Mapping South American Latina/o Literature in the United States

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

   PDF

2. Introduction: Mapping South American Latinidad in the United States

   • Juanita Heredia

   Pages 1-12

3. The Task of the Translator: Daniel Alarcón

   • Juanita Heredia

   Pages 13-29

4. Bridges Across Lima and Washington D.C.: Marie Arana

   • Juanita Heredia

   Pages 31-47

5. Dreaming in Brazilian: Kathleen De Azevedo

   • Juanita Heredia

   Pages 49-66

6. It Takes Two to Tango Across Montevideo and California: Carolina De Robertis

   • Juanita Heredia

   Pages 67-84

7. Traveling the Caribbean, Colombia, and the U.S.: Patricia Engel

   • Juanita Heredia

   Pages 85-97

8. My Poetic Feminism Between Peru and the U.S.: Carmen Giménez Smith

   • Juanita Heredia

   Pages 99-115

9. Gender and Spirituality in Colombia, Cuba and New Jersey: Daisy Hernández

   • Juanita Heredia

   Pages 117-133

10. The Colombiano of Greenwich Village: Jaime Manrique

    • Juanita Heredia

    Pages 135-152

11. A Meditation on Parenting from Syria to Peru to the U.S.: Farid Matuk

    • Juanita Heredia

    Pages 153-171

12. From Dirty Wars in Argentina and Latvia to Listening to Music: Julie Sophia Paegle

    • Juanita Heredia

    Pages 173-190

13. Writing the Chilena NuYorker Experience: Mariana Romo-Carmona

    • Juanita Heredia

    Pages 191-209

14. Returning to the Fervor of Buenos Aires from the U.S.: Sergio Waisman

    • Juanita Heredia

    Pages 211-228

15. Back Matter

    Pages 229-238

    PDF

This collection of interviews demonstrates that U.S. Latinas/os of South American background have contributed pioneering work to U.S. Latina/o literature and culture in the twenty-first century. In conversation with twelve significant authors of South American descent in the United States, Juanita Heredia reveals that, through their transnational experiences, they have developed multicultural identities throughout different regions and cities across the country. However, these authors' works also exemplify a return to their heritage in South America through memory and travel, often showing that they maintain strong cultural and literary ties across national borders. As such, they have created a new chapter in trans-American history by finding new ways of imagining South America from their formation and influences in the U.S.

• Latina
• Latino
• Latin American literature
• Interview
• South America
• Daniel Alarcón
• Marie Arana
• Kathleen de Azevedo
• Carolina de Robertis
• Patricia Engel
• Carmen Giménez Smith
• Daisy Hernández
• Jaime Manrique
• Farid Matuk
• Julie Sophia Paegle
• Mariana Romo-Carmona
• Sergio Waisman

“Mapping South American Latina/a Literature in the United States: Interviews with Contemporary Writers by Juanita Heredia is a welcome critical Intervention … . The volume is overall a much-needed contribution to the growing field of Latina/o literature in the United States. … Mapping will be valuable to scholars of Latina/o and Latin American contemporary literature, queer and gender studies, and multi-ethnic U.S. literature; and a companion to students reading works by these twelve authors in undergraduate or graduate courses.” (Manuela Borzone, Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature STTCL, Vol. 46 (1), 2022)

“This text may serve as a useful resource for educatorswishing to provide students with a contemporary context to the works studied in their courses, and would also be an enjoyable read for the general intellectual.” (Carolyn González, Latino Studies, Vol. 19, 2021)
“In this informative, engaging and pioneering book of interviews, a multigenerational group of contemporary US South American-Latino/a writers brilliantly describe some of the social, cultural, political and transnational nuances that define their personal stories of displacement, literary creativity, unique writing styles and trans-American imaginations. Juanita Heredia’s warm conversational style skilfully elicits fascinating explanations about how the writers'  multilingual and bicultural lives shaped their personal and literary journeys into the historical and contemporary realities of their heritage societies, while simultaneously contributing to their commitment to social activism as members of US Latino/a communities – an affirmation of their multiple belongings.  This is a "must-read" book for everyone interested in US Latina/o literature and in the transnational experiences of South American-Latina/os in the US today.” (Suzanne Oboler, John Jay College-City University of New York, USA)

“An accessible but critically enlightening book on the current U.S. literary landscape. The general intellectual will find it both a pleasurable and an informative book to read.” (Dr. Hector Enrique Calderon Valle, University of California, Los Angeles, USA)

• Flagstaff, AZ, USA

  Juanita Heredia

Juanita Heredia is Professor of Spanish at Northern Arizona University, USA. She is the author of Transnational Latina Narratives in the Twenty-first Century: The Politics of Gender, Race and Migrations (2009) and co-editor of Latina Self-Portraits: Interviews with Contemporary Women Writers (2000). While she was a post-doctoral Fellow at UCLA she advanced work on her critical monograph, Transnational Latinas/os and the City: Negotiating Urban Experiences in Twenty-first Century Literature and Culture.

Policies and ethics