Date of Award
Spring 6-13-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D. in English
Organizational Unit
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, English and Literary Arts
First Advisor
Joanna Howard
Second Advisor
Poupeh Missaghi
Third Advisor
Kristy Ulibarri
Fourth Advisor
Chad Leahy
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
All Rights Reserved.
Keywords
Fiction, Latinx, Multilingual, Dystopia, Arts, Immigration
Abstract
We Immigrant Artists is an experimental, multilingual novel that follows a group of neighbors and friends who found a local arts center after convincing themselves they can miraculously turn into artists good enough to qualify for México’s equivalent of the O-1 “Extraordinary Artist” visa, to grant them entry in time to escape dangers rapidly swirling in the United States. The concepts and characters in the story are informed by actual experiences of immigrants traveling from different parts of Central and South America to the United States, as well as by the different forces—like the US Border Patrol and Mexican officials—that torment them. The novel is rooted in various political and academic contexts: its characters and their actions, for example, embody Zapatista ideals, while its continuously evolving form provides a contribution to the studies of Russian Formalism, and the Spanglish it is written in challenges a reader’s notions of conventional writing and offers a lens on the discourse surrounding multilingual art. We Immigrant Artists also meditates on the conditions necessary and the different personal approaches to learning how to make art, as well as on the meaning that this has particularly in the lives of people in precarious situations. Finally, the novel proposes a re-imagination of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, encouraging the reader to reflect on the concept of land-reclamation.
Copyright Date
6-2025
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
Manuel Calvillo de la Garza
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng); Spanish (spa)
Extent
305 pgs
File Size
1.9 MB
Recommended Citation
Calvillo de la Garza, Manuel, "We Immigrant Artists" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2552.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2552
Included in
English Language and Literature Commons, Fiction Commons, Latin American Literature Commons, Latina/o Studies Commons, Migration Studies Commons, Spanish Literature Commons