Walking (in) the Ethnic Aisle: Latinidad/es Stocked in the Market - The Journal of Multimodal ...
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
23 Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics
Walking (in) the Ethnic Aisle:
Latinidad/es Stocked in the Market
Ana Roncero-Bellido, Gonzaga University
In this essay, I examine ethnic grocery 400) and of transborder connections
store aisles to demonstrate how the spatial between the many Latinx communities.
rhetorics communicated in these aisles To better understand the ways in
mirror discriminatory discourses in other which ethnic food aisles become sites of
public spheres. Combining testimonio, transborder connection and negotiation of
spatial rhetorical analysis, and a holistic Latinidad/es, we need to view Latinxs as
culinary approach (Abarca, 2014; Abarca translocal subjects, since “with the
and Salas, 2016) to pose food, culinary intensification of transmigration, growing
practices, and market shelves as sites of numbers of Latin@s and Latin Americans
transborder connections, I show how the today embody similarly shifting registers,
placing of “non-American products” in positionalities, and epistemes” (Alvarez et
these “ethnic” aisles emphasizes the al., 2014, p. 4). Hence, Latinidad/es
Othered status attributed to cultural “is[/are] always already constituted out of
practices resulting from purchasing these the intersections of the intensified cross-
products. Instead of being inclusive or border, transcultural, and translocal flows
celebrating diversity, these spaces and that characterize contemporary
products compose a space of cultural transmigration throughout the
imperialism where products targeting a hemisphere” (p.2). These transnational
Anglo-American clientele are stocked to and translocal subjectivities blend within
satisfy their appetite for cultural one’s “geographies of selves,” or the ways
consumption. In so doing, these spaces in which our knowledges are inscribed in
reinforce a sense of U.S. nationality built and on our bodies (Anzaldúa, 2015, p. 68-
through the imposition of linguistic, 71).
sociocultural, and geopolitical borders, The translocality of Latinidad/es and
and reinforce the homogenization these its impact on one’s geographies of selves
labels exert upon the Other. Neverthe- also explain my personal urgency to study
less, I also assert that these spaces mark “a these aisles. My study emerged from my
presence instead of an absence,” turning struggle to understand where I fit within
the ethnic aisle into a space of survivance hegemonic U.S. racial and ethnic labeling
(survival and resistance) (Powell, 2002, p. discourses; this situation becomes even
Spring 2018 (2:2) 24
more pressing within the space of the study demonstrates the ways in which my
market where the labels Hispanic, Latino relationship to the Hispanic/Latina labels
and Tex/Mex are commonly used. Because shifts depending on the geo-socio-political
of some of my experiences in the U.S., I contexts where I am located, while the
have come to feel as if the terms sense of community I have developed with
Hispanic/Latina are reflective of certain other Latinx communities travels with me
aspects of my identity—even if I may across these borders.1 My own entering
phenotypically seem part of the into these spaces has made me become
whitestream, my use of Spanish in public more aware of my intersecting identities
and/or my Spanish-accented English as a Spanish woman in the U.S., and
marks me as Other because in Anglo- encouraged me to develop transborder
American society, the Spanish language relations with other members of the
and an accent have become major ethnic Latinx communities based on the
markers that work to homogenize relationships I establish with some of the
Hispanic and Latinx communities despite products located in these aisles. At the
the sociopolitical and cultural differences same time, however, my study of these
that exist among them. spaces underlines how ethnic aisles bear
Yet, in a society where the meanings witness to the complicated colonial history
embedded in the Latinx/Hispanic of labeling discourses, the homogenization
categories are synonymous with race, I am and racialization of Latinidad/es, and
confronted with the legacy of a colonial consumption of the ethnic Other.
history that governs the historiography
and politics behind these labels. As a
Spanish woman living in the U.S., I find Understanding the
myself experiencing the imposed need for Multimodality of the Grocery
others to identify what I am along a In studying the rhetorics of the ethnic
spectrum of labels that are radically aisle, I view space as rhetorical, for space,
problematic and unstable. And so, in an place, and their organization are socially
attempt to find an answer to the question, produced embodied texts, which, within
“What am I and where do I belong?”, my the space of the market, reproduce
1
According to the 1990 U.S. Census of explain, even though U.S. definitions of the
Population definition, I am definitely Hispanic. Latino/Hispanic labels incorporate Spaniards, many
Nonetheless, through her study of the U.S. Latinos usually do not. The inclusion/exclusion
Hispanic/Latino controversy, Suzanne Oboler of Spaniards within the pan-ethnic Hispanic/Latina
points out that, even though the U.S. Census of labels illustrate the ways in which place and the
Population from 1990 includes Spaniards, “most individual/collective subjectivities shaped in these
scholars limit their policy-related research on spaces intersect with the social formation of these
Latinos to populations with ties to Latin America” labels and the intersectionality and positionality of
(2). Spaniards’ exclusion from the umbrella identity. Depending on where I am located, and
covered by these pan-ethnic labels is not only given the social and colonial construction of these
exerted within academic circles. As Maria labels, I can be considered Hispanic, Latina, both,
DeGuzmán (2005) and Debra Castillo (2005) or none.25 Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics
hegemonic discourses that Other Latinxs. relationship with the produce stocked in
Thus, I am not only concerned with this space and with the other clients
studying the space of the market, but also navigating this space. Here, I follow
how this multimodal text affects (my) Michel de Certeau’s view of walking as a
embodied experiences, (my) under- rhetorical practice, as the way we choose
standing of my identities, and to walk through the spaces of the market
individual/collective compositions of this creates an “urban text” of the store’s
space. Even though mapping has planned spaces (p. 93). Each aisle creates a
historically been posited as an objective linear path that obliges individuals to
and scientific practice, mapping indeed either walk the entire aisle, or to walk
reflects sociocultural, historical, and back and forth to exit; there’s no
political ideologies shaping the rhetor’s communication between the aisles—no
subjectivities. As a process of multimodal shortcuts. The linearity of the aisles and
composition, cartographical practices their labels (aisle markers and other price
affect how space is conceived and and special offer labels) impact
perceived, and, in turn, how individuals consumers’ ways of operating (in) these
act in said space and what knowledges spaces, while also allowing them to
they create (McDowell and Sharp, 1997; transform the space as they act on them
Mignolo, 1995; Propen, 2012). Likewise, (Sen and Silverman, 2014)—a process of
the organizational principles shaping a multimodal embodied composition where
particular grocery store are never consumers’ bodies engage with and act
arbitrary, but are rather illustrative of the upon the space of the market.
sociocultural and political ideologies of a De Certeau (1984) distinguishes two
particular society, thus further shaping an forms of experiencing place and space,
individual’s subjectivities and how they thus two forms of “language of space”: the
conceive their relationship to other act of seeing, that is, the act of knowing
members of the communities around them the order of places, and the actual moving
(Dale and Burrel, 2008). within them, that is, “spatializing actions”
Like street labels in the city, the labels (p. 119). Along this path, I posit that a
heading each aisle at the grocery market— rhetor’s conceptualization of time-place-
with its names and its numbers, usually on space through the use of a set of prepo-
both ends of the aisle—act on clients’ sitions affects how certain places, or the
bodies by directing how they ought to objects emplaced there, are described,
move across and around these spaces. As and, therefore, one’s own understanding
“spatial signifiers” (de Certeau, 1984, p. of the movements that can possibly be
98), the aisle markers and directories are performed within said space. Indeed, my
meant to help clients choose whether they contemplation of the spaces of the market
want to enter into the space contained is a moment where my bilingualism
within the aisle and, therefore, whether becomes more transparent, as I always
the individual wants to establish a struggle with the correct standard use ofSpring 2018 (2:2) 26
prepositions in English. The influence of labeling of these rhetorical spaces—by
my Spanish on my understanding of space means of aisles, shelves, aisle markers, and
permeates my use of English, thus giving labels—foreground specific rhetorical
voice to a constant communication, categories (Royster and Kirsch, 2012)
negotiation, but also confrontation, which engage bodies in different ways. It
between two different systems of is essential to acknowledge the ways in
thoughts, each of which conceptualizes which my able-bodied privilege empowers
prepositions in different ways. These me to engage in this specific rhetorical
differences reveal divergent under- study of the spaces of the market, because
standings of space, place, and embodied I am able to move through these narrow
space, as well as how individuals are spaces and reach the products they stock
located in said space, place, and time. For regardless of how high or low they are
example, I usually see myself sitting en el located on the shelves. This strongly
porche, which I would translate as in the influences the ways in which I interact
porch, while I am told that the standard with the spatial signifiers shaping this
English translation means I am on the multimodal urban text; my ability to easily
porch. walk through the market impacts my
And yet, while this explanation may be rhetorical operation, transformation, and
far off from the actual meaning of these theorization of the spaces of the market,
prepositions, to me, the contrast between and therefore, my understanding of this
locating myself in or on the porch shapes a text as a process of multimodal embodied
different relationship between my body composition.
and this space, hence to a different Ultimately, my conflict with English-
construction of this porch and the objects Spanish prepositions shows spatial
it holds. Thus, I posit that a rhetor’s relations that do not transfer from one
conceptualization of time-place-space language to the other, thereby further
through the use of a set of prepositions illustrating the ways in which space
affects how certain places, or the objects reflects a particular sociocultural and
emplaced there, are described, and, political viewpoint. Further, if space in
therefore, one’s own understanding of the English is conceived differently in Spanish,
movements that can possibly be then my difficulty with the bilingual use of
performed within said space. Likewise, prepositions may hint towards the
my movement through the market aisles untranslatability of space. This untrans-
and labels influence how I conceive my latability of space further complicates the
position within these spaces, and how I ways in which space and place can be
relate to the produce and individuals who conceived, narrated, and theorized, and
are also acting upon these spaces. emphasizes the ways in which the very
Along these lines, my study of the writing of this essay becomes an embodied
rhetorical spaces of the market considers multimodal practice where I deconstruct
the ways in which the landscaping and and reconstruct the urban text of the27 Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics
market and my Self. In other words, my Testimoniando (in) the Market
embodied, bilingual interactions with the
and “A Holistic Culinary
multimodality of the market leads to a
continuous shifting of my subjectivities Approach”
and positionalities: a reciprocal My use of testimonio is informed by
relationship as the space and its Latina feminists’ reclaiming of the genre
organization affect my understanding of of testimonio for the development of
my intersectional self, my positionality Latina feminist epistemologies and
within the construction of this space, and coalitions across borders by foregrounding
my connections to other bodies who may commonalities without erasing difference.
or may not occupy these spaces. Turning personal experience into a source
These divergent understandings of an of knowledge, testimonio breaks the
individual’s relationship to space, place, constraining object/subject,
and their organization also lead to theory/experience, mind/body binary
different conceptualizations of the type of systems that govern academia, and it
relationships that can exist between an exposes and censures the close
individual and their communities. A sense relationship between the shaping of
of community can be developed regardless hegemonic knowledges, power, and
of the place in which individuals are colonialism (Córdova, 1998; Cruz, 2006;
located, and even if a seemingly Delgado Bernal, 1998). As I have
monolithic community is located in a explained elsewhere (Roncero-Bellido,
specific place, this situation “in no way 2017), these Cartesian binaries are
implies a single sense of space” or a single embedded in the English verb “to know,”
sense of community (Massey, 1994, p. which in Spanish translates as “saber” or
153).These different modes of conceiving “conocer,” depending on whether the act
embodied space, individual/collective of knowing has taken place through
relationships, and one’s subjectivities, memorization or through experience,
emphasize the need to contemplate the respectively.2 This distinction is blurred in
grocery market as a space where the English language, where the verb “to
negotiations take place by means of aisles, know” implies both an act of possessing
labels, and produce while encouraging the information (saber) and an act of
forging of transborder perception (conocer). The blurring of the
individual/collective relationships. ways in which the act of knowing can take
2
This is a general definition of the difference emerges through the act of experiencing places,
between “saber” and “conocer,” especially people, or objects. Given the complexity of the
because the verb saber also includes the “training” meanings of these verbs, it is not my purpose to
of the body to perform certain activities, such as offer a linguistic study of these verbs, but rather to
reading, writing, speaking a foreign language, highlight that the Spanish language acknowledges
swimming or cooking, where the body memorizes different ways of making knowledge:
how to do certain things. In contrast, the verb memorization and experiencing.
conocer mostly refers to the knowledge thatSpring 2018 (2:2) 28 place reinforces the hegemonic binaries Weaving testimonio and spatial established between the mind and the rhetorical analysis with a “holistic culinary body, theory and experience, and approach” enables me to view food, objectivity and subjectivity ruling culinary practices, and food related academia, thus the possibility of multiple discourses as sites of historical trans- forms of truths and knowledge, as well as atlantic, transnational and translocal the role of embodied experience in the connections (Abarca, 2013; Abarca and shaping of these. Salas, 2016). A holistic culinary approach Testimonio facilitates the theorization posits culinary encounters as the of embodied experience, as I engage in a “connections that food and cooking process of raising awareness, thinking practices have had and have with a global about the ways in which my positionality community” (Abarca and Salas, 2016, p. and my intersectional identity affect my 252). This approach allows me to growing subjectivities. In other words, foreground the translocality of theorizing through testimonio allows a Latinidad/es, emphasizing the similarities process of de/constructing the body—a that exist between cross-cultural culinary deconstruction of the “geographies of encounters without erasing difference. selves” and the identity categories Within the space of the market, this inscribed on the body, but a construction holistic framework reveals the colonial through the theorization of the knowledge history of culinary traditions across the emerging from it. My study of space Americas as a whole, and of the U.S. food through testimonio, then, fosters the industry specifically. This colonial history disruption between the mind/body, is often narrated in the visual texts used to theory/experience, saber/conocer market these produce (Ibid). dichotomies, as [my] testimonio A holistic culinary approach, for foregrounds the sabiduría and conoci- example, reveals the ways in which the miento emerging from my/the body. complexity of Latinidad/es is embedded Specifically, my use of testimonio for my in a plate of fideos, described by Chicano study of the ethnic aisle allows me to John Philip Santos as “a ‘quintessential’ disrupt the hegemonic binary established dish of mestizaje” (qtd. in Abarca, 2013, between the two languages informing my p. 253). Originally, fideos were popular rhetorical practices: inglés y español. My among the wealthy Spaniards from sabiduría y conocimiento of these Andalusia prior to the conquest, a delicacy languages provides me with the that could only be enjoyed after Marco opportunity to draw connections between Polo brought wheat pasta to Europe the knowledge I have developed through during the 13th century. This example my experiences as a speaker of both demonstrates the significance of applying a languages in different settings, and the holistic culinary approach to my personal knowledges I have acquired through my study of labeling discourses in the spaces academic learning. of the grocery market. Specifically, this
29 Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics
method allows me to contemplate my Walking (in) the Market
personal dis/connection to fideos which Engaging in an analysis of my own
are, still today, an important part of the embodied experiences within the spaces of
Spanish Mediterranean diet; even though I the grocery market proves a difficult task,
do not personally connect to the Latin as I talk about a set of spaces where my
American mestizaje of the fideos given my Spanish identities are usually miscon-
Spanish heritage, its colonial history is part strued, if constructed at all, in the same
of my national history. Engaging with a way as are the identities of the many
holistic culinary approach thus allows me (other) members of the Latinx commu-
to contemplate complex ways in which nities. Each store has a different
this meal can make me feel at home in the organization depending on their
U.S. while acknowledging the long history location—a different understanding of
of Spanish and U.S. colonialism leading to what is ethnic or not—as well as a
the view of fideos as the exemplary different set of labels that are used to mark
representation of mestizaje. these aisles and produce. And while I am
Further, by weaving this holistic aware that part of this form of labeling and
approach with testimonio and my storing products is often related to food
understanding of space as articulated safety maintenance, such as the need for
above, my study emphasizes the embodied refrigeration, my study of these spaces
knowledges individuals create while reveals a set of organizational and labeling
interacting with the products stocked patterns that continue to negate the
within the market space. In other words, I complexity of Latinidad/es. This essay
pay attention to the connections indivi- bears witness to a process of
duals create between the placement, de/construction of my embodied
categorization, and marketing of products experiences as I observe and fight against
with their knowledge of individual and the fragmentation of my own identity as it
collective modes of food preparation and is stocked on these shelves.
space navigation; and, I contemplate the Here I study a grocery market where I
relationships that can emerge between frequently shopped in South Chicago, an
these products and the community area that was mainly inhabited by
members navigating these spaces. immigrants from Germany, Ireland, the
Foregrounding these connections, then, Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, and
my study of these spaces constructs and Lithuania around the 1920s and 1930s
(re)presents a set of multimodal (Knox, 2004). These demographics began
transcultural encounters within the space to change in the 1970s as Mexican families
of the market, and with the labels and began to populate the area. According to
packages of the products it stocks. Douglas Knox (2004), about 10.8% of theSpring 2018 (2:2) 30
Figure 1: The two "ethnic" aisles are located next to each other. However, the Latinx aisle is
standalone, while the other is designated as a Polish, Kosher, and catch-all "Ethnic" aisle.
population identified as Hispanic in the Kosher-Ethnic” aisle lets me know this
1990s, with these numbers rising to space is very much like mainstream ethnic
51.9% of the population identifying as aisles I am used to seeing at other grocery
Hispanic or Latino in the 2000. These stores in Illinois—Simply Asia,
changing demographics—both in terms of Thai Kitchen, and Marion’s Kitchen
numbers and ethnic identification, from cooking kits, while this one also stocks
Hispanic to Latino—are indeed registered Polish salsas, pastas, and other produce in
in the organization and labeling of packages I cannot read. Halfway through
products at this particular store, where this aisle I see boxes of pasta sporting
there are two different ethnic aisles: the different brand names, products that are
“Tex/Mex-Latino,” situated next to the now considered mainstream. As the label
“Polish-Kosher-Ethnic” aisle. It should be in the market indicates, the Italian section
noted that there is a full aisle labeled is a different part of the aisle, one that is
“Tex/Mex-Latino,” while the “Polish- not considered ethnic anymore, even
Kosher-Ethnic” aisle turns into the “Pasta- though prior to 1914 Italian food was seen
pasta sauce-Italian-soup” aisle halfway as antihygienic and detrimental
through the corridor. (Levenstein, 2002)—rhetoric that, as I
The Polish-Kosher-Ethnic and will shortly discuss, was also used to
Tex/Mex Latino aisles extend before me describe Mexican food in the U.S.
as I stand by the Fish & Butcher Depart- I head towards the Tex/Mex-Latino
ment, and I wonder: which part of me is aisle and I see no other modifiers have
Ethnic and what part of me is Tex-Mex- been chosen to describe the products
Latino? A quick glimpse at the “Polish- stocked in this aisle. The contrast between31 Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics
the Tex/Mex and Latino labels chosen to leaves, and lots and lots of chiles. These
describe this space shows an effort to are facing the corn oils, another product
unequivocally identify the Mexican- this aisle has marked as ethnic by
American population, while also making separating it from the other oils located in
sure to include other Latinxs who may a different, mainstream aisle with other
shop at this store. As I enter this aisle, I baking products. As I keep walking, I can
observe six full shelves filled with religious see how the path I am following through
candles to my right. Blue and white this aisle reproduces, and helps me
candles on the top shelf with images of construct, a non-provided recipe, for after
Jesucristo Nuestro Señor, la Virgen de San heating up an oily pot for the homecooked
Juan de Los Lagos, La Virgen de meal, Maggi bouillon cubes and seasoning
Guadalupe, and San Antonio guard the kits are in order. So far, this aisle defines
entry to the aisle, reminding one of the Latinidad/es not only in terms of the
role of Catholicism during the Conquest. actual items stocked on the shelves, but
On the next set of shelves I find many pots also through the cooking rituals these
and pans, strainers and graters that, as far products—most of them labeled as
as I know, are commonly used kitchen Mexican—help to enact.
utensils. But next to them I see different As I continue to navigate through the
sized and shaped comales, flat griddles I store’s commercial construction of
have recently learned are used to cook and Tex/Mex-Latinidad/es, I see shelves filled
warm up tortillas. Next to these, I see with packets of rice and legumes, and I
tortilla warmers, molcajetes—the finally see something that does target
Mexican version of a mortar and pestle to home: a package with a starting kit to
ground and hold freshly made salsas—and make paella valenciana from a brand still
hand-held lemon squeezers. These are new to me, Vigo. Except for the Spanish
technologies I now know are common to name, “Paella Valenciana,” everything else
any traditional Mexican kitchen, tools I on this package is written in English,
had never seen before but are as basic as a including the capitalized word
paella pan or a ham-holder stand in most “Authentic”3 preceding the Spanish “Paella
Spanish-peninsular homes. Valenciana,” and followed by a mistrans-
I find products of Mexican-origin to lation of the traditional Valencian rice dish
my left, like bottles of Jarritos and into the explanatory “completely seasoned
Mexican sodas, some of them unfamiliar yellow rice and seafood dinner.” Under-
to me. As I continue walking down the neath these words there is an image of a
aisle, I find bags of Mexican candy paella or paellera filled with (yellow) rice,
followed by at least five stands filled with shrimp and mussels, an image that aims to
spices in bags and plastic jars, tamale ensure consumers that Vigo’s paella kit
3
For more on the problematic politics of claims
of authenticity, read Abarca, M. E. (2004),
“Authentic or Not, It’s original.”Spring 2018 (2:2) 32
provides an “authentic Spanish recipe.”4 In Thus, before continuing to analyze the
doing so, Vigo contributes to an rice boxes stocked next to Vigo’s paella
essentialist understanding of Spanish valenciana, it is important to observe the
foodways, a monolithic view of the history and commercialization of each
Spanish traditional dish that is nonetheless brand, especially given their role in the
conflated with the very name of the homogenization of Latinidad/es but also
product: paella valenciana, that is, from the forging of a pan-ethnic Hispanic-
the region of Valencia. With this I want to Latinx solidarity through identity.
point out the ways in which a space like Specifically, La Preferida illustrates the
the ethnic aisle not only homogenizes impact of the Mexican and Puerto Rican
Latinidad/es in national terms, but also populations in the introduction of the so-
the regional differences that exist across called Latino products into mainstream
nations. supermarkets such as this store. The
Vigo’s construction of “authentic” founder of La Preferida was Henry
Spanishness is further complicated as Steinbarth, who opened a butcher shop in
Vigo’s Paella Valenciana is located next to the European ethnic neighborhood of the
other rice boxes from two brands Southside of Chicago. As this neighbor-
commonly known for targeting the Latinx hood became Puerto Rican and Mexican,
clientele: La Preferida, a local company Steinbarth began producing and packaging
that takes pride in producing “authentic chorizo to meet the demands of the
Mexican food,” and Goya Foods, Inc., Mexican community (Arellano, 2012, p.
which presents itself as “a Hispanic-owned 194). Since then, La Preferida has
food company” (Basque, by way of Puerto expanded its production “into a complete
Rico) and “the premier source for line of Mexican specialties that covers
authentic Latino cuisine” (About Goya).5 more than 250 products” in order to
Each of these brands has a fascinating “accommodate both Latino and non-
history that, observed from a holistic Latino consumers” both with its produce
culinary approach, further complicates the and its bilingual packaging (La Preferida).
ways in which a Spaniard like myself can While trying to meet, as the company
relate to the food narratives contained states, the needs of “Latinos and non-
within this space, as the amalgam of the Latinos,” La Preferida insists that their
Basque, Spanish, Puerto Rican, Mexican, products are Mexican, even if the original
Latino, and Hispanic labels emphasize the butcher shop Steinbarth opened in South
transborder complexity of Latinidad/es. Chicago sought first to meet the needs of
4 5
There are many versions of this traditional dish Given the purposes and scope of my analysis, I
made with rice; thus, the name changes depending will not discuss the politics of Basque nationalist
on the descriptive words given to the word identification and the Spain-Basque Country
“paella.” Paella refers both to the pan where this conflict.
rice is cooked and to the bomba-rice dish seasoned
with Spanish saffron and Spanish sweet paprika.33 Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics
European immigrants, and then Mexicans (Socolovsky, 2013, p. 3), that is, in terms
and Puerto Ricans. of spatial and geographical borders. These
In contrast, Goya presents itself as “a borders create a cultural divide that marks
Hispanic-owned food company” and “the Latinxs as outsiders regardless of their
premier source for authentic Latino place of birth, legal status, or colonial
cuisine,” offering products specifically heritage. Particularly complicated is the
designed to meet the needs of Caribbean, case of Puerto Ricans, whose U.S.
Mexican, Spanish, Central and South citizenship, marked by colonial status,
American cuisines. Indeed, Goya was disrupts the many borders this ethnic aisle
founded in 1936 by Prudencio Unanue, a so strongly seeks to establish.
Basque who left Spain and settled first in Importantly, the growth of Goya shows
Puerto Rico and then in New York. It was how the foodways of a Spaniard like
in New York that he first started to import myself are indeed reflected in the space of
Spanish products such as olives, olive oil, this grocery market, by reproducing the
and sardines (“About Goya”). Yet, the history of Spanish colonialism that ties a
Unanue family worked to cater to the Spaniard like me to the foods stocked in
specific needs of the newly arrived this space, just like the fideos previously
communities: Puerto Ricans after World mentioned. Before the 1970s, Arlene
War II, Cubans in the 1950s, and Dávila (2001) explains that “Goya’s
Dominicans in the 1960s (Carlyle, 2013). version of Hispanidad was publicly
Goya thus exemplifies a company that has conveyed by pointing to the Spanishness of
grown along with Latinx populations in its products, such as its olive oils,
the U.S. advertised in the 1970s as ‘coming from
As of today, Goya caters to “the taste of Andalucía’ and being ‘pure, virgin, and
the totality of the Hispanic market Spanish,’ or else by alluding to the
through the diversification of products” products’ connections with Puerto Rican
(Dávila, 2001, p. 91). This explains its use culture” (pp. 91-92). Dávila asserts that
of both the Hispanic and Latino labels to this encouraged Puerto Ricans to identify
define itself, and its location in the with the Hispanic label, which clearly
Tex/Mex-Latino aisle. Goya, like La proves 1) the role food discourses play in
Preferida, illustrates how the imposed the construction of a sense of ethnic
category of Hispanic/Latino is “subject to identity; 2) the privileging of Spanish
constant negotiation with regard to the heritage over other elements of Puerto
multiple identifications of Hispanics” Rican mestizaje, specificially, and Latin
while also contributing to the market’s America as a whole. Indeed, Vigo’s paella
construction of Latinxs as “a nation within valenciana is located next to other rice
a nation” (Dávila, 2001, p. 91). This boxes from La Preferida and Goya, which
shows the power of food discourses to are being marketed as Spanish rice. While
convey a sense of U.S. nationalism which Vigo’s paella kit seems to actually offer
is based on “geopolitical nationhood” the possibility of reconstructing a recipeSpring 2018 (2:2) 34
that is originally from Spain, La define themselves to emphasize their
Preferida’s Spanish rice and Goya’s two European heritage. This form of
forms of Spanish rice offer three different identification allowed them to claim a
products that are not traditionally from “pure Spanish heritage” while denying any
Spain. The box of Spanish rice from La Indigenous or mestizo ancestry
Preferida showcases a picture of a yellow (McWilliams, 1948, p. 21). This fantasy
rice dish with bell peppers that seems to heritage was also reinforced by the Anglo
mainly differ from Vigo’s paella in its lack population who used this as “a tool for
of seafood. La Preferida does not offer a subordinating Hispanic peoples” (Rosales,
Spanish translation for the Spanish rice 2006, p.163) in the very same way that
meal, while Goya features a bilingual text marketing and labeling practices identify
for its two types of Spanish rice—which is these products as Other.
translated as arroz con tomate, or rice After the signing of the Treaty of
with tomato—and its yellow rice-Spanish Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, travelogues
Style, which is explicitly targeted at non- and newspapers would employ a “culinary
Latinos (Carlyle, 2013)—simply analogy to illustrate Mexican savagery and
translated as arroz amarillo. depravity to mark a community as racial
By reinforcing the use of the term Others” (Valle and Torres, 2000, p. 74).
“Spanish” and ensuring the authenticity of To fight against such racist culinary
these products—the Paella kit, Goya’s rhetoric, cookbook authors such as
Spanish rice, Goya’s Yellow Rice, and La Lummis or Bertha Haffner-Ginger would
Preferida’s Spanish rice—and in an aisle engage in the rhetoric of a Spanish fantasy
that has been labeled Tex/Mex-Latino, heritage. The work of Haffner-Ginger
these boxed rice packages contribute to (1914) helps us to better understand the
the commercialization of a homogeneous use of the Spanish label within the space of
understanding of Latinidad/es by using a this aisle. In 1914, Haffner-Ginger
“Spanish fantasy heritage.” To explain, the published the California Mexican Spanish
use of the term “Spanish” to refer to food Cook Book, juxtaposing the Californian,
practices originally from Mexico dates Mexican, and Spanish labels to reinforce
back to the end of the 19th century, when the Spanish fantasy heritage in a way that
Charles Fletcher Lummis and other very much resembles the labeling
restaurateurs and cookbook writers added discourses enacted in this Tex-
the Spanish label to traditional Mexican Mex/Latino aisle. A quick peek at the
dishes in order to make these meals more table of contents—which she calls
pleasant for the Anglo-American public “Classification of Recipes”—reveals that
(Abarca and Salas, 2016; Arellano, 2012; the Spanish label has been affixed to most
Valle and Torres, 2000). Yet, Lummis of the recipes, either with the English
was not the first or only person to use the word “Spanish,” or with the Spanish
term Spanish. Californians, Tejanos, and translation “Espanol” (sic), to insist on the
New Mexicans also used this term to European heritage of these recipes (p.35 Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics
125). The rice section, which Haffner- (Oboler, 1995). In doing so, both the use
Ginger has titled “Arroz a la Espanol” of the word “Spanish” and the term
(sic), features four rice recipes, which are “Hispanic” engage in a form of
“Spanish Rice: Mint Flavor,” “Spanish identification that reduces the many
Rice,” “Spanish Rice au Gratin”, and members of the Latinx communities to
“Green Peppers with Rice” (p. 99). their relationship with Spanish colonialism
None of these recipes is familiar to me, and its colonial language, while ignoring
and none of them resembles the paella the U.S. imperialism affecting Latinxs
dish featured in Vigo’s paella packaging. within and beyond this Tex/Mex-Latino
Thus, I find Haffner-Ginger’s rationale for aisle.
her use of labels, as provided in her And yet, Haffner-Ginger insists that,
“Word to the Readers,” rather amusing. despite the origins and ethnic labels
Written in 1914, Haffner-Ginger’s fantasy attributed to these meals, they are
heritage rhetoric voices some of the appropriate for the Anglo consumer. They
concerns I have when I see the use of the have even been “revised,” which is to say,
descriptive adjective Spanish to describe appropriated, to fit the expectations of the
foods I know are not part of the culinary Anglo palate, further colonizing the
tradition I grew up with. As Haffner- cultural heritage of the traditional
Ginger states: Mexican cuisine and creating a racial
It is not generally known that Spanish hierarchy of taste, and, consequently, of
dishes as they are known in California the people. This practice of adaptation
are really Mexican Indian dishes. Bread continues today, as La Preferida and Goya
made of corn, sauces of chile peppers, have produced different items labeled as
jerked beef, tortillas, enchiladas, etc., “Spanish rice,” reproducing the racist
are unknown in Spain as native foods; rhetoric of the Spanish fantasy heritage
though the majority of Spanish people while promising the “authenticity” of the
in California are as devoted to “revised” recipes so as to satisfy the Anglo-
peppery dishes as the Mexicans American clientele even if Haffner-Ginger
themselves, and as the Mexicans speak warns that these recipes are completely
Spanish, the foods are commonly called unknown in Spain.
Spanish dishes. (p. 14; my emphasis) Quite shocking are the images Haffner-
With these words, Haffner-Ginger insists Ginger includes at the end of her
on the Spanish heritage of these foods, cookbook, where she juxtaposes two
defining them in terms of language, rather Spanish women, one dressed in a more
than nationality. This form of middle-class gown and labeled “a type of
identification indeed characterizes the Spanish women” (sic) while on the other
homogenization enacted through the page we have a picture of a woman
imposition of the Hispanic label, since the wearing a rebozo and holding a guitar with
term “Hispanic” refers to people who have the inscription, “Another type of Spanish
ancestry from a Spanish speaking country women” (sic) (p. 117-18). The need toSpring 2018 (2:2) 36
mark an ethnic Other and the legacy of the chain supermarkets such as this grocery
Spanish fantasy heritage are not only store. Many of these tortillas/tostadas
present in these boxes of rice or other have been locally produced by companies
foodstuffs in this aisle. This helps me to such as El Milagro Tortilla Products or
better understand my first experiences as Mission Foods, while others come from
an international exchange student in different Mexican-American companies
Arkansas, when I first found myself spread all over the country, such as La
confronted with the ignorance that Banderita.
pervades the stereotyping of minorities These tortilla packages feature what the
living in the U.S. It is only now that I U.S. food industry would likely describe
understand why people were shocked to as traditional symbols to address the
hear the response to the question always Mexican-American community or to
triggered by my Spanish accented English: further reinforce their promise of
“Where are you from?” I guess sometimes authenticity. For example, La Mission
I would say that I was from Spain, while at products feature an image of a bell that
others I responded just by saying that I was makes one think of the church bells that
Spanish. Either way, I often got the same rang to announce Mexico’s War of
reaction; to them, I was “too white to be Independence against Spain in the town of
from Spain.” This response puzzled me, Dolores Hidalgo in 1810. Faithful to its
since the forms I had completed before name, La Banderita products feature a
arrival to the U.S. only described me as an Mexican flag with either cereal grains or
international exchange student; I had not an ear of corn in lieu of the Mexican coat
yet been formally assigned a racial/ethnic of arms. Next to these, the packages of
category. Tortillas El Milagro, produced in Chicago,
Now returning to the market, at the illustrate how this Tortilla Center aims to
end of this aisle I find the label “Tortilla cater to Mexican-American and Anglo
Center”: a movable shelf holding tortillas clientele, as both English and Spanish are
of different brands. There are both wheat written on the front of the package, while
and corn tortillas of different brands, and the back of the package offers cooking
on the top shelf I see packages of tostadas, instructions in English.
the flat deep-fried tortillas that accompany By stocking both wheat and corn
many traditional Mexican meals composed tortillas, which are produced both locally
of seafood or hearty stews, or form the and nationally, these shelves create a
base for other toppings (a “tostada”). This crossborder U.S.-Mexico connection
“Tortilla Center” also tells a story—a while targeting the Anglo-American
story of how the growth of the Mexican clientele; and, by seemingly adapting to
population in Chicago after 1960 led to the Anglo ways, they testify to the ways in
the opening of many tortilla factories, which the presence of these products
such as Atotoniclo or Sabinas in Pilsen, as entails a tactic of resistance. This situation
well as to the selling of tortillas in many dates back to the time of Hernán Cortés,37 Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics
as does the colonial appropriation of embedded “the centerpiece of the diet for
Indigenous foods, when the Aztec most of Mexico’s indigenous, one filled
civilization was forced to feed the Spanish with mystery and ceremony” (p. 18-19).
colonizers who thoroughly enjoyed the And so, even if Indigenous communities
native food (Arellano, 2012, p. 16-17). incorporated some of the colonial
While the Spaniards embraced tamales, products in their cooking rituals, the act of
tortillas, chiles, and cocoa beans among making corn tortillas becomes an act of
other local offerings, “they introduced “survivance” (Powell 2002) against
bread along with beef, lamb, pork and colonial ways.
chickens, and other flora and fauna that These rhetorical acts of survivance
profoundly changed the Mexican diet” (p. continue today, as these shelves become
17). Nevertheless, the Indigenous the space of negotiation where
community did not fully accept these discriminatory discourses are projected,
impositions and refused to eat wheat in but also, the place where the subject
favor of their corn tortillas and tamales. Other maintain their cultural food
The imperial power inscribed within food knowledges. As the genealogy of some of
practices becomes clear at this point, as the brands and produce analyzed evidence,
the Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún these acts of negotiation lead to the
insisted on the natives’ need to eat wheat, continuous growth of this complex space.
for only then would they become as It is because of this continuous morphing
strong, pure, and wise as the colonizers that the more and more I contemplate the
(p. 18). As can be seen, the conflict meanings of the Ethnic, Tex/Mex, Latino
between wheat and corn illustrates a aisles and the history of the products they
discourse more complex than mere contain, that bringing this study to a close
different eating habits. The Indigenous becomes difficult, but also problematic. I
Other is defined in opposition to the believe that the ever-evolving meanings of
“strong, pure, and wise” colonist, and only this space need to be studied further, as
by embracing the colonizers’ ways would new products are stocked on these
the Other achieve a “civilized state.” shelves.
Nevertheless, according to Arellano
(2012), Indigenous communities resisted Implications
and continued making corn tortillas and As one can see, the multimodal spaces
tamales, in spite of threats of punishment of grocery store aisles invite us to ponder
and promises of evolution made by the how we construct (our) identities and
colonizers. Hence, corn tortillas and relationships. Company geneologies reveal
tamales illustrate negotiation and how Latinidad/es identities are stocked
resistance against colonizing discourses, and (mis)represented on market shelves.
for it was not only corn that the natives A market functions as a testament to a
kept, but also their cooking practices. The complicated colonial history, including the
making of corn dough was a process that labeling discourses that shape these spacesSpring 2018 (2:2) 38
and Latinx communities. Landscaping and modal rhetorics. Even if I studied the
labeling practices of the public spaces of a English language more extensively, my
market will change depending on location conocimiento of space influences my
and the communities navigating these sabiduría (as academic learning) of the
spaces. Thus, there is a need to study how standard uses of prepositions in the
public spaces like a market can impact the English language. My embodied
shaping of Latinidad/es. And yet, the knowledge of space determines my
rhetorical practices that can be/are perceptions, conceptualizations, and
enacted in a market can turn a space such rhetorical representations of it. A rhetor’s
as the Ethnic aisle into a space of linguistic sabiduría and conocimiento
survivance against Othering hegemonic affect the study of space and other
discourses and negotiation of transborder multimodal rhetorical acts, problema-
Latinx solidarities. Everyday practices in tizing the Cartesian mind/body,
public spaces can shape the development theory/experience, and saber/conocer
of our complex subjectivities and binaries and hopefully, promoting a
individual/collective embodied decolonial reconsideration of canonical
knowledges. scholarly practices.
Different modes of conceiving and
experiencing space and place affect the
construction of the self and References
individual/collective relationships. My Abarca, M. E. (2013). Culinary
wrestling with the narration and encounters in Latina/o literature. In S.
theorization of space in English and Bost & F. R. Aparicio (Eds.), The
Spanish reveals a pressing need to study Routledge companion to Latino/a literature
how multimodal rhetorics may reproduce (pp. 251-260). New York, NY:
spatial discourses that force individuals to Routledge.
constantly negotiate and translate their Abarca, M. E., & Carr Salas C. (Eds).
complex subjectivities. The untranslata- (2016). Latin@s’ presence in the food
bility of space demands that we industry: Changing how we think about
contemplate how different communities food. USA: U of Arkansas Press.
understand, recount, and experience About Goya foods. Goya.1 March, 2017.
space because divergent constructions of Retrieved from
space will inevitably lead to different www.Goya.com/English/about.html
forms of conocimiento (knowledge from Alvarez, E. S., et al. (Eds). (2014).
experience) and sabiduría (knowledge Translocalities/Translocalidades: Feminist
from memorization). Connections politics of translation in the Latin/a
between the narration of space and Americas. Durham, NC: Duke
linguistic practices call for the incor- University Press.
poration of multilingual studies into Anzaldúa, G. (2015). Light in the dark/Luz
scholarship on visual, spatial, and multi-39 Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics en lo oscuro: Rewriting identity, spirituality, De Guzmán, M. (2005). Spain’s long reality. A. L. Keating (Ed). USA: Duke shadow: The Black legend, off-whiteness, University Press. and Anglo-American empire. Minneapolis, Arellano, G. (2012). Taco USA: How MN: U of Minnesota Press. Mexican food conquered America. New Delgado Bernal, D., & Elenes, A. (Eds.). York, NY: Scribner. (2006). Chicana/Latina education in Carlyle, E. (2013). How Goya became everyday life: Feminista perspectives on one of America’s fastest-growing food pedagogy and epistemology. Albany, NY: companies. Forbes. 27 May 2013. State University of New York Press. Retrieved from Delgado Bernal, D. (1998). Using a www.forbes.com/sites/erincarlyle/20 Chicana feminist epistemology in 13/05/08/how-Goya-became-one-of- educational research. Harvard americas-fastest-growing-food- Educational Review, 68(4), 555-582. companies/#7414ed8e3bd9 Haffner-Ginger, B. (1914). California Castillo, D. (2005). Latina or Mexican-Spanish cook book: Selected Americaniard? Revista Canadiense de Mexican and Spanish recipes. Los Angeles, Estudios Hispánicos, 30(1), 47-60. CA: Citizen Print Shop. Córdova, T. (1998). Power and History. La Preferida, Inc. 3 February, knowledge: Colonialism in the 2017. Retrieved from academy. In C. Trujillo (Ed.), Living www.lapreferida.com/history/ Chicana theory, (pp. 17-45). Berkeley, Knox, D. (2004). West Lawn. Electronic CA: Third Woman. encyclopedia of Chicago. The Cruz, C. Toward an epistemology of the Newberry Library. Electronically brown body. In D. Delgado Bernal & accessed 15 February 2017. A. Elenes (Eds.), Chicana/Latina Kraig, B. (2004). Food processing: Local education in everyday life: Feminista market. Electronic encyclopedia of perspectives on pedagogy and epistemology, Chicago. The Newberry Library, 2004. (pp. 59-75), Albany, NY: State Electronically accessed 15 February University of New York Press. 2017. Dale, K., & Burrell, G. (2008). The spaces Levenstein, H. (2002). The American of organisation and the organisation of response to Italian food, 1880-1930. In space: Power, identity and materiality at C. Counihan (Ed.), Food in the USA: A work. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave reader (pp. 75-90). New York, NY: Macmillan. Routledge. Dávila, A. M. (2001). Latinos, Inc.: The Massey, D. B. (1994). Space, place, and marketing and making of a people. gender. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Berkerley, CA: U of California Press. University Press. De Certeau, M. (1984). The practice of McDowell, L., & Sharp, J. P. (Eds). everyday life. Berkeley, CA: U of (1997). Space, gender, knowledge: Feminist California Press. readings. New York, NY: Routledge.
Spring 2018 (2:2) 40
McWilliams, C. (1948). North from Mexico: place and belonging. USA: Rutgers
The Spanish-speaking people of the United University Press.
States. N.p.: Lippincott. Valle, V. M., & Torres, R. D. (2000).
Mignolo, W. (1995). The darker side of the Latino metropolis. Minneapolis, MN:
Renaissance: Literacy, territoriality, and University of Minnesota Press.
colonization. Ann Arbor, MI: University
of Michigan Press.
Oboler, S. (1995). Ethnic labels, Latino
lives: Identity and the politics of
(re)presentation in the United States.
Minneapolis, MN: U of Minnesota
Press.
Powell, M. (2002). Rhetorics of
survivance: How American Indians use
writing. College Composition and
Communication, 53(3), 396-434.
Propen, A. D. (2012). Locating visual-
material rhetorics: The map, the mill, and
the GPS. Anderson, SC: Parlor Press.
Roberts, K. (2006). Lovemarks: The future
beyond brands. Brooklyn, NY: Power
House.
Rosales, F. A. (2006). Dictionary of Latino Ana Roncero-Bellido is an Assistant Professor
civil rights history. Houston, TX: Arte of English at Gonzaga University. She grew up
in Murcia, Spain and first came to the U.S. as
Público Press.
an international exchange student at Hendrix
Royster, J. J., & Kirsch, G. (2012).
College in Arkansas. After completing her B.A.
Feminist rhetorical practices: New horizons in Spain, she earned her M.A. at West Virginia
for rhetoric, composition, and literacy University and her Ph.D. at Illinois State
studies. USA: Southern Illinois University. Her interests include Latina
University Press. feminist literatures and rhetorics, life writing,
Sen, A., & Silverman, L. (2014). and feminist pedagogies. Specifically, her
Placemaking and embodied space. In A. research focuses on the development of
Sen and L. Silverman (Eds.), Making Latina feminists’ use of testimonio
place: Space and embodiment in the city. methodology to articulate new and revised
forms of knowledge, theories and discourses.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University
She is an editorial assistant of a/b:
Press. Autobiography Studies. Her work appears in
Socolovsky, M., & American Literatures the edited collection Feminist Pedagogy,
Initiative. (2013). Troubling nationhood Practice, and Activism: Improving Lives for Girls
in U.S. Latina literature: Explorations of and Women (Martin, Nickels, Sharp-Grier).You can also read
