Cultural memory in Elena Poniatowska's Tinisima

by Morelock, Ela Molina.

Abstract (Summary)
CULTURAL MEMORY IN ELENA PONIATOWSKA’S TINISIMA By Ela Molina Morelock Elena Poniatowska, a clear example of the diversity of the Mexican people in particular, and of the human race in general, comes from a mix of Polish, French, American, and Mexican ancestry. Despite her family origins, of European aristocracy and the highest social class in the deeply stratified Mexican society, through her work, she has become the memory of several hidden social movements, and forgotten people. As a journalist and writer, Poniatowska has become a voice for those people without a voice: repressed students, Indians, workers, political dissidents, and women in general. One particular woman, Tina Modotti (1896-1942) is the heroine of the novel Tinísima, a blend of biography and fiction. Tina Modotti, like Elena Poniatowska, was a woman preoccupied with art and social justice. Poniatowska's work depicts the emotional and intellectual struggles of Tina Modotti, as well as the abandonment of her artistic motivation, because of her political and social activism. Poniatowska joins fiction and reality by creating art. During the process of 10 years of research, interviews, and traveling, Poniatowska has effectively recovered part of the forgotten history of the United States, Mexico, Russia, and Spain, for the periods of the 1920’s, 1930’s and the early 1940’s, through the life and eyes of the Italian-American Tina Modotti. This thesis analyzes the responsibility we have towards recuperating the historical past, the impact of past wounds on the present, and the importance of remembering the forgotten voices of the dead who made that part of History.
Bibliographical Information:


School:Miami University

School Location:USA - Ohio

Source Type:Master's Thesis

Keywords:modotti tina poniatowska elena tinisima guerra civil espan?ola revolucio?n sovietica anarquismo en los estados unidos anticomunismo institucionalizacio?n de la mexicana memoria cultural colectiva individual historia oficial identidad nacionalismo cosmopolitismo locos veinte new woman decadentismo bildungsroman femenino collective memory in literature


Date of Publication:

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