Laurie Desiderio-Giampiccolo L&S Arts & Humanities
Linguistic Hybridity & National Consciousness in 21st-Century Poetry
What does it mean to be an American author today? How does language legitimize the nationality of a text and define authorial identity? In his collection Unaccompanied (2017), Salvadoran poet Javier Zamora blends the trauma of immigration and assimilation with longing for his war-stricken homeland through linguistic hybridity. This technique reflects an emerging literary movement that challenges the monolingual understanding of nationality within the multicultural reality of 21st-century America.
My project compares Zamora’s use of Spanish—rooted in intimate and quotidian expression—with 20th-century code-switching practices. In Corky Gonzales’s “Yo Soy Joaquín” (1967) and Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera (1987), Spanish appears as a politicized assertion of identity within the dominance of American English. Zamora’s poetry evolves this tradition: Spanish emerges as an inevitable linguistic presence that transcends borders rather than reinforcing them. By examining this shift, my project identifies a generational transformation in bilingual poetics and argues that Zamora’s Unaccompanied reflects a contemporary American literature shaped by the postmonolingual condition.
Message To Sponsor
Dear SURF Donor, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to pursue my academic interests this Summer, and I am truly excited for the work ahead! This project is especially meaningful to me, as it will allow me to delve deep into the dynamics of language transmission and adaptability through poetry--an art I have learned to love during my time at Berkeley. As an International Student, I cherish the support and encouragement to explore a field that is so relevant to my reality.