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Description
This thesis takes a critical multicultural approach to the analysis of nine holidaythemed Chicana/o picture books published between 1946 and 2009 to determine historical and sociopolitical factors which have contributed to the stereotypes, biases and gross misrepresentations of Chicanas/os and Chicana/o culture found in many of these books, as well as the cause for the rise in conformity to the dominant Anglo culture in holiday-themed Chicana/o picture books published in the 2000s. These representations go against Chicana/o literature’s tradition of resisting cultural hegemony, which is detrimental to the genre because it dilutes its subversive nature and contributes to the vanishing of Mexican culture and heritage from holiday-themed Chicana/o picture books. Chapter 1 is a historical review of the negative effects produced by the anti-Mexican sentiment in the United States during the late 19th century, and the tourist approach many authors took to write about Mexican traditions in early Chicana/o picture books. This chapter features a critical multicultural analysis of Pedro: The Angel of Olvera Street by Leo Politi, A Chicano Christmas Story by Manuel and Ruth Cruz, and La Calavera by Alurista. Chapter 2 focuses on the multicultural publishing phenomenon of the 1990s and Rudine Sims Bishop’s windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors metaphor, which was developed in the 1990s to identify the pre-requisites for high-quality multicultural children’s literature. This chapter conducts a critical multicultural analysis of Family Pictures and In My Family by Carmen Lomas Garza, and Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto. Chapter 3 explores how cultural blending in holiday-themed Chicana/o picture books can lead to cultural vanishing, and how the bumpy-line assimilation theory can explain variations in stereotypical representations of Chicanas/os and Chicana/o culture across several decades. This chapter contains a critical multicultural analysis of Los Gatos Black on Halloween by Marisa Montes, Piñata in a Pine Tree: A Latino Twelve Days of Christmas by Pat Mora, and Charro Claus and the Tejas Kid by Xavier Garza.
