Heritage, Volume 12, Number 1, Winter 1994 Page: 23
26 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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feeling a cold gust of wind with no wool
shirt to warm him. Then he went back
into his house, and...
He looked in on his daughter still so
young, so beautiful, becoming a woman
who would leave that bed for another, his
sons still boys when they were asleep, who
dreamed like men when they were awake,
and his wife, still young in his eyes in the
morning shadows of their bed. Romero
went outside. The juniper had been cut just
as he'd wanted it. He got cold and came
back in and went to the bed and blankets his
wife kept so clean, so neatly arranged as she
slept under them without him, and he lay
down beside her.
These stories by Gilb evoke the Southwest,
from the noble landscape to the
gritty social tableaux. They are powerful
and empathic and diverse in their experience
and setting. They are not simply
"chicano" literature, though that is certainly
a part of their power. The only
weakness is the anemic portrayal of
women, who are often stylized and romanticized.In "I Danced with the Prettiest Girl,"
the girl herself, who at 17 was apparently
gullible and easy prey for the macho drifter
who is the "I" of the story, has no line until
near the end of the story. Of course, the
story is about the guy, who in his bohemian
lifestyle exults in the one night stand and
who memorializes his statutory rape in a
song of innocent love in the back seat of a
car.
Gender issues aside, Dagoberto Gilb
has a strong and inventive voice and
writes powerfully about the Southwest
from a cross-cultural and multivocal perspective.
Blacks and whites and chicanos,
and construction workers and laborers
and cowboys and blackjack gamblers are
portrayed as diverse members of common
communities at the job site, at a bar, or in
their neighborhoods.Folklore and Culture on the
Texas-Mexican Border
Americo Paredes, editing by Richard Bauman,
Center for Mexican American Studies, University
of Texas at Austin.invented by Americo Paredes, and he
continues to be the leading scholar for the
region. Not only that, but Paredes has
played a formative role in folk studies
since their American emergence with
then-contemporary efforts byJohn Lomax
and others beginning in the 1920s and
1930s.
This collection of essays presents some
of Paredes' scholarly works. Included are
essays on the folklore of Mexican groups,
problems of identity in a changing culture,
and 'Folk Medicine and the Intercultural
Jest," an excellent treatment of
the corrido and the decima as folklore
genres.
For those individuals who have enjoyed
Am6rico Paredes' classic "With
His Pistol in His Hand," or who know
him as a lecturer or teacher, this collection
of essays is a most welcome addition
to his published work.The Tiguas: Pueblo Indians
of Texas
Bill Wright, Introduction by Daniel J. Gelo,
Texas Western Press, University of Texas at
El Paso.Reviewed by John Peterson
This fine book is a collection of representations
of the Tigua of Ysleta del Sur in
Texas. Author Bill Wright intersperses
historic background, photographs, interviews,
and extensive quotations from Tigua
tribal members. The ancient and the modern,
as well as traditional Indian and
American values and behavior, are juxtaposed
just as the landscapes of Ysleta are
fragmented, postmodern.
Wright captures the eclectic and crazyquilt
ambiance of the place in his photography
and through the voices of the Tigua
people. Ramona Paiz sits in her carpeted
living room watching tele-novellas, and
recalls "the old days when she went hunting
with the men and until recently, lived in
the Old Pueblo with only a wood burning
stove for cooking." Nellie Lopez, in traditional
northern Pueblo clothing, skids bread
from an horno, demonstrating Spanish
Colonial bread-baking that used wheat from
the Old World in a New World setting.The Tigua are a reinvented tribe, having
been recognized legally only since the
1970s. During the last century, many of the
Tigua drifted from the tribe to join the
"open world" of the Mexican and American
economy in the El Paso-Juarez area.
But with tribal recognition, and now a
growing community economy from bingo
and casino gambling, the Tigua are reforming
their community both spiritually
and economically. As Tom Diamond, lawyer
for the tribe who assisted in their recognition
and land claim suits, recounts, "The
blood quantum is a small part of being
Indian."
Belief in the power of the drum and a
sense of identity as a Tigua are what count.
This book demonstrates a powerful sense
of identity among the Tigua represented
here.
Editors's Note: Author and photographer
Bill Wright of Abilene is a member of the
Texas Historical Foundation Board of Directors.HERITAGE * WINTER 1994 23
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Folklore studies of the border were
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 12, Number 1, Winter 1994, periodical, Winter 1994; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth46807/m1/23/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.