| A culturally-hybridized, social and political consciousness, is one that has been fragmented, broken, disenfranchised, and devalued because of its specific existence on the outer rim of the Chicano/a cultural circle. It is a mixed, cultural identity that is discordant against strong, nationalistic ties to a one, true Mexican identity. In the language of critical geographer Edward Soja, the culturally-hybridized function within a Third Space, experiencing the epistemological consequences surrounding the politcospatiality of the spaces of knowing and being. That is, the research focuses on how the relative positions of the agents of race, class, and cultural identity are influenced by the social topology of the south Texas borderlands.;After establishing how political, cultural, and social spaces influence our interactions with the world around us, I discuss identity politics and its role in influencing our cultural, political, social, and overall formative senses of self. To do this, I rely on the spatiality of the U.S./Mexico border as a metaphor, discussing how it encourages metamorphosis of many kinds. Then, I criticize how well-established notions of Chicano/cultural, social, and political studies have limited Mexican cultural diversity instead of celebrating it, providing a critique of classic Chicano, nationalist rhetorical motifs such as Aztlan. The aim is not to dismantle the works of pioneers of Chicano/a studies, but to suggest other ways to regard the already diverse nature of what it means to be a descendant of Mexico. |
