Mojarra Aesthetics in Piolin Por La Ma?ana

228 Pages·2014·0.99 MB·English

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Open Access Dissertations
5-13-2011
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J. Luis Loya Garcia
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Garcia, J. Luis Loya, "Mojarra Aesthetics in Piolin Por La Ma?ana: A Time and Space for the Dislocated"
(2011). Open Access Dissertations. 383.
https://doi.org/10.7275/2176585 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations/383
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MOJARRA AESTHETICS IN PIOLÍN POR LA MAÑANA:
A TIME AND SPACE FOR THE DISLOCATED

A Dissertation Presented

by

J. LUIS LOYA GARCÍA

Submitted to the Graduate School of the
University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

May 2011

Hispanic Literatures and Linguistics
© Copyright by J. Luis Loya García 2011

All Rights Reserved
MOJARRA AESTHETICS IN PIOLÍN POR LA MAÑANA:
A TIME AND SPACE FOR THE DISLOCATED

A Dissertation Presented
by
J. LUIS LOYA GARCÍA

Approved as to style and content by:
___________________________________________
Luis A. Marentes, Chair
___________________________________________
Ilán Stavans, Member
___________________________________________
Barbara Zecchi, Member
___________________________________________
Mari Castañeda, Member

________________________________________
Luis A. Marentes, Program Director
Hispanic Literatures and Linguistics Program
Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures

________________________________________
William Moebius, Chair
Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
DEDICATORIA

Pa John Emilio Vincent y toda la cuadrilla: mojarras, tlacuaches, nopales, nacos y nacas,
pelados y peladas, comadres, compas, carnales y carnalas, hocicones y hociconas,
valemadristas y en especial pa Chela. Pa ella oro: Santa cerveza que estás en el hielo,
bien refrescante suena tu nombre, venga a mi vaso tu cuerpo, hazme sentir el sabor del
encuentro, hágase tu presencia en la mesa como en el suelo, no nos dejes caer en la
cirrosis y líbranos de la resaca porque mañana trabajamos. Salud.

Te quiero Carmela

In honor of my fellow dreamers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I have enormous appreciation for those who have contributed in the realization of
this dissertation: Professor Luis A. Marentes, my advisor, and the rest of my committee
members. Professor Barbara Zecchi, Ilán Stavans, and Mari Castañeda. I admire you all
for being great professionals, mentors, and more importantly, for your human quality.
But this dissertation has the collaboration of many more wonderful people for
whom I have a great sense of gratitude. People who by pure generosity have touched my
life in ways I will never forget. They have motivated me, inspired me and challenged
me. Dr. Maryann Biggers, thank you for feeding me and hosting me in your house when
I had nothing. Dr. Rose-Marie Kuhn, merci pour ta générosité, l‘inspiration, la
protection, et ta présence magique. Tu seras toujours ma fée marraine. Dr. Margarite
Mahler, merci pour la patience, et la dévotion pédagogique. Dr. Irma López, gracias por
guiarme. Tus clases me alentaron a seguir en el doctorado.
My profound appreciation reaches those who I love because they are just great
people. Nigel, thank you for sharing your house. Larry and Euri, for letting me take care
of Gypsy. Heidi, for being my sister. Carmen, for making me laugh. Amy, for your
divine presence. John, for your unconditional support. Mamá, porque hiciste lo mejor
que pudiste.

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ABSTRACT
MOJARRA AESTHETICS IN PIOLÍN POR LA MAÑANA:
A TIME AND SPACE FOR THE DISLOCATED
MAY 2011
J. LUIS LOYA GARCÍA, BA., CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO
M.A., WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST
Directed by: Professor Luis A. Marentes

This dissertation is a cultural analysis of Piolín por la Mañana, a Spanish-
language radio talk show conducted by Eduardo Piolín Sotelo and broadcast from Los
Angeles. The program expands the boundaries of the performing arts as well as the reach
and elasticity of literary tropes and study. It connects often geographically disparate
―imagined communities‖ of working class Latino/as by revisiting traditional Mexican
theater, joke delivery style, literary genre (e.g., magical realism and the picaresque), and
taxonomies of everyday personalities. Central to my discussion of Piolín is listener
participation, which stages community formation within the radio-text.
The introduction and the first chapter present the trope of the Mojarra, a person
that crossed the U.S. border as a mojado/a (an undocumented immigrant), usually
swimming or forging a river. Mojarras suffer el Síndrome de la Mojarra, the condition
of feeling persecuted, believing that their freedom depends on the ability to evade
capture. Mojarra Aesthetics revolves around the representational needs of the persecuted
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immigrant community; this aesthetic is comprised of artistic techniques that use humor
and in particular explosive laughter and mitote. The second chapter explores how Piolín
is a medium that connects, as well as creates, Latino communities through radio; it maps
―nonce taxonomies‖ of recognizable immigrant personalities. What follows, explores
how Piolín encourages new ways of making and analyzing art, including the use of
cantinfleadas and albures as central elements of oral folklore, comprising connections to
traditional Mexican joke delivery (e.g., colmos, parecidos, que le dijo, telones, and
bombas). The program, via this tradition, includes cultural tropes such as the mojarra,
tlacuaches, nopales, nacos, nacas, among others. At the center of this dissertation is the
carnival and, relatively new on the scene, the radio carnival. The radio program produces
a Mojarra Difrasismo, deconstructing entrenched binaries and creating a new reality,
forcing new critical thinking about what reality is or could be in relation to the immigrant
experience and the immigrant body.

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PREFACE: METHODOLOGY
This dissertation deals with Piolín por la Mañana, a Spanish-language radio
program broadcast from Los Angeles to the rest of the United States—and via Internet to
the whole world. The majority of its listeners are working class Hispanic immigrants. I
became deeply interested in this show when I was doing my Master‘s degree in
Michigan. I was far away from my Hispanic community in California and wanted to feel
at home. The Internet allowed me to be in touch with California‘s Hispanics; I
appreciated the human connection of people that shared similar experiences and who also
balanced their struggles through the power of humor. This dissertation is a tribute to the
working class Hispanic immigrant community that lives and works in the United States.
They are the heroes and heroines of my dissertation. Their desire for a better life
resonates in my heart when I laugh. Humor, in my life, has been a powerful strategy to
deal with problems. It allows me to soften hardships and to keep going. One of the
factors that got my attention while listening to Piolín por la Mañana was audience
participation; people from New York, Texas, Chicago, California, and the most hidden
places with Hispanic immigrant workers, were verbally present in the show. They
listened to the show at the same time they worked, and often participated in the midst of
labor. In this era of controversial politics against Hispanic immigrants, this lively and
joyous discourse really got my attention.
My dissertation presents sometimes overwhelming linguistic complexities. It has
jokes in Spanish, English, and/or Spanglish. My hope is not to complicate life for readers
whose understanding of one or the other of these forms of communication is limited. My
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apologies to you should you find these translation issues impossibly difficult. I‘ve done
the best I can to communicate; either by translating or by explaining what I think is
important about jokes. There is a language that deserves my whole attention; that is the
language of my community, the working class Hispanic immigrant community in the US.
It might seem improper, dislocated, impolite or even vulgar at times. But one must
understand that this language often runs its finger along the very rough edge of very
rough lives. These are people who aren‘t treated properly, politely, and/or respectfully—
they often are dehumanized. Vulgarity helps them to forget about class, social, and
economic, status. This is how they struggle with class consciousness. The vulgar and
humorous content of my analysis requires some familiarity or training in ―street culture,‖
which is not taught in books, but in real life. I hope that any vulgarity in this dissertation
earns its keep. Vulgarity is crucial to the community about which I am writing. I am a
part of them.
Piolín por la Mañana is produced and broadcast by Univisión. This is the largest
Hispanic media network in the United States. The corporate nature of Univisión revolves
around marketing strategies that are very important to how Hispanic communities
negotiate their lives with media in this digitalized and globalized era. However, for the
purpose of this dissertation, my analysis will focus on the content of this particular radio
program—I will not attempt to read the ways in which corporate culture influences
program content; this investigation is important, however, it is secondary to my own. I
hope that my investigations will enable such research.
I recorded a variety of programs over a span of three years. Further, many of the
jokes I quote are available in Youtube. Also, Piolín‘s facebook and Portal Univisión
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