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.