Rebirth, Shapeshifting, and Activism in the Work of Latinx Undocupoets

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20249226
AutoresDaniel Enrique Pérez (0000-0003-0985-2042, University of Nevada, Reno, autor de correspondencia)
Año2025
Volumen14
Número9
Páginas182
Fecha de publicación2025-09-17
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHumanities (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2076-0787 • E-ISSN: 2076-0787
EditorialMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/h14090182
OpenAlexW4414310506
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas12

This essay is an analysis of poetry written by Latinx Undocupoets in the United States. It focuses on three contemporary poets—Javier O. Huerta, Yosimar Reyes, and Javier Zamora. The author examines the way these poets navigate borderland identities by cultivating cultural mestizaje to advance a political project, where consciousness-raising and advocating for those who cross or are crossed by borders are the priorities. The author argues that three common themes related to transformation appear in the work of Undocupoets: rebirth, shapeshifting, and activism. These poets transform themselves and their communities by engaging in differential movement and relocating marginalized individuals and communities to positive social locations while portraying them in their full complexity—a postnationalist perspective that manifests itself in a borderlands framework. The author demonstrates how these writers formulate decolonial imaginaries and differential consciousness to relocate migrants and undocumented people to social locations that transcend the negative stereotypes that have historically shaped their identities and lived experiences. Through rebirth, shapeshifting, and activism, Undocupoets enact a form of agency and present new ways of seeing and understanding the migrant experience

Consciousness · Ethnography · Poetry · Political consciousness · Politics · Caribbean and African Literature and Culture · Latin American and Latino Studies · Literature, Magical Realism, García Márquez