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Tactics of Hope in Latinx Children's and Young Adult Literature by Jesus Montaño and Regan Postma-Montaño (review)

2023; Washington University in St. Louis; Volume: 57; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/rvs.2023.a916261

2164-9308

Literacy and Educational Practices

Reviewed by: Tactics of Hope in Latinx Children's and Young Adult Literature by Jesus Montaño and Regan Postma-Montaño Alicia V. Nuñez Montaño, Jesus and Postma-Montaño, Regan. Tactics of Hope in Latinx Children's and Young Adult Literature. Albuquerque, U of New Mexico P, 2022. 188 pp. In recent years, society has seen the magnification of anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric, notably observed during the Trump administration, which weaponized a long-broken immigration system. Latinx children, some of whom are undocumented migrants and/or have grown up with the fear of family deportation, are directly impacted by this far-reaching trauma. In Tactics of Hope in Latinx Children's and Young Adult Literature, Jesus Montaño and Regan Postma-Montaño acutely urge readers to listen to Latinx children as major contributors of conocimiento. [End Page 348] The authors identify the representational importance of Latinx children seeing themselves portrayed as main characters. The authors argue that Latinx young adult literature, and the tactics of hope they identify, has larger societal implications that can help Latinx children navigate oppressive institutional and social systems. Tactics of Hope is comprised of five chapters (or what the authors call capsules), that make evident the "zigzag between topics and themes" (16) to parallel the nonlinear journey of Latinx migrants. The literary objects analyzed in Tactics of Hope include picture books, poetry, and novels intended for young Latinx readers. Each capsule is anchored on the teachings of borderland scholar Gloria Anzaldúa and her theories in Borderlands/La Frontera (1987) and Light/Luz (2015). The main Anzaldúan concepts mobilized in Tactics of Hope include: conocimiento or knowledge and self-reflection (4); Nepantla as a liminal site of resistance and transformation (17); nepantlera or those that live in the borderland and have unique knowledge (56); and Anzaldúa's autohistorias that "enact practices of reconstruction" (136). Chapter one, "Reading for Conocimiento Mirrors in Farmworker Kid Lit," highlights the role literature plays in the development of young activist leaders in the farmworker setting. Montaño and Postma-Montaño introduce the phrase "conocimiento mirrors" (16) to explain that books function as a way for young Latinx readers to "see themselves, their histories, and their present realities reflected, and further find their potential futures mirrored as they begin to imagine the possibilities of activities leadership for their generation" (25). The authors turn to Helena Maria Viramontes' novel, Under the Feet of Jesus, which centers on Estrella and the challenges her family of farmworkers encounter. The authors analyze various passages in the novel to demonstrate how Conocimiento mirrors operate in developing the artist-activist. The authors provide an example wherein Estrella connects the scientific information she learns about tar pits with the social injustices she has witnessed with the exploitation of migrant bodies. Here, Montaño and Postma-Montaño consider how the artist-activist is receptive to their own struggles, and can redirect these insights to change society. In chapter two, "Border Kids in the Land of Nepantla," the authors turn to Guadalupe García McCall's novel, Under the Mesquite, and position the protagonist, Lupita, as an example of what the authors coin as a Nepantlera-Roman (56). In the story, Lupita navigates the contradictions of her border identity through writing. For the authors, this aligns her with the "nepantlera-roman" because it is a portrait of a young artist that acts against social injustice (56). The clearest example of how the authors apply the concept of "nepantlera-roman" is in their reading of Lupita's drama teacher forcing her to change her accented English—instead of assimilating, Lupita defies this pressure by writing her texts in Spanglish. Montaño and Postma-Montaño go on to classify Under the Mesquite as a Latinx Künstlerroman because the plot is a "process of self-discovery and the negotiation of ethnic identity" (62). These two descriptors, Nepantlera-Roman and Latinx Künstlerroman, although interesting and fruitful in expanding Latinx literary genres, require further nuance to differentiate already existing literary terminology. In chapters three and four, Montaño and Postma-Montaño recognize the significance of listening to Latinx children to create...