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Ethnicity and Performance: Bilingualism in Spanglish Verse CultureAuthor(s): Harald ZapfSource: Amerikastudien / American Studies, Vol. 51, No. 1, Multilingualism and AmericanStudies (2006), pp. 13-27Published by: Universitätsverlag WINTER GmbhStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41158195 .

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EthnicityndPerformance:

BilingualismnSpanglishVerse Culture

Harald Zapf

ABSTRACT

This rticle s aboutcontemporarypanglish erse ulture nd oneof tsparadigmaticites: heNuyorican oetsCafe.During he historical eriodthat s coveredhere 1975 to 1994- ethnic

nationalism ecame essimportantt theCafe,and transethnicerformanceoetry ose to itspeak. Nuyorican oetrysmainly poetry f the elf,where oeticvoice s a complexssue con-nectedwith erformance,thnicity,ndvocal/lingualiversity.ll inall, t canbe said that herewas a shift femphasis rommonovocalismomultivocalism,rom ilingualismomonolingual-ism, nd from ilingualisms an ethnic eature obilingualisms a matter fperformancendgenuinelyree hoice.

ThefetishizingfpureSpanish nly erves colonialmindset,preventingatinos from articipatingn themoredynamic,adaptableworld fEnglish. panglishs Spanish dapting hecrazy hythmsfEnglish,ndEnglishnheritinghemulticul-tural ontentfLatinAmerica.

Ed Morales6

Two ofthemostmportantoetry nthologiesf nter-merican erse ulturecomefrom heNuyoricanoetsCafe andwritersssociatedwitht.Bothcollec-tionswereco-edited y MiguelAlgarín, Nuyorriqueño,ho is one of thefoundersfthePoetsCafe. n 1975,he andcofounder iguelPinero,lso knownas the PhilosopherftheCriminalMind" Algarínnd Holman507),publishedthecollection uyorican oetry: nAnthologyfPuertoRican Words ndFeel-ings. lmostwentyearsater,n1994,Algaríneamed pwithheAnglo-Amer-icanpoetrylamhostBobHolman; ogetherhey roughtut heAmerican ook

Award-winningnthologyloud: Voices romheNuyoricanoetsCafe.Thepublicationatesofthese wo nthologies ark periodnAmerican ul-tural istoryhen- n1975- the mportancefethnic ationalismnpoetry adbegun o waneand when- n1994- transethnicerformanceoetrylreadywasat itspeak. In 1975, hemost nfluentialultural ationalistoet,theAfrican-American riter miri araka, closeally ftheNuyoricanoetsCafe,had ustdistanced imselfrom isnationalistttitudendentered isThirdWorldMarx-istPeriod.1994 aw theNuyoricanoetsCafe's slamheydaywithBob Holman,whowas "volunteerlamHost"fromheCafe'sfirstoetrylamonNovemberof1989 until hetriumphfSaul Williams s GrandSlamChampionn 1996(StrattonndWozencraft34,131).During hese evenyears,when thetotal

number fpoetry eadings"ntheUnited tates-especiallyhe"percentagefnonacademiceadings"-ncreased ramatically,heNuyoricanoets Cafewas







14 HaraldZapf

most nstrumentalnpopularizingoetry134). In his"SlamDiaries" Bob Hol-man ays,with certain mount f elf-praisend a sense f ounter-cultural,on-commercialelf-importance,hat hereopeningf theNuyoricanoetsCafein1989was "a more otent enchmark"or he rise npoetry'status" hanMTV'sSpokenWord: npluggedhowsn 1992 nd 1994 qtd. nStrattonnd Wozencraft136). fwe look backat theNuyoricanoetsCafe,over thespanfrom 975 to1994,we cansee,on theonehand, placeof ethnicwareness, ith ertain em-nants fa necessaryut omewhat elated Latino)cultural ationalism,nd,ontheother and, venuewith n orientation-ightrom hebeginning-owardsoralpoetry, hichmakes t a forerunnerin 1975)and a protagonistin1994)ofwhat s called"performanceoetry."n inter-Americanerseculture,thnicityandperformancere nextricablyinkedwith heNuyorican.

'Nuyorican's a hybrid ord, mixturef New York' nd PuertoRican,' hatsignifiesn inter-mericanNew World order"Guillermo ómez-Peña).1 c-cordingo Ilan Stavans's 003-dictionaryfSpanglish, Nuyorican" efers o a"PuertoRicanpersonnthemainland"181).Compared o thedifferenthades fmeaning iven o theterm y MiguelAlgarinnhis ntroductionso thetwo n-thologies,his efinitionounds ather eutral nd mprecise.n1975,Algarin ol-lowed more oliticized,ypically inoritarianiscourse-strategy:e used"Nuy-orican,"which adoriginallyeen a negative erm,na positivend affirmativeway.Village oice ontributord Morales ays hat,ccordingoAlgarin,he erm"wascoinedby slanderss a way fdistancinghemselvesrom hat hey onsid-ered o be inferiorersions fPuertoRican-ness. uyoricanspeak oo much n-

glish, aveforgottenhegreat ultural eroes f he sland,nd . ] areuninvolvedin tspolitics"212).Algarin's 975-introductiono thefirstnthology asorient-ed around lass-consciousness,thnocentricity,he PuertoRicancommunitynNewYork nd- likemuch ftoday's o-called ndergroundapmusic- aroundlocal uthenticitynd treetredibility:Nuyorican" assupposed o refer o"theexperiencefPuertoRicans n the treetsfNewYork" AlgarinndPinero 5);theterm lso had anovert ocioeconomicmeaning, hichmplicitlyuestionedtheAmericanapitalistystemnd accused hemiddle ndupper-classtrata fAmericanociety f nternalolonization:TheNuyoricans a slave classthattrades ours or ollars tthe owest ung f he arningcale" Algarin,Nuyori-

1 Gómez-Peña's erformanceiece"The NewWorldBorder"refers o theU.S./Mexicanor-der,but think hat heterm s also an aptone for eferringo theNuyoricanulturalpace,be-cause the word border' an be used in a morefigurative ay.See, for xample, d Morales's

"SpanglishManifesto,"he ntroductiono his bookLivingnSpanglish:There s,ofcourse, heborder,he iteral egion f theRio Grande,whereMexicoblurs nto heUnitedStates ndviceversa.At theborder,nobvious nd often wkwardmixingfcultures akesplacethatmakesupthesuperficialdea ofSpanglish. ut theborder lso existsdeepwithin heterritoryf NorthAmerica,nowmore thanever, n itsmajorcities; t is an imported orderthat s expressedthrough dynamic,ontinuingecombinationf cultures. hat s theSpanglishway. ...] Span-glish s theultimatepacewhere he n-betweennessfbeingneither atin American orNorthAmericansnegotiated.Whenwe speakinSpanglishwe are expressingotambivalence,ut a

newregion f discourse hathas thepossibilityfredefiningurselves nd themainstream,swell s negatingheconventional isdom f assimilationndAmerican-ness"4,95).







Ethnicitynd Performance:ilingualismnSpanglish erseCulture 15

can Literature"5). nMarxist erms e cansaythatAlgarin's 994-definitionf

'Nuyorican's less concerned ith heeconomic ase of

society;t s less

overtlypolitical, ore nclusivendculture-oriented.nhis ntroductionoAloud,Algar-ingives definitionnfour arts. he firstwo re still erymuchntunewith hetraditional eaning f Nuyorican'; art hree ndfour, owever,learly rans-gress he lder emantic ounds f he erm. art ne andtwo voke he1960s nd70s, heera of differentthnicmovements;hese woparts f the definitionreconcerned ith onstitutingdistinctivedentityf4a raza' andthereforetressorigins,anguage,esthetics,ndappearance. quotepart ne ofthedefinitionf'Nuyorican':OriginallyuertoRicanepithet or hose fPuertoRicanheritagebornnNew York: heir panishwas differentSpanglish),heirwayofdress ndlook weredifferent.heywere stateless eople likemostU.S.poets)until he

Cafebecame heir omeland";ndpart wo: After lgarinndPinero, proudpoet peaking ewYorkPuertoRican" AlgarinndHolman ). The end ofpartone nvites s to associateNuyoricans ith hícanos ndtheir omeland ztlán,with heJewishiasporand srael, rwith ostcolonialiasporasndmigrantsngeneral. hecomparisonlike mostU.S.poets" npartone alreadyhints t thetransethnicxpansionf he ermNuyorican'npart hree f hedefinition.ere,inpart hree,Nuyorican'efers o "a denizen f theNuyoricanoetsCafe" Al-garinnd Holman ). So anyperson hat sfoundnthis articularlace, nybodywho inhabits,'residesn,' rsimply requentsheNuyoricanoetsCafe, scalled'Nuyorican,' ithout thnic ualifications.resence s thecriterion,ot descent:"It ain'twhereyoufrom,t'swhereyouat."2Partfour fAlgarin's efinition-

"NewYork's iches"- akes s backtothe conomic ase of he erm,utwithnironic urnAlgarin nd Holman5). ByidentifyingNuyorican' ith abundantwealth," ith large mounts fmoney,"beautiful,"valuable" r"precious os-sessions"Algarin ives heterm hybrid,double-voiced eaningnBakhtin'ssense,because tcombines wo ormoreperspectivesndworldviewsBakhtin429):one ofthepossible eadingssthatfyou reeconomicallyooryou an stillbeculturallyich. oweverwe nterprethis hort art f hedefinition,e seethecommon thnicminority-strategylreadymentionedbove: termhat riginallyhadnegativeonnotationss used na positive ay.

Anotherermwith ositiveonnotationsf thniconsciousnessnd self-confi-dence s

Loisaida,' Nuyoricanpanglishword hat efers o

Loiza,"a town n

PuertoRico that swidelycknowledgeds theheart fAfricanulture n the s-land" Morales101),andespeciallyoManhattan's ower East Side,which e-came a PuertoRicanghettonthe1950s.Loisaida'supposedlys "a creation fBimboRivas" AlgarinndHolman 6). InAlouďs "NotesonthePoets,"Rivas,whodied n1992, spresenteds theonewho"laid down he awsofNuyoricanaesthetics orTheater ndPoetry"507).Amonghisworks re a Loisaida-muralonAvenueС between th nd6th treetnd anapostrophicyric oem itled Lo-

2 "It ain'twhereyoufrom,t'swhereyou t"is a quotation fnon-Nuyoricanrigin.t sa linefrom In theGhetto," textbytheAfrican-AmericanapperRakim. In the Ghetto" s on the

albumLettheRhythmit' m,which ameout n1990whenRakim till ormed Hip Hop grouptogether ith ric B.







16 HaraldZapf

isaida." f we follow onathan uller'sdefinitionfapostrophendlyric oetry,we start utfrom he dea "thatyrics,nlike ovels,re alsospoken ytheread-er"andassume hat postrophe produces fictive,iscursivevent" nstead frepresentingn eventPursuit v, 53).So whenwe reada lyricikeRivas's Loi-saida," aloudorsilently,e utterhewords, etemporarilyccupyheposition"of hebilingualpeakerxv), o thatwe, oo, ngagen the actof ddressing"o-isaida; nthe apostrophicow"weexpresshefollowingxv, 53):

LowerEast SideI Love Youyou'remy adyfairno matter here amI think fyou

The mountainsnd thevalleys annot ompare,my ove toyouLoisaida, loveyou

I digthewayyoutalkI digthewayyou ookme vacilatucantary yome as uegofria a'que vivapara siempre,En mimente,miamada,

yote lamoLoisaida.

Cuandoestoy ejosde tise me acabamiesperanzaEn tus allesyomeSientomuy elizySaludableLoisaida,yotequiero

Increíbleunamezcla, a perfectaunagente iendecentede todasrasas

que estimanque te adoran

que no sabenexplicarlo que lepasacuando usentedetus allespeligrosassite amanA ti,mihermosa oisaida.

O what 'hood ...evenwith our rug-infectedpocket arks, laygrounds

where uryoung loodshang round








waiting, oping hatonedaywhen hey oo

getwell nd smile gainyourove s allthey eed to come around.Loisaida, loveyou.(Rivas 361-62)

As we also see inRivas'spoem,whenhe talks bout unagente ...] de todasra-sas,"the Lower East Side is not- and has neverbeen- a purely uertoRicanneighborhood; lgarin alls t "the ternallyransitionaleighborhood"Algar-in and Holman26). TheLower East Side has alwaysbeen a multi-'racial,'-eth-nic, national,cultural,ndmultilingualrea;after he econdWorldWarLoisai-

da alsobecame trulynter-mericanpanglishone.3Here, n a section nownas Alphabet ity,'heNuyoricanoetsCafe s ocated.On theNuyoricanoetsCafe homepage, nthe aboutus' section, e are told

that heCafe was foundedround 973 ndthat t"began s a living oom alonintheEastVillage partment"fMiguelAlgarin. y1975 thad become clearthat hereweremany oets nd toomuch nergy orAlgarin'siving oom." nLeon Ichaso's 2001-filminero, biopicabout the fast ifeofthe nowdefunctMiguel inero,weget he ame mpression:lgarin ounded heCafebecausehewanted oget ll thosepoetsout of his iving oom.Thismight otbe thegospeltruth,ut nyway:fter econstructioneknow hat very riginsonly trace.The iving oom-storysas goodas anyothermythicalarrativeforiginsnd t

probablyerves tspurposewell,because t fostershe dea ofNuyoricanoetryas a homemade ultural roduct oming irectlyrom hepeople,fromhebor-derbetween rt nd ife.Accordingo theCafe'shomepage,n1974or1975Al-

3 In GrahamHodges'sarticle bout the LowerEast Side,which comprehendshe East Vil-lage,Chinatown,ittletaly, ompkinsquare,AstorPlace, nd thehousing evelopment nick-erbocker illage,"we earn hat someofthefirstettlersnthe rea werefree lackfarmers homoved o theBouwerie. ...] Thefirst enementsnthecitywere rectednearCorlear'sHook in1833, nd rishmmigrantsettled n thenorthernection long heBowery. leindeutschlande-velopednorth fHouston treetnthe1840s. he 1880s aw an influx f talians, ews romast-

ernEurope,Russians, omanians, ungarians,kranians, lovaks,Greeks, nd Poles.One of helargestthnicnclaveswas a Jewishne that n1920had a population f400,000. ...] Theneigh-borhood ecame hefirstaciallyntegratedection fthe ity fterheSecondWorldWar,whenthousands f blacks nd PuertoRicansmoved here. ...] Poets,writers,ndmusicians ound o-cialtolerancendcheapfood ndhousingn thenorthernection,which ecame he enter f hebeatmovement;thAvenuewas soonthe ite fmany econdhand ookstores. ythe1960smostJewishndeastern uropeanresidents ad moved utof theneighborhood,hich nthefollow-ingdecade was besetby persistentoverty,rime, rugs,nd theabandonment fhousing. hearea stabilized o somedegree n the1980s, nd its nexpensive ousing ttracted enturesomestudents ndmembers fthemiddle lass, s well s immigrantsrom hina, heDominicanRe-public, hePhilippines,heUnitedKingdom, oland,Japan, orea, ndia, ndBangladesh.n itssouthern eaches heLower East Side is heavily hinese" 697). Fora thoroughccount f the

history,ulture(s),ndaesthetics f theLowerEastSide,"the mmigrantuarter arexcellence"see Maffi 7.







18 Harald apf

garin ented little rish ar, heSunshine afe on East 6th treet etweenAve-nue A and B, whichwas christenedThe Nuyorican oets Cafe." n 1980, tmoved o a buildingt 236 East 3rdStreet, etweenAvenuesВ andC, "in theheartofMidtown oisaida" (Algarin nd Holman2), and closed in 1982. Itopened up again n 1989.The momenthat ed to this vent s related o us byAlgarinn thefirstart f his ntroductiono theЛ/owd-anthology,pathos-rid-den account overinghetime rom he astdaysofMiguelMiky'Pinero o hiswake n 1988.Algarin's toryvokes pastmoment fharmony,till reefromthe ater ension etween thnocentricuyoricanoetryndtransethnicuyor-icanperformanceoetry. ccordingoAlgarin,twas Bob Holmanwhotook heinitiativeoreopen heCafe;Holman ays,he "had beentravelinground, et-tingnto herap-is-poetryodality"nd "wanted o start club" qtd. n Kane

206). Algarinwrites hat Holman approachedhim at Piñero's wake saying,"'Miguel,t'stime oreopen heCafe.This s themoment,ouknow,ndMikysinsistingnit, ndwe areready. et's moveonit, et'sopentheNuyoricanoetsCafeagain'" Algarinnd Holman8). After eopeningheCafe n1989,HolmanandAlgarinworked ogetherill1996,whenHolman eft,pparentlyfter badquarrelwithAlgarin.n hisbook PoeticCulture,hristophereach follows Vil-lage Voice-articleromOctober7, 1997 "Grand Slam: The Last Wordat theNuyorican" yEd Morales- and attributes

the plit o a clashbetweenAlgarin's esire opreserveheLatino roots f thecafe andHolman'sdesire obringheNuyoricano a wider nd moremulticulturaludience.Hol-man's

logan"We are all

Nuyoricans"does not seem to have convinced omemem-

bersof theLatinocommunity,upposedlyncluding lgarin,whomayfeel hat heorig-inal dea of the cafehas been co-optedbyHolmanand a slicker,moreMTV-orientedgroup fpoets. 216)

If all this strue,Algarin's ersonal pinionscontraryoparts f hispublic ndpublished epictionf the Cafe and tsgoals. nAlgarin's efinitionf Nuyori-can,'which quoted ndanalyzed bove,we can see that he logan We are allNuyoricans" asnotonly preadbyHolman,but also byAlgarin imself. ndwhenwe accesstheNuyorican eb site oday, hich istsAlgarin irstmong he"Board of Directors" s "Founding resident"without venmentioningol-man'sname,we

getthe

paradoxicalmpressionhatHolmanwithdrew

lthoughhe hadwonthebattle. n the aboutus' section ftheweb sitewe donotfindnystatementtressinghe mportancefpreservinguertoRican Latinoroots; n-steadwe read:"The mission f the Cafe s to create multi-culturalenuethatbothnurturesrtistsnd exhibitsvarietyf rtistic orks.Withoutimitation,eare dedicatedoprovidingstage or he rtswith ccessfor hewidest ublic."n1999Christophereach wrote hat nygivennightt theNuyoricanoetsCafe"might ringutaspiringeenage oets, tudentsrom ew YorkUniversity,ndBeat-generationards; he udiencewill ncludemiddle-class hites rom ueensandBensonhurst,atinos romheLowerEastSide,blacks romptown,ndvis-itorswho havecome to thismecca of slampoetry rom hicago, os Angeles,

Boston, r Dublin" 119). Judgingrom he Cafe'sdense, lmost ailyprogramandbroad ange f ctivitiesnthepresenti.e., nJune 004),we can assume hat








it still ucceeds nattracting socially ndethnicallyiverse rowd.Today, he

nonprofitrganizationNuyoricanoetsCafe"

mainlys a forum or he

perform-ing rts, ormusic, ilm ndvideo, omedyndtheater,oetryndprose eadings,slam ndperformanceoetry,ndHipHop.

It snot urprisinghatHip Hop is one of hemostntegrativerogramectionsof heNuyoricanoetsCafe, ecauseHip Hop,an mmenselyybridizedndmul-tilingualrtform,4s themostmportantulturalmatrix ormany erformingrt-ists oday, specially oryoungAfrican-merican lam andperformanceoets.Even f omeofthem,ikePaulBeatty rSaulWilliams,efuse o be called rappoets,' hey rew pwithHip Hop culturend were nfluenced orebyrapthanbyconventional rittenoetry.n his nvocation' o theAloud-anthology,obHolman lsostresses herap-connection:

RAP IS POETRY- and ts poken ssence scentral o thepopularizationfpoetry. apistakingtsplace, loud, s a newpoeticform, ith ncient riot oots.Hip hop s a cul-tural hroughlineor he Oral Tradition.Wordgoes public Poetry as found waytodrill hroughhewaxthathad beencollectingor ecades Poetrys no longer nexhibitin a Dust Museum. oetrysalive;poetrysallowed. 1-2)5

Rap andperformancer slampoetry re closely ntertwined,specially t theNuyorican, hich ecamefamous or tsPoetry lamprogram. 'poetrylam'canbe defined s an event hat involves group fpoets"performingtheirwork o an audience- members fthis udience hen core hepoet'spoemandperformance"Kane 203).Thismakes lampoetry-ncontrastoany ther orm

of iterarycommunication,'ventopoetryeadings here he udience emainsquiet- an nteractiveventnthe trictociologicalenseofthe ermwhere res-ence s a sine uanon.TheNuyoricanoetsCafepresentsver 0 slams ndelectsa "Nuyorican randSlam Champion" veryyear 2004: Daniel Beaty).Theweekly oetry lams remock-Olympicontests judgedbypeopleselected trandom romhe udience,"ccordingo the aboutus' section f heCafe'shomepage.The udges,Algarin xplainsnAloud,"willrate thepoemfrom ero ('apoemthat houldneverhave beenwritten')o ten 'mutual imultaneous r-gasm')using he Deweydecimalrating ystem' o avoid ties" 16). The mainevent veryweek s the"FridayNight lam,"hosted y"Poetry lamMistress"KarenJaime. ightfter he lam very riday ight,here s anevent alled The

OpenRoom"when nyone anbring poemand read. A wayofqualifyingorFridays the"Open Slam" everyWednesday:winners f a WednesdayNightOpenarethen llowed oslamonFriday ight.nhis ntroductiono theAloud-

4 RZA's CD The WorldAccordingoRZA, for xample, ocuments hemultilingualimen-sion oftransnationalip Hop culture yfeaturingrtists appingnScandinaviannd Africanlanguages,nTurkish,talian, nglish, rench,ndGerman. n thebooklet fhisCD, the Afri-can-AmericanroducerndrapperRZA says hathe"seekstoprove hat here s noboundariesor barriersnHip Hop."

5 Please notetheword allowed" attheend ofthis uote. t isquite ronic hat promoterforalpoetrynd theAu-/Oralradition' sesa homophone ere, literaryevice hat nlyworks

when t s seenandread,where hedifferenceetween A-1-o-u-d"nd"a-11-o-w-e-d"anonly eperceivednspellingndwriting.







20 HaraldZapf

anthology,lgarín ays hat heseOpen Nights avebecome the rial round or'slammers'opractice wayfrom heblindingpotlightftheFriday ight oetrySlams. ...] TheOpenRoom swhere 'virgin' oettakes hefirstteps o becom-ing performingoet" Algarín nd Holman26-27).AccordingoAlgarín,he"OpenRoom" is one of thefoundingdeas thatwas there ight rom hebegin-ning ftheNuyoricanoetsCafe n 1974:

In the arly aysoftheCafe 1974-1982), hehosts f theroomweremainlyMiguelLo-bo' Loperenaand Lois Griffith.t the nd of thebar,Lobo or would tandwith led-ger nd a pencil ndsimplynter henamesofthepeoplewhocame toperformnorderofarrival,o that famous oet droppingn for he vening ouldbeprecededby first-time oet. Algarín nd Holman23)

Thisnarrativellustrateshat heNuyoricanoetsCafehasalways reatlyontrib-

uted othedemocratizationfverse ulture, hichscertainlyrue: t hasalwaysbeenopentocommonalityndhasalways osteredquality. emocracy asbeena constancyt theCafe,which lso becomes videntn the wopoetrynthologiesfrom 975 nd 1994. n thesebooks, hereadernotices strongelief n theprin-ciple frespect or he ndividualnd the xpressionf n Г within community.

ThisT is mmenselymportantnNuyorican oetry, hich sbasically poetryofthe elf,where oeticvoice s a central spectbutalso a ratheromplexssueconnected ith ocaland ingual iversity,erformance,thnicity,ace, lass, ndgender. rom hefirsto the econd nthologyheNuyoricanyric changed nddeveloped.t can be saidthat herewas a shift f mphasis rommonovocalismo

multivocalism,rom ilingualismomonolingualism,ndfrom ilingualisms anethnic eature o bilingualisms a matter fperformancend genuinelyreechoice, s I will ry o show n thefollowingartial eadingsfparadigmatico-emstaken rom uyorican oetryndAloud.

In thefirstnthology,or xample nMiguelAlgarin's oem "MongoAffair,"the peakers a particularthnic that losely esembleshebilingual uyoricanpoetofPuertoRican descent. heimpressionf a straightforwardase ofauto-biographicalelf-expressions evokedbythe dentificationftheT with hefirstname of thepoet. n thefollowing assage, ven thepoet'sfriends ndthe co-foundersf heNuyoricanoetsCafeareexplicitlyddressedMiguelMiguelito'Pinero, uckyCienfuegos,nd BimboRivas):

viejo que hasvisto a islaperder ushijosare there uns o deal withgenocide,xpatriation?arethere rms oholdthe xodusofborinqueñosfrom orinquen?we havebeen movedwe havebeenshippedwe have beenparcelpostedfirstywater hen y ir

el correohasspecialpricesfor he low sland lement" o be







EthnicityndPerformance:ilingualismnSpanglish erseCulture 21

removed,hen umpedinto he nner-cityhettos

Viejo,Viejo,Viejowe are theminorityhere nBorinquenwe, hePuertoRican,theoriginalmanofthis slandis ntheminorityI writhe ith ainI jumpwith ngerI knowI seeI am "la minoría e la isla"

viejo,viejoanciano

doyouhearme?there re no morePuertoRicansinBorinquenI am theminorityverywhereI amamong hefew n allsocietiesI belong o a tribe fnomadsthat oam heworldwithouta placeto call a home,theres noplacethat sALL MINEthere s noplacethat cancall micasa,

I,yo,Miguel Me oyesviejoI,yo,Miguelel hijodeMaria Socorroy Miguelishomeless, as beenhomelesswillbe homelessinthe o beand the o comeMiguelito, ucky, imboyou ikeme have ostyourhome Algarín,MongoAffair"4-55)

Thispassage-

withts hreeilingual

ddressees nd tsgenealogical imension-createsgroup olidarity.he fourthddressee fthepoemis "a blackPuerto

Rican"fromhe sland, "viejonegro fricano"53). So three articipantsnthepoem'sdiscourse- hepoet,thespeaker, ndtheaddressees-belong o an al-most ompletelyomogeneousroup,s far s PuertoRicandescent ndoriginareconcerned. nlythefourtharticipant,hereader r listener fthepoem,could lso be non-Puertoican,for xampleAnglo-American.heabilityfanEnglish-onlyeaderor listener o understand hatthespeaker ayswouldbesomewhatimited, ecause the speaker'sbilingualismmakescommunicationmoredifficult.evertheless,ehasalsosomethingmportantosayto thedomi-nantAnglo ection fAmericanociety,or xample bout hepostcolonialocial

condition f ower-classuertoRicanmales.Concerninghe peaker's ilingual-ism, MongoAffair"hows hat-contraryowhatDorisSommerwritesnher







22 HaraldZapf

inspiringookBilingual esthetics-livingntwo r more ompetinganguages"does notnecessarilyupsetthe desired oherence f romantic ationalismndethnicssentialism"19). InAlgarin's oem, ilingualism,ationalism,nd ethnicessentialismowelltogether.WithtsPuertoRicanSpanglishpeaker ndpoet,thepoem mplies one-to-one orrelation etween ilingualismnd a people.This hangesnthe econd nthology,here he dea of "new nternationalism,"a truly ostethnicnter- merican erse ulture,upersedeshe ultural ational-ism fthefirstnthology20).

In his ntroductionoAloud,Algarin ays hat Nuyoricananguages nolong-erthepropertyfPuertoRicans peakingna blend fEnglishndSpanish"20).He praisesthebold "multilingualxpressiveness"f non-Puerto ican U.S.-American rtists ho are"confrontinganguages ther hanEnglish nd nvolv-

ingthemselvesn theexplorationfself-expressionn otherforms fspeech"(20). "They redaring," lgarinays nthusiastically,aring

in theirwillingnesso standbefore ive udiences ndspeak nSpanish. hey peaktheirfeelingsnSpanish. ...] They re[...] attemptingomplexntense ommunicationsn the

Spanish anguage ndare fearless bout accents rmispronunciation.hey re ntent n

divingnto he endlesspossibilityfmultilingualxpressiveness....] Gone are thedayswhenEnglishwouldremain heonlymeansofexpression orNorthAmerican rtists.("Nuyorican iterature"0)

An African-merican oetwho hassometimes sedSpanishn hisperformancework sRegE. Gaines.Apparentlyecan,frommemory,ecite omeofthemost

importantpanish ndbilingual oemsby LuckyCienfuegosndMiguelPinerofrom hemid-seventiesAlgarinndHolman 0).Anotherrtistnthe econd n-thology ho nher wn exts ndpoetic erformancesses a language hat s usu-allynot ssociatedwithherethnicdentitys theAfrican-merican emale oetTracieMorris,he1992Nuyorican rand lamChampionnd the1993NationalHaiku SlamChampion. erpoem"Morenita"sspoken y bilingualyric:

. . . Morenita,morenitamenhavenamedyou . .

NotLatina.Morenita.Negrita hiquita

de Estados Unidos.Ese país.Sameworld, ifferentordBlack.A complimentr curse.I, a girl rom his ountryatpeacewith ne identity.

[...]

Notnegrita,theLoot,same boat.

Das Boot,Root of all evil.








Brought ver o screw.African irls ave more

corpses er oad over.[...]InBrazil not Bahia)Therewasquery fmyparentage."Pardo,uh,pardonme.Whosegenes reyouwearing?"

[•■■]

Negra.No Latina.Pardo? Mulata?No.Africana.From avannah nd other lacesofthe tate nGA.

Mmm,Mmm,Mmm.Ay,Dios,I say,Unexplained.The same Morenitaway.

[-]Geechie coastmymostmmediateossession.Ceremonial ied essonswhere i-lingualmeanstongue-speakingno one had to teach.

Onessung n beachesthoughtaraway.Reaching reed rumsinadvanceofSimonPaul'srehashed ance.

Morenitasing,Remembering.Yoruba,Kongo.

So muchmore oMorenitathan his ide ofthe ea.

Me.From his ountry.Negrita hiquitalittle lackgirlde ese país.Morenita ftheworld

. . . Morenita,morenita.102-06)

BystagingnAfrican-Americanilingualpeaker fEnglish ndSpanishnherperformance,orris uestions-verballyndvisuallyertainlynan even more

impressive ay han nwriting-he etofattributesscribed odifferentthnicgroups.t sremarkablehat ere,na poem bout dentitynddescent, ilingual-







24 HaraldZapf

ism s no ongerinkedwithHispanic eritagend a specificulturaldentity"bi-lingualmeans ongue-speakingno one had toteach"). n"Morenita,"ilingual-ismdoes notrefer o members f n ethnic roupna particularistoricalontext,for xample o PuertoRicanswhomoved o NewYork'sLowerEast Sidesome-time fter heSecondWorldWar nd then pokeSpanish ndEnglish. hefunc-tion ofbilingualisms notrepresentationalutperformative.panglish, hichmighte a majorpart f a speaker's thnicdentity,sperformed,otexpressed.InAlgarín's MongoAffair,"t s ust heopposite.

An n-betweenext s Ntozake hange's Porqueno estás onmigo," hichs o-cated nAlouďs third ection itledFoundingoems." he ncorporationfa se-lection fpoemsbytheAfrican-merican uthorNtozakeShange nto his ec-tion tresses heNuyorican oetsCafe'straditionallytrongAfrican-merican

connection,ut t s also a sign fthemore ecent frican-mericanizationf hePuertoRicanfoundationsfearlyNuyorican oetry: hange sfeaturednAloud,butnot nAlgarín's irst uyoricannthologyrom 975. n theearly ollection,Algarin robably anted opresent 'pure'andhomogeneousmage fNuyori-canness. nAloud,he and Holmandiversifiedheorigins fNuyoricannessndstressed heperformancespect fNuyorican oetry.n this ontext,t s not ur-prisinghatNtozake hange a performanceoet vanta lettre,hoseneologism"choreopoem"inks heatricalitynd textuality-s listed mongPuertoRicanNuyoricanoundationaloets.Herbilingual oem "Porqueno estásconmigo"sdedicated o a legend fHispanic erformingrts, othePuertoRicanborn on-eròHector avoe, el cantante e los cantantes."y weaving panishntoherEn-

glish ext, hangehonors hismusicalheroofpopular atinoculture.My songforHector avoe"begins ndends ike his:

ifhector avoe snotJackieWilsonwho ingsyoutosleepatnight?in whose rmsdidyou leepwellor not?tellmecuz 've racedthru treets nddreamskeptundercoverby nterpoland the tatepolicefolks wearnever xistedwhy 've been held n acoro as far s the rchipelagond toda a gente onose

el señorhectoravoemiratúpuedes rconmigohastamanagua&the arthquakewas nomore surprisethanyou

con tuvozque vienede losdiosesand the wivel fthehipsde su flacaas youdance orwhen he sucks hehearts

out ofthe ggsoftortugas








i askedJackiewilsonand he said "wecan'tdo widout imhe's ust ikeme." 366-68)

Here,the functionfbilingualisms representational.heperson o whom hespeaker elates losely s a PuertoRican malewho, gainst is father's ishes,moved o NewYork nMay3,1963 tthe geof eventeennd became nartist.Just s inAlgarín's MongoAffair,"hepoint f referencend the tandard orcomparisons a certainulturalroducer ith particularthnicdentitynd his-tory fmigration;ut nShange's oemwedo notknow or ure,fthe peakeralsoexpresses is/herwnbilingualdentityr fhe/sheonly'performsilingual-ism, or

xamplenadmirationor avoe's

Nuyoricanulturalchievement.ar-

guethat he peaker's seofSpanglishsmotivatedythe ddressee nd that i-lingualisms a matter f relational hetoric ere.The nameof theAfrican-American oulsinger ackieWilson,who n1963 stoodonabout qual footing"with am Cooke as "R&B prince,"s star ftherhythm bluesworldGeorge77),suggestshe peaker'sAfrican-mericandentityo thereader fthepoem.Looked at inthisway, ilingualismsperformednorder ocreate Nuyorican/African-mericannterculturalaradigm f theexpression f earthinessndone's ethnicpride,deepestthoughts,nd feelings. y metaphoricallyinkingLa voewithWilson,hange vokes connectionetween uertoRicanNuyoricanculture nd the motionalndspiritualepth "tuvoz/que vienede losdioses")

ofblackAmericanulture.Inconclusion,would iketodraw distinctionetweenwodifferentenden-cies nNuyoricanoetry:ome of t- such s BimboRivas's"Loisaida,"MiguelAlgarín'sMongoAffair,"nd arguablymostof theearlyNuyorican ork- sbasedon seriousmonovocalxpressivenessnd the ctualityfa given ilingualidentity;omeof t- such s themore ontemporaryuyorican ork yperform-ers ikeRegE. Gaines andTracieMorris"Morenita") nd,to a certain xtent,NtozakeShange's Porqueno estásconmigo"-playfullyrings p the ssue oflinguisticdentityndbilingualismsperformance.racieMorris, ho scurrentlyworkingna dissertationnrapand J. . Austin's erm ftheperformative,aseventurnedwayfrom erformingilingualismnd hasrecentlyotmore nter-

ested nsoundpoetry. etween 975 nd1994, he nfluencefbilingual atinopoets nSpanglisherse ulture t theNuyoricanoetsCafediminished,ut hegradualossof ingual iversityas oftenccompaniedy gain nvocal ndper-formativeomplexity,sAloud-textsy rtistsikeMorris, aines,MaggieEstep,orEverton ylvesterhow. ince1994, hepresence fbilingual atinos t theNuyoricanoetsCafehasbecome omewhattrongergain, utperformanceo-etrynEnglishtill ends opredominate.







26 Harald apf

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