"We Call Them Greasers": An Intimate Look at a Broad Cultural War

Primary Faculty Mentor’s Name

Dr. Terry Easton

Proposal Track

Student

Session Format

Poster

Abstract

“We Call them Greasers” by Gloria Anzaldúa, concisely represents westward expansion of the United States. It is narrated by a man on the frontlines of a war. In this poem, the United States government turns a blind eye to the narrator and his men’s vilification and violation of local civilians. Intercultural Communication between the colonizers and those being colonized is impacted by political discourse. In this instance, promised rights and liberties are not upheld by the United States government. My research unifies the philosophy and poetry of Anzaldúa through the use of historical and sociological fields of study. As my poster will illustrate, the poem is as complex as the multidimensional consciousness described in Anzaldúa’s philosophy which advocates engaging multiple perspectives. It will explain how the poem can be used to examine globalization and the implications of individualism in personal lives as well its effects on cultural groups. Additionally, it will incorporate a confluence of feminist and evolutionary perspectives on the topic of rape, specifically its appeal as a war tactic that is simultaneously an overarching metaphor for the events in the poem.

My project will analyze the poem through a sociological context by exploring the motives behind the usurpation of land and the personal effects by a cultural and economic war. Manifest Destiny was the United States goal to overtake the continent and use the land acquired to benefit their citizens regardless of who happened to be living on the land they were claiming. The characterized invasion in this poem is a representation of the economic war that was waged to increase the United States wealth and power as well as a cultural war to eliminate an entire category of people from a geographic area.

The poster will include the poem, a map of North and South America, and other images as well. The geographical map will assist in locating the region discussed in the poem. In order to facilitate discussion, my poster will elaborate on how solipsistic individualism is not only bad for the narrator, but for the human species in general. The narrator is a product of his culture and confuses the power he wields over local citizens as his own rather than a social condition from which he is benefitting. Anzaldúa exemplifies her philosophy of multidimensional consciousness in her poem by narrating from a perspective other than her own. I will highlight how the poem’s title signifies social groups that the narrator deems to be the in-group as “We” and the out-group as “Them” and how the narrator’s ethnocentrism allows him to evaluate his group above others.

Keywords

Intercultural, Greasers, Anzaldúa, Narrator, Interdisciplinary, Sociology, Philosophy, War, Individualism, Representation

Location

Concourse/Atrium

Presentation Year

2014

Start Date

11-15-2014 9:40 AM

End Date

11-15-2014 10:55 AM

Publication Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

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Nov 15th, 9:40 AM Nov 15th, 10:55 AM

"We Call Them Greasers": An Intimate Look at a Broad Cultural War

Concourse/Atrium

“We Call them Greasers” by Gloria Anzaldúa, concisely represents westward expansion of the United States. It is narrated by a man on the frontlines of a war. In this poem, the United States government turns a blind eye to the narrator and his men’s vilification and violation of local civilians. Intercultural Communication between the colonizers and those being colonized is impacted by political discourse. In this instance, promised rights and liberties are not upheld by the United States government. My research unifies the philosophy and poetry of Anzaldúa through the use of historical and sociological fields of study. As my poster will illustrate, the poem is as complex as the multidimensional consciousness described in Anzaldúa’s philosophy which advocates engaging multiple perspectives. It will explain how the poem can be used to examine globalization and the implications of individualism in personal lives as well its effects on cultural groups. Additionally, it will incorporate a confluence of feminist and evolutionary perspectives on the topic of rape, specifically its appeal as a war tactic that is simultaneously an overarching metaphor for the events in the poem.

My project will analyze the poem through a sociological context by exploring the motives behind the usurpation of land and the personal effects by a cultural and economic war. Manifest Destiny was the United States goal to overtake the continent and use the land acquired to benefit their citizens regardless of who happened to be living on the land they were claiming. The characterized invasion in this poem is a representation of the economic war that was waged to increase the United States wealth and power as well as a cultural war to eliminate an entire category of people from a geographic area.

The poster will include the poem, a map of North and South America, and other images as well. The geographical map will assist in locating the region discussed in the poem. In order to facilitate discussion, my poster will elaborate on how solipsistic individualism is not only bad for the narrator, but for the human species in general. The narrator is a product of his culture and confuses the power he wields over local citizens as his own rather than a social condition from which he is benefitting. Anzaldúa exemplifies her philosophy of multidimensional consciousness in her poem by narrating from a perspective other than her own. I will highlight how the poem’s title signifies social groups that the narrator deems to be the in-group as “We” and the out-group as “Them” and how the narrator’s ethnocentrism allows him to evaluate his group above others.