When I was thinking about what topics/materials to turn to when creating my final project, two main sources come to mind: The Nueva York Recordings and Havana USA.
The specific recording that I had in mind was the first translation of a jukebox record. The audio describes a man translating what a Latino singer is stating in their song. The singer himself talks about how much they miss life in their home country and how moving to New York has made them become detached from their old culture. The singer complains about having to deal with cold weather, the difficulties that him and others face in adapting to the English language, and having to deal with things like elevators. He reflects on how he thought America would be so much better than what he’s experiencing, and how he’d love to go back to his home country no matter how he had to live. This idea of the realization hat the “American Dream” fantasy of the U.S. is a lie and missing the culture you had to leave behind to try and find better opportunities stuck out to me and remained in the back of my mind.
Meanwhile, our Havana USA discussion provided the prevalent examples of Cubans being able to “preserve their Cubanidad” in a way by involving their culture with their daily lives in the U.S. that allowed them to recreate a part of home. The quote from Luis Rafael Sánchez showed insight that, while Latinx people may not be able to return home for whatever reason, it’s still extremely important to try and keep that love for your country alive in whatever way possible. For him, he’s able to do so by bringing back items whenever he visits so that the memories keep him figuratively close to Cuba. Seeing all the imagery of murals and other methods to incorporate small parts or what made Cuba amazing was equally important, as it provides other Latinx people the opportunity to come together to appreciate this reference to their home.
With these projects in mind, I wanted to highlight that idea of missing and wanting to reintroduce Latinx culture, and how important/amazing it is to share that love for your country in the U.S. With thanksgiving being around the time for presentations, I realized that food is such a simple, yet effective way to provide this opportunity to have a piece of your culture wherever you go. Food is a universal thing that everyone can relate to, and the diversity of food as well as the different contexts in which people eat said food can provide different insights into cultures while also making space for others besides yourself to enjoy. Even in the discussion of Havana USA, there was a picture showing someone in an ice cream parlor naming flavors that refer to different Latinx topics (From games like “Domino” to people like “Abuela Maria”) This eventually developed into my idea of asking my family what food they commonly make at home that reminds them of the Dominican Republic, and what kind of aspects does that food remind them of.
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