Los norteados

Description

Los norteados represents a panorama of the transnational life of Mexican migrants in the United States. In these stories, we note a constant movement between countries, cultures, and realities that end up disorienting the protagonists as they enter into and exit from dissonant worlds where nostalgia and shock of cultures ground them in a liminal space. These characters are always looking for and desiring a return knowing well that they are trapped in a labyrinth of time and space. In this sense, this collection of short stories marks a new path for Mexican and Mexican American literature. The narratives represent the complex and rich life that migrants live in their transnational space, dealing not only with the racist dominant society and police brutality but also with how migration causes tensions within the community and questions notions of national identity and loyalty to Mexico and its foundational myths.

About the Author:
Álvaro Ramírez

Álvaro Ramírez is from Michoacán, México. His family moved to the USA when he was eleven years old. He worked at various jobs including as a railroad trackman and a short stint in the fields of the San Joaquin Valley. He eventually made his way to college and received a Bachelor's Degree from Youngstown State University, then moved on to the University of Southern California where attained both a Master's and a Ph.D. degree. As a graduate student, he taught at the University of Southern California, Occidental College, and California State University, Long Beach. Since 1993, he has been teaching at Saint Mary’s College of California where he is currently a Professor in the Department of World Languages and Cultures. He teaches courses on Spanish Golden Age and Latin American Literature as well as Mexican and Latino Cultural Studies. He also serves as Resident Director for the Saint Mary’s College Semester Program in Cuernavaca, México. In addition to his recently published collection of short stories, Los norteados, Prof. Ramírez has also published articles on Don Quixote, Mexican film and Chicano Studies in several academic journals. You can find other of his socio-cultural and political musings on his blog, postcardsfromapostmexican.wordpress.com.