Religious hybridity and female power in 'Heart of the Earth: A Popol Vuh Story' and other theatrical works by Cherrie Moraga

This dissertation is an account of Chicana writer Cherrie Moraga's recurrent themes of la fuerza femenina, the female god, and a hybrid religious influence---Christian, primarily Catholic, and Amerindian, primarily Mesoamerican, beliefs. As shown in this study, Moraga focuses on a woman-centered religiosity which includes the belief in a virgin or La virgen. The religious elements in Moraga's works Giving Up the Ghost: Teatro en Two Acts (1986); Heroes and Saints (1994), Shadow of a Man (1994), The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea (2001); Watsonville/Circle in the Dirt (2002) are discussed and theorized resulting in parallels to pertinent points of Mujerista, Liberation, and Ecological Theologies.;Also discussed is the language Moraga utilizes: Standard English and Spanish and non-standard Southwest Spanish dialect and Quiche. Such linguistic diversity reflects the hybrid border migration experience in community and a transculturalization which brings the periphery to the center of attention. The study then compares the indigenous theme present in Moraga's play Heart of the Earth: A Popol Vuh Story (2002) and the Guatemalan historical writing of the 16th century Popol Vuh, using Dennis Tedlock's definitive translation, Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life (1996), as a primary source for comparison. The Mesoamerican indigenous theme sparked the interest for this investigation and insights as to why Moraga selected the Popol Vuh for her Maya-Quiche based play are suggested. This study contributes to the prospering fields of Latino Religious Studies and U.S. Latino Literature.