro-Latinas’ bodies in the US and the strategies ... Scholars have typically studied Chicanas/Latinas in the US and African American women separately. However, this paper explores both the cultural appropriation of Afro-Latinas’ bodies in the US and the strategies they employed to reclaim their bodies and agencies through Elizabeth Acevedo’s novel,The Poet X.The protagonist’sbody is simultane ously and paradoxically hyper-sexualized by racist discourses,and called to chastity by the patriarchal Catholic doctrinepresiding overher Dominican community. Nevertheless,I argue thatthe protagonist makesher body a site of activism as shere-appropriates the agency over her body by moving from a self-imposed invisibility and silence in order to try to avoid the hyper-sexualization of her incipient curves, to a non-objectified visible position throughher sexual desire, self-representative embodied narrative, and performance of her slam poetry. La crítica académica ha estudiado a las mujeres chicanas/latinas y afroamericanas de manera separada. Sin embargo, este artículo explora tanto la apropiación cultural de los cuerpos de las afrolatinas ... La crítica académica ha estudiado a las mujeres chicanas/latinas y afroamericanas de manera separada. Sin embargo, este artículo explora tanto la apropiación cultural de los cuerpos de las afrolatinas como sus estrategias para reclamarlos a través de la novela de Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X. El cuerpo de la protagonista es simultánea y paradójicamente hipersexualizado por los discursos racistas y llamado a la castidad por las doctrinas católicas patriarcales presentes en su comunidad dominicana. No obstante, argumento que la protagonista hace de su cuerpo un sitio para el activismo ya que consigue moverse de una posición auto impuesta de invisibilidad y silencio para evitar la sexualización de sus incipientes curvas a una posición de visibilidad no cosificada gracias a su deseo sexual y a la recitación de la poesía que proviene de su cuerpo y la representa. |
Citation | Martín Martínez, M. (2021). Corporeal Activism in Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X: Towards a Self-Appropriation of US Afro-Latinas’ Bodies.. Estudios Norteamericanos, 25, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.12795/REN.2021.i25.01. |
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