Alurista
Alurista | |
---|---|
Born | Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia August 8, 1947 Mexico City, Mexico |
Occupation | Poet, activist |
Nationality | American |
Literary movement | Aztlán |
Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia (born August 8, 1947), better known by his
Early life and education
Urista was born in
Poetry
Urista's first experience writing poetry was as a student in Mexico, when he began writing love poems for his classmates as a way to earn money. He began writing
In 1969, he attended the First National
During the mid-1990s, he traveled and performed with the Taco Shop Poets. However, he has expressed disapproval of the new, Hip hop-influenced style of Chicano poetry. Regarding a poetry slam hosted by the Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA), he said, "That's not Chicano poetry, [...] It's nice that they're doing it, but it's not part of the tradition of Chicano literature."[4]
Activism
As an active member of the San Diego-area Chicano Movement, Urista was instrumental in the 1970 takeover of Chicano Park and in the foundation of the Centro Cultural de la Raza, a cultural center. It was at this time that he began using the name "Alurista". The assumption of a pen name was as much for anonymity as it was for artistry. According to Urista, "My apartment was shot up by the Minutemen. I didn't want these people to be able to associate my last name with my family, so I changed it."[4] However, the name change was also a reflection of his Marxist philosophy: "The notion was to synthesize--to bring things together. So I tried to do that with my name."[4]
In the 1970s, Alurista organized the Festival Floricanto, an annual event that convened Chicano writers and critics to share and critique their work.
In addition to his own poetry, Alurista has written works of non-fiction, literary criticism, and many essays on Chicano culture and history. He is credited with popularizing the Chicano Movement-era concept of "Aztlán" and imbuing it with a spiritual dimension through his poetry. His Spanish-language writings were among the first by an American to be taken seriously by critics from hispanophone countries. In the United States, he was one of the first critically acclaimed poets to mix the Spanish and English languages.
Personal life
Alurista has been married twice and has four children. He spent the years 1995 – 1998 in a "spiritual meandering", about which he said, "Being an artist is not all creativity. There are periods of self-destructiveness. You internalize things that destroy you. You end up blaming others for your pain--whatever or whoever those 'others' happen to be--which makes you a resentful person. That resentment turns inward, and you end up eating yourself up."[4] In 1998, after family problems and rumors of substance abuse, Alurista left his longtime home of San Diego for San Jose, California, attracted by its active cultural arts scene.
Spiritually, Urista identifies as both a
Religion
Alurista identifies as both a Buddhist
Awards
Alurista has received numerous awards and has made his mark in the Chicano community. He has read his poetry all over the world, from Mexico, to the United States, to Europe. He was also producer and subject of the video, "Torn in Two", which featured four Chicano poets. The video aired in 1984 and won an Emmy. Alurista's work is being collected in the "Mexican American Archives at the Benson Collection: A Guide for Users", University of Texas, Austin. He is a professor and scholar, having obtained his Ph.D. in Spanish and Latin American literature, he was awarded the Jr. MacArthur Chair in Spanish by Colorado College in 1984 for his teaching excellence. He is the cofounder of multiple academic and community organizations, such as Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan at San Diego State, Concilio for la Justicia, Centro Cultural de la Raza, and the Department of Chicano Studies at San Diego State University. His papers are held at University of Texas, Austin and at California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives.
Bibliography
- Nationchild plumaroja, 1969-1972. San Diego: Toltecas en Aztlan, Centro Cultural de la Raza, 1972.
- Cantares arrullos. Jamaica, New York: Bilingual Press, 1975.
- Festival de flor y Canto: an anthology of Chicano literature (editor). Los Angeles: ISBN 0-88474-031-5
- Timespace huracan : poems, 1972-1975. Albuquerque, N.M. : Pajarito Publications, 1976.
- Spik in Glyph?. Houston, Texas: Arte Público Press, 1981. ISBN 0-934770-09-3
- Return: Poems Collected and New. Ypsilanti, Michigan: ISBN 0-916950-24-7
- Chicanos : the second largest minority in the USA (with R. Müller-Kind). Werther: Views Verlag, 1988.
- Z Eros. Tempe, Arizona: ISBN 0-927534-45-2.
- Et Tu... Raza?. Tempe, Arizona: ISBN 0-927534-48-7.
- As our barrio turns: who the yoke b on?. San Diego: ISBN 0-9660773-3-4.
- Tunaluna. San Antonio, TX: ISBN 0-9844415-0-6.
- ZAZ San Jose, CA: ISBN 978-1-953447-91-3.
See also
Notes
- ^ Maher A. Mahdi (2001). The Rediscovery of Chicano Culture and Self in Selected Poetry of Alurista and Tino Villanueva. UMI.
- ISBN 978-0-521-47803-8.
- ^ "Alurista". UC Santa Barbara Library, Special Research Collections. 19 August 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h All quotations from Metro interview with J. Douglas Allen-Taylor.
See also
- List of Mexican American writers
References
- Godinez, JoAnn (c. 1991). "Biographical sketch". Guide to the Alurista papers, 1954–2002. California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives. Archived from the original on 2006-09-01. Retrieved 2006-07-02.
- Allen-Taylor, J. Douglas (August 5–11, 1999). "Wizard of Aztlán". Metro Silicon Valley.
External links
- Alurista papers at the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives
- Alurista papers at the University of Texas, Austin
- "do u dare", poem by Alurista published by In Motion magazine, May 13, 1996.