Teaching Comparative Literature in Mexico

Two weeks ago I finished my Master’s course in Comparative Literature on “US Immigrant Voices” in the Departamento de Estudios Literarios at the Universidad de Guadalajara. It went splendidly – the students were motivated and engaged quite profoundly in passionate literary discussion. They are mostly adults in their 30s and 40s who work full time and doing graduate studies in their free time (except for Mario, a young 2o-something man who works part time with the Secretaria de la culture doing reading workshops in the region, and studies full-time). These students had just begin their Master's and were taking my course as an elective while at the same taking required courses on a variety of topics like Bakhtin, Structuralism and Linguistic Theory. The program here appears to be mostly focused on Latin American and European literature and theory. During the first semester, they are asked to choose a topic for their Master’s thesis, so that they can begin to apply the literary theory they are learning.

We read several texts but one of the most rewarding ones to teach was the short story “Mrs. Sen” in Jumpha Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, a beautifully written and compact tale of a woman’s profound sense of exile living in the US, her pain living far from her homeland, India as the wife of a math professor. She cares for a young boy, Eliot, in her home, preparing meals for him and becoming his surrogate mother (his real mother is single and works horrendously long hours to take care of them). Mrs. Sen’s major obstacle is that she has never learned to drive. And this is considered a complete failure in American society – her “refusal” to drive is one of many signs of her refusal to assimilate and become a member of US society. 

At first I was a bit worried since I was unable to locate a Spanish translation of this story of the collection, and most the students did not have an adequate English level to be able to read and discuss. I also wasn't sure my level of spoken Spanish would be proficient enough to relay my ideas to them (it turned out to quite well, though, and we all survived the experience with few communication issues). 

It also helped that one of the students, who owns a translation company, took it upon herself to translate the 15-page story. She said it did not take her long and the translation was quite artful; it definitely facilitated our discussion in the seminar. In conjunction with this short story, we read an essay called “Can the Subaltern Speak?” by Gayatri Spivak (I found a Spanish translation online through the website “scribd.com,” a goldmine I recently discovered). Not sure this was the best essay to frame our reading, but it definitely supplied the students with a cursory understanding of the contributions of Postcolonial Studies.

I found it useful and interesting to read the stories through the lens of power, identity and colonial discourse. I would also venture to say that the readings altered students' views on US Culture a bit. One text that provoked a lively dialogue between us was Tomás Rivera’s novella Y no se lo tragó la tierra, one of the more important examples of Chicano literature. While students were generally familiar with the works of Sandra Cisneros and Gloria Anzaldua, few knew Rivera. By also reading Homi Bhabha’s “Of Mimicry and Man” from The Location of Culture, we were able to identify the figures of colonial power in the story as well as the futile, in-between position of the migrant (a colonized type, in my mind), who, in spite of his desires or attempts, can never assimilate or “rise up” to the level of the colonizer. He is always seen as “less than,” never “equal to.” 

I am summarizing the seminar here in terms of theory and cutting short our more complex discussions of character, theme, narrative, etc. I especially enjoyed hearing their ideas about Chicano literature – the students seem to share a common view of emigrants who leave Mexico for the US. For me, having spent a lot of time with migrants, it was difficult not to react strongly to some of the views that bordered on caricature.  The group connected some of the stories we read to their own experiences; several described to me their observations of migrant homecomings during fiestas patronales in the area. It was fascinating for me to hear their views on emigrants who had left Mexico. In contrast to our discussions of fiction, which had elicited empathy and a sense of identification, our discussions of life experiences evoked a variety of responses -- some filled with compassion and others unsympathetic towards those who come home to "brag about their life en el norte," "wear the American flag on their clothes like a banner" and "speak English all the time, maybe even more than in the US." I urged students to keep an open mind and recognize the conflicting points of view from each side of the border (the migrant who returns to Mexico vs. the Mexican national who views the migrant from a nativist perspective). I prefaced this message by saying I was neither Mexican nor Mexican-American, but that this phenomenon of divide on each side of the border seemed characteristic to me of diasporic cultures. I am grateful for this teaching experience which I'm sure will inform my research in exciting ways. 

On the last day of the seminar, the department got together for a poetry reading (many of the professors are authors in their own right). Students and profs together ate arranchera and drank Corona. I met one prof who has promised to invite me to his home so I can see his vast collection of World Literature (including some of my fave authors like Edwige Danticat, Ben Okri, Ahmadou Kouruma). I was glad to know students in Mexico are reading American authors. The concept of World Literature doesn't seem to be widely diffused or discussed here, unless I'm missing something. During the Feria Internacional del Libro (FIL), reportedly one of the largest book fairs in the world (which starts next week), I hope to hear more about this. Nobel-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa will be one of the guests of honor at this year's feria.
       

Having finished my teaching at UDG until late spring semester, I’m free to conduct research and teach English in the Norte de Jalisco in January - April. I’m preparing to leave Guadalajara after my mom’s visit -- around December 15, and spend at least three full months in “Jalzac” (anthropologist Manual Nájera’s name for the region where Northern Jalisco meets Southern Zacatecas).  I’m currently editing a blog about this week-long reconnaissance mission.