LWRS June 2020 Volume 1, Issue 1

Aydé Enríquez-Loya
Villanueva’s story, it shows that he is in full control and self-aware of the wordplay
taking place. He knew it all along.
As this poem draws to a close, Villanueva recognizes that the process of
reclaiming history requires authority and control over the text. He argues that this
process begins by both dispelling misconceptions and misinterpretations of who
Chicanx are and learning to be the creators of our own history. He says:
Tenaz oficio
el de crearme en mi propia
imagen
cada vez con cada una al
pronunciarla:
(Villanueva,
1987/1994, pp. 26-27)
A tenacious task
that of creating myself in my own image
each time I pronounced one of them:
(My translations)
A constant effort,
creating myself in my own image
each time I pronounced one of
them:
(Hoggard’s translation)
Villanueva explains that the power to write our own history has the power to create
ourselves. As he moves through the convocation of each of those words, he creates
himself repeatedly in his own image. Here, Villanueva marks a rejection of the imposed
history and colonization. He will be his own person and is wielding himself into
fruition one word at a time. Furthermore, he says:
postprandial
subsequently
y de escribir por fin con
voluntad
las catorce letras de mi nombre
y por encima
la palabra
libertad.
(Emphasis in original, Villanueva,
1987/1994, pp. 26-27)
postprandial
subsequently
and finally writing
willingly
the fourteen letters of my name
and over it
the word
libertad.
(my translations)
postprandial
subsequently
and finally willing
myself to write
the fourteen letters of my name
and over them
the word
libertad.
(Hoggard’s translations)
Villanueva theorizes that to write down his own name has the power to release him
which we can argue would be to write his own history. This libertad, however,
transcends that of any physical bondage but a recognition that bodies and minds can
be consumed and confined by the history that they believe. In the case of a history
that consistently seeks to revisit the exploitation and oppression of people of color,
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