Exploring a Borderland Within Literature
Meet CRES-English major, Spanish minor Emely Cruz.
Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona
Thesis adviser: Professor Pancho Savery [English and humanities]
Thesis: “‘Reform the Old Materials, Make Something New’: The Social and Cultural Reconfiguration of Identity in Chicanismo and Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima”
What it’s about: How the legacies and history of Mexican American and Mexican exclusion from mainstream American culture and society have generated a need for not only a cultural identity for a collective Mexican American community, but also how that translates into a literary need for a cultural identity.
What it’s really about: Bless Me, Ultima, and how it uses the novel to occupy this idea of a borderland within literature.
In high school: I went to a performing arts high school, so a lot of my time was spent in orchestra and choir. I was a very quiet kid, very academically focused—the cliché of being on a bunch of different honor councils and in a bunch of different honor societies.
Influential course: I’m Reed’s first CRES-English major. The first CRES class I took was Race and Identity in American Theatre, during my freshman year. Slowly, I started to realize that what I really valued about my education at Reed were those core CRES classes—and those larger conversations about race, identity, and legacies of colonization and decolonization. I wanted that to be the core of my academic study, and to apply it to literature.
Financial aid: I come from a very low-income background; my parents are both immigrants. But I have a very vivid memory of receiving the Reed financial aid package and having a realization that an education of Reed’s caliber could be attainable.
Outside the classroom: I was part of the BIPOC Student Magazine and I was also on the leadership team for the Latinx Student Union (LSU). It’s not only helped me find my own cultural belonging at Reed—it’s allowed me to make some space for other people to find cultural belonging and connect with people from shared backgrounds. Part of why I really wanted to join the leadership team was because when I first came to Reed, it was my first time being outside of a predominantly Mexican American and Mexican space. I grew up in a Mexican neighborhood, all of my family speaking Spanish and English at the same time. With Latinx Student Union getting its roots during my freshman year, being able to then join that leadership team and extend the union’s legacy was really important to me.
Awards: The Eddings Opportunity Grant and the Centennial Scholarship.
What’s next? The immediate plan is to take a gap year—see myself outside the academic bubble for a little bit and spend time with my family and friends. And then definitely start applying to grad school, and hopefully continue my studies of Mexican migration and Mexican identity within the US.
Tags: Academics, Students, Thesis, What is a Reedie?