I got a chance to sit down with Nayeli Castañeda-Lechuga, a first-year student in the MFA program here at San Diego State University. She is currently wrapping up the semester of a course in Chicanx Children’s Literature taught by Dr. Phillip Serrato. We discussed her perspective on studying children’s literature with a creative writer’s mind.
Nayeli Castañeda-Lechuga
What were your expectations going into the course? How have those expectations been affirmed or altered by what you encountered?
Honestly, when I was looking into the course, I overlooked the “children’s” aspect of it and thought of it as a course on Chicanx Literature. The idea of spending a whole semester reviewing and analyzing Chicanx literature was extremely appealing to me, specifically because I love reading and writing about Chicanx/Latinx identity.
I didn’t think too much about how we would discuss the material, however. So it was interesting to delve into the efficacy of Chicanx characters in perpetuating or dismantling stereotypical ideals of Chicanxs or Mexican-Americans. Doing this through children’s literature--a side of literature I’d never thought too much about--was only that much more eye-opening.
How does your background and identity influence the way you read these texts?
As a Mexican and Chicanx women (I tend to identify myself as Mexican, though, technically I am Mexican-American/Chicana), I came into the course with an idea of what Chicanx literature looked like and those ideas set up certain expectations on how people of color should be represented, which writers qualified to portray brown bodies, etc. Soon, however, I learned that Chicanx literature (from children’s to YA to adult) is much more complicated than I imagined. I’d never taken a course on Chicanx literature--the closest I came to it was a course on Latin American Literature, which is still very different. This has been the course that most immediately and intimately relates to my background, my familial history, and my identity--so I’m definitely biased towards how much I appreciate (or don’t appreciate) the stories being told and examined in our class.
Did anything about the texts or critical frameworks surprise you?
So much surprised me about the texts we read--from the extremely stereotypical Mexican-American/Chicanx characters we examined to the well-executed feminist constructions of Chicanxs in children’s literature. As I’ve mentioned, I had never examined Children’s literature on a scholarly/grad-school level and applying critical frameworks to these often short stories was something I didn’t consider possible.
I enjoyed certain critical frameworks the most--such as Conocimiento narratives, marginality, and discussing how the stereotype functions as oppression and the white man’s need to ‘other’.
How has your understanding of children’s literature changed as a result of taking this course?
The most immediate change has been realizing that children’s literature is something we can and should be having scholarly conversations about. I used to overlook children’s literature and, honestly, thought of it as something that was very easy to write--a mentality which can and has led to poorly written children’s books. While the stories may seem simple, often the impact can be extreme--especially for stories about frequently underrepresented communities, such as Chicanxs. I’ve learned to appreciate writers and illustrators who tackle the task of writing and/or illustrating effective Children’s literature, especially since these are people’s first encounters with books and can shape how they understand social structures.
I’m also impressed by everything that can be analyzed from a thirty-page book with often minimal text. Children’s literature is much more than the text itself--it’s the images, the placement of words in relation to the images, line breaks, book size, blank space, etc.
Do you see the content of this course affecting your creative writing?
It makes me nervous to fall into the same category of creating really problematic pieces. I think that a lot of them had worked but I don't want to make it worse as a writer because like I said, one of my main goals us as a writer is to write Latinx characters – specifically Mexican characters – because I'm Mexican and I have more of more knowledge of the Mexican culture though some of our values tend to align with other Latinx cultures. I'm a little nervous about falling into traps that I didn't realize are traps or writing really trope-y narratives that end up reinforcing stereotypes that I didn't realize I was doing. Sometimes when you're writing, your characters kind of take you a place that you weren't expecting. You kind of got to follow them and it's a really weird thing to say, but like when you're so into it, you see things before you actually write them. So sometimes they might do something or they might be calling you to write something that you feel is going to be problematic. Like race issues. So then you have to decide whether or not that's something that you're willing to risk. Now you say, “it's okay; I'm going to risk it. But how am I going to address this so it's clear that this is the character's point of view? This is how the character is and it's not what I as a writer believe.” It's a lot of questions that you have to keep asking yourself as a writer and this class is has given me a lot more questions than answers as a writer. I think that's a good start to be conscious of what you're writing.
Do you have any favorite assignment or anything that you thought was fun to do?
In retrospect, I really enjoyed the presentation*. I was nervous about it at first, but once I began reading Calling the Doves and analyzing it, I felt like I was bringing something new to class discussion and I enjoyed the conversations that arose after it. Mostly, I appreciated the work and thought I put into the book prior to my presentation. I spent hours looking at Elly Simmons’ (the illustrator) images--analyzing every swirl and color and repeating image, until finally I began to notice different themes and patterns that related to the text itself. It was like finally fitting puzzle pieces together on a 500 piece puzzle with only one shade of blue. It was a different experience than writing an essay or participating in class discussion; I couldn’t rely on my classmates’ or Professor Serrato’s textual interpretations--I had to go through the process on my own, which was extremely rewarding.
In the end, I ended up discussing Lucha and Juanito’s (mother and son) relationship, which led to the topic of my final essay.
*[Here, Castañeda-Lechuga references an assignment in which each student chooses a Chicanx children’s book outside of the course readings to present about during class. She chose Calling the Doves by Juan Felipe Herrera.]
Would you recommend authors take courses like this?
Absolutely. That's what I appreciate about San Diego State University’s MFA in Creative Writing program. It’s required that MFA students take literature courses, which is well-thought out since to improve our writing, we should be reading and analyzing other writer’s work.
I recommend that other writers search for courses that will most directly aid in developing their own writing--whether that be taking a course that discusses texts that connect to the writer’s interest (as was the case for me) or taking courses that look into texts with different textual forms. I’m sure that all literature courses will broaden a writer’s perspective on effective story-telling, but it will definitely be more enjoyable and advantageous if the writer chooses to take a course that aligns with their passions.
In my case, I chose this course because I'm interested in writing about Chicanx and Latinx communities. I’ve found the course to be helpful in how I think about my own writing--how not to fall under the same stereotypical discourse of some texts and how to push further with my concepts of the Mexican identity(ies).
As writers, it’s inevitable not to read as writers. When I'm reading, I make notes about what kinds of strategies I like, or lines that I thought were well-written. Because they resonate with your own writing, you tend to find these courses more interesting and more helpful. Long story short, I would recommend it!
Thank you, Nayeli Castañeda-Lechuga, for sharing with us! We’re glad to learn that studying children’s literature helped you as an author focus on the importance of accurate representation. Looking forward to seeing what you will publish in the future!
- (AN)
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