Research Proposal

 

Working Title: How La Llorona and Folklore Follows Us Beyond Bed Time

Topic Description:

I will explore Latin American folklore figures, more specifically la Llorona. La Llorona, who is a legendary figure in Latin American culture is generally a figure of darkness that roams the night mourning for her dead children, whom she drowned in a lake. Most commonly seen as a symbol of grief and revenge (in one case, towards her unfaithful husband), the story of La Llorona has ingrained itself in the indigenous culture of various people. I would like to focus on how La Llorona ultimately continues to transcend various generations through historical components such as colonialism and prevalent events of today’s society. Upon focusing on such a figure, I will discuss the significance La Llorona ultimately has on social issues.

Research Question:

How can folklore figures such as La Llorona and the lessons of their stories transcend to modern issues in today’s society? What solutions or reflections does this figure provide? What effects does La Llorona have on people?

Theoretical Frame(s):

Upon unraveling the overall story of La Llorona, it is important to highlight that upon developing further information, the history of colonialism and indigenous influence in Latin America cannot go undiscussed. Myths of these indigenous influences establish themselves significantly in the lives of many individuals through disciplines. Anne-Marie Hall demonstrates such an example when, “ Rather the cultural artifacts of myth and legend become the more powerful message systems as they occur again and again in the curriculum” (Hall 386). Such an example is in regard to student education, which through her study, Hall observes is heavily more practiced through the inclusion of myths and legends, specifically in more rural areas of Mexico. One must also consider however that indigenous influence and colonialism are heavily related. One (colonialism) causing the erasure of the other (indigenous influence). 

Case(s) or Examples:

Relating to the direct influence on children and more particularly a child’s education, Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic’s article, “Lessons From Mexican Folklore: An Essay on  U.S. Immigration Policy, Child Separation, and La Llorona.” discusses La Llorona in a symbolic format towards U.S. former president Donald Trump. Calling him La Llorona due to child separation laws, Delgado highlights that La Llorona is supposed to represent an educative symbol for children in a more personal perspective. While La Llorona is used in a negative comparison, such a comparison allows one to visualize that a Llorona can exist, and the matters to stop it and disobey it can be heavily dependent on its origins.Can the lessons of La Llorona literally translate to actual preventative action?

Anne-Marie Hall’s study titled, “Keeping La Llorona Alive in the Shadow of Cortés: What an Examination of Literacy in Two Mexican Schools Can Teach U.S. Educators”, focuses on the prevalent social issue that is education by highlighting the disparities in rural and urban primary schools in Mexico. Directly relating such events to “Indeginous influence”, Hall is able to provide instances in which La Llorona proves to be a substantial part of some disparities within certain regions due to colonial erasure of indigenous influence. Hall provides an example of such ideas, “The Spanish colonizers misread these early texts as merely decorative and erroneously called them “paintings”” (Hall 392-393). Thus began the rupture between the communicative value of the pictograph and its artistic merit. Thus upon this connection, my research will likely directly consider the influence folktales has on children in their learning abilities directly within certain systems.

   Working Bibliography:

1.Delgado, Richard, and Jean Stefancic. “Lessons From Mexican Folklore: An Essay on  U.S. Immigration Policy, Child Separation, and La Llorona.” University of Pittsburgh Law Review, vol. 81, no. 2, University of Pittsburgh, 2019, p. 287–, doi:10.5195/lawreview.2019.675.

2.  Hall, Anne-Marie. “Keeping La Llorona Alive in the Shadow of Cortés: What an Examination of Literacy in Two Mexican Schools Can Teach U.S. Educators.” Bilingual Research Journal, vol. 30, no. 2, Taylor & Francis Group, 2006, pp. 385–406, doi:10.1080/15235882.2006.10162882.

3. Lee-Herbert, Beth. The Fertile Abyss: La Llorona, La Malinche, and the Role of the Terrible Mother Archetype in Transcending Oppression. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2018.

4.  Luis fernando Gómez R. “Cleófilas and La Llorona: Latin Heroines Against Patriarchal Marginalisation in ‘El Arroyo de La Llorona’, a Short Story by Sandra Cisneros.” Universitas Humanística, vol. 74, no. 74, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, 2012, pp. 98–119.

5.   Michael T. Taussig. The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America. The University of North Carolina Press, 2010, doi:10.5149/9780807898413_taussig.

Literature Review #2: Lessons from Mexican Folklore... Child Separation and La Llorona

 Visual:

                                                                      Richard Delgado

Summary:

Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic's article titled, 'Lessons From Mexican Folklore: An Essay on U.S. Immigration Policy, Child Separation, and La Llorona", highlights some of the more current social issues in today's world. Directly within the context of the folklore that is La Llorona, Delgado and Stefancic quickly call previous president Donald Trump the modern day Llorona due to his direct involvement with child separation at the U.S. Mexican border. With such a heavy comparison, Delgado and Stefancic give an overview of some of the issues in regards to child separation in history. Through the discussion of Indigenous and Conventional Remedies (Delgado, Stefancic 308), there is farther emphasize towards the relevance of indigenous culture within the motives of child separation.

Citation:

Delgado, Richard, and Jean Stefancic. “Lessons From Mexican Folklore: An Essay on  U.S. Immigration Policy, Child Separation, and La Llorona.” University of Pittsburgh Law Review, vol. 81, no. 2, University of Pittsburgh, 2019, p. 287–, doi:10.5195/lawreview.2019.675.

Link: Lessons From Mexican Folklore

Author:

Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic are coauthors for this article. Both authors are affiliated with The University of Alabama, more specifically, the school of Law. Teaching on topics such as social change and race, respectively, both Delgado and Stefancic have various works published, in total Delgado having around 200 articles and twenty books while Stefancic has fifty articles and fifteen books (Alabama Law: Faculty). Overall, both share expertise on prevalent social issues that affect today's world through a more political standpoint, which greater connects to La Llorona's presence in society.

Sources:

Richard_Delgado

Jean_Stefancic

Key Terms:

Indigenous: original natives to a certain area of land.

Indigenous Remedies: Solutions to issues that revolve around a more cultural basis (sometimes even more mythical approaches).

Conventional Remedies: Literal modern forward solutions. (Ex. Talking to gov. leaders)

Quotes:

"Child psychologists recognize the myth as a control device and a means of exercising authority over children who might otherwise be tempted to stray or misbehave" (Delgado, Stefancic 291).

"Institutions known as residential schools, run by churches through government partnerships, with a view to assimilating indigenous children into white Canadian society" (Delgado, Stefancic 304).

"Instead, we should encourage and cloak ourselves in television shows celebrating and broadcasting immigrants, in books telling their stories, and in policies to encourage the equitable exchange of cultural ideas" (Delgado, Stefancic 313).

Value:

Ultimately, this article provides pivotal information for my research as it clearly emphasizes some of today's more prevalent issues when in regards to La Llorona. The simple comparison between Trump and La Llorona provides a visualization towards the fact that La Llorona transcends to some of the more significant political issues in the world. It also shows that the very culture in which such folklores come from play a significant part into helping find a better solution for today's issues. This ultimately gives La Llorona's transcendence even more meaning.

Literature Review #1: Keeping La Llorona Alive

Visual:

Citation:

Hall, Anne-Marie. “Keeping La Llorona Alive in the Shadow of Cortés: What an Examination of Literacy in Two Mexican Schools Can Teach U.S. Educators.” Bilingual Research Journal, vol. 30, no. 2, Taylor & Francis Group, 2006, pp. 385–406, doi:10.1080/15235882.2006.10162882.

 Link:Keeping La Llorona Alive

Summary: 

Anne-Marie Hall's study titled "Keeping La Llorona Alive in the Shadows of Corte: What an Examination of Literacy in Two Mexican Schools can Teach U.S. Educators.", approaches folklore and more specifically La Llorona when in regards to observing two Mexican schools located in the region of Oaxaca. While observing both urban and rural schools, Hall is able to identify a significant pattern when it comes to students' literacy skills. Hall emphasizes that, "As I talked to the children in these schools and read their writing... I realized that these ancient beliefs and customs are, in the words of Paz (1985) “still in existence beneath Western forms" (Hall 393). Furthermore, in addition to the collection to the observations on students' writings, Hall considers the differences between North and Southern Mexico when in regards to educational levels, emphasizing on the effects of colonization when describing "Pre Conquest" and various indigenous groups. However regardless of such differences, Hall as well comes to emphasize that Southern Mexico's schooling was where "the ancient and modern resided side by side" (Hall 401). Hall demonstrates the ultimate meaning of myths in Mexican culture.

Author:

Anne-Marie Hall is the author of "Keeping La Llorona Alive in the Shadows of Corte: What an Examination of Literacy in Two Mexican Schools can Teach U.S. Educators." Anne Marie Hall has worked within the University of Arizona.

Key Terms:

"Pre-Conquest": the time in Mexico/Latin America prior to colonization.

"Myths": The stories upheld within cultures that teach life lessons

Quotes:

"And in Mexico, the story overlaps with the Aztec earthcreation goddess Chihuacoatl, and La Malinche, a proper name stemming from Malinalli, the “native woman said to be the translator and lover to Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés” (Hall 394).

"The Spanish colonizers misread these early texts as merely decorative and erroneously called them “paintings” (p. 12). Thus began the rupture between the communicative value of the pictograph and its artistic merit" (Hall 392-393).

" Barbarism sacrifices men to the myths, while we desire a civilization that places myths in the service of men. (p. 198)" (Hall 395).

Value:

This article on this particular study helps me in my research in emphasizing the significance of folklores and La Llorona due to the significance of the findings. Having found an example in which myths intercept an education system this significantly implies that there are more deeper situations in which La Llorona and other myths could emphasize their lessons. If it infiltrates education, then what other issues are there that one might not expect?

Research Question

As of now, my main Research Question has developed to:

How can folklore figures and the lessons of their stories transcend to modern social issues in today’s society? Can figures such as La Llorona from Latin America provide logical reasoning to such conflicts?

Sources:

Delgado, Richard, and Jean Stefancic. “Lessons From Mexican Folklore: An Essay on  U.S.                                Immigration Policy, Child Separation, and La Llorona.” University of Pittsburgh Law Review,                 vol. 81, no. 2, University of Pittsburgh, 2019, p. 287–, doi:10.5195/lawreview.2019.675.

Hall, Anne-Marie. “Keeping La Llorona Alive in the Shadow of Cortés: What an Examination of                         Literacy in Two Mexican Schools Can Teach U.S. Educators.” Bilingual Research Journal, vol.             30, no. 2, Taylor & Francis Group, 2006, pp. 385–406, doi:10.1080/15235882.2006.10162882.

Luis fernando Gómez R. “Cleófilas and La Llorona: Latin Heroines Against Patriarchal Marginalisation         in ‘El Arroyo de La Llorona’, a Short Story by Sandra Cisneros.” Universitas Humanística, vol.             74, no. 74, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, 2012, pp. 98–119.

Michael T. Taussig. The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America. The University of North             Carolina Press, 2010, doi:10.5149/9780807898413_taussig.

Blog Post #2

 As of right now, it seems as though I am keeping to my original topic of learning about folklores and other stories that are born out of various cultures. However, I believe there has been a slight shift in my topic as I have been opened to exploring the specific lessons folklores teach us, more specifically motives. What are the issues one has with specific people? Is there something that needs an explanation? I found this to be an interesting take on the concept because it almost seems too obvious. When we hear about stories we seems to think about the obvious outcomes, but how much do we truly dive in? I still have not completely let go of wanting to see the comparisons between cultural stories, but there is definitely a door for more. 

When it came for searching, some key words were "la Llorona", "myths", "folklores transcending cultures". While these key words seem to be specific, I have to admit that there were moments where I definitely experienced difficulty looking for information, especially because there seemed to be minimal work of folklores in a scholarly context.

When on YouTube, I was able to find a video from the channel Crash Course that provided some mythology to South America, more specifically, those of the earliest of natives. In the video it was described that Gods flooded the land. This of course I find to be vital information because it gives insights to religion, considering there is a sign of a higher being. https://youtu.be/GrTXHeSHGSE

Later on, I was able to find an article that provided me with some insight in a more modern view. Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, described Donald Trump's actions towards the separation of kids at the U.S. Mexican Border by comparing him to "La Llorona". I find it interesting because ultimately a figure that so desperately scared children, is ultimately the reality of the children who were caught in today's unfortunate situation. https://bit.ly/3cUA06n

A book titled "The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America" by Michael T. Taussig as well seems interesting considering it goes into depth about salves in South America. I have only read fragments, but it seems like a valuable read as I am able to see more of the inhabitants of those lands. Source Provided by: Professor Goeller