Nostalgic Revisions of Land and Nature in Cherríe Moraga’s Heroes and Saints
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Space as a geographical reality has occupied central position in Chicano/a literature. The traumatic effects of border crossing and dislocation have propelled nostalgic revision of memories of the lost land and a powerful critique of the conditions of the land inhabited presently. The examination of past goes back in time as far as the era of precolonial indigenous communities in Cherríe Moraga’s dramatic work. The nostalgia felt for the lost land inhabited by precolonial communities is inexorably tied to an anxiety over the present-day conditions of the land, which in the play Heroes and Saints suffers from toxic waste contamination. In Heroes and Saints, the theme of the wounded land is related to wounded mothers, evoking the archetypical imagery of Mother Earth and powerfully resonating with a nostalgia felt for an uncontaminated and pure land of the past. This presentation focuses on how nostalgia works as a motivating force in the fight for social equality and environmental justice in Cherríe Moraga’s dramatic work. |
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