The diasporic subject: The role of travel narrative in the construction of a Latin American and Latina subject

Carolina Latorre, Purdue University

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the formation of a feminine identity in the narrative forms of the diaries, letters and autobiography written by women travelers, giving especial emphasis to Latin American and U.S Latina writers. This analysis expands traditional understandings of travel as a geographical migration of an individual or community, to propose that travel also includes alternative trajectories of female experience such as the mystical journey as well as processes of identity construction undergone by Latina women as diasporic subjects in the United States. More importantly, this study proposes to build a bridge that links the emergence of a feminine Latin American and Latina Identity through an expanded definition of travel. This expanded definition of travel looks to unite the social and cultural similarities of each group of women. In addition, it hopes to distinguish the differences that mark the historical and political experiences of each community of women. The discussion of the disparity in the historical circumstances that shape the experiences of Latin American and Latina women is of especial significance to my debate. This is due to the fact that identity construction through travel not only connects these women's contact with this undertaking but highlights the historical variations which alter the ways in which these communities perceive travel. In order to identify these differences, this study will explore the mystical journey and the trajectories of geographical travel practiced by Latin American women in the eighteenth century, nineteenth century and twentieth century. Finally, we will discuss an alternative form of travel carried out by Latina women in the U.S. as diasporic subjects who negotiate within various planes of cultural realities and identities. The diasporic subject can be defined as an individual that journeys trough diverse levels of cultural and social domain in order to create a newfound identity.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Stephenson, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Literature|Latin American literature|American literature|Hispanic Americans

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