Humor and Hemispheric Consciousness:Chicana/o and NativeAmerican Contemporary Art

These reflections made by Durham, a Native American artist, and Trejo, a Chicano artist, bear a striking similitude in their attitude toward the regenerative as well as transgressive power of humor. Scholars in comparative ethnic studies are well aware of the common history, culture and political consciousness between Native American and Chicana/o populations in the United States. Their shared history of displacement, colonization and marginalization has allowed Native and Mexican populations in this country to connect in political, cultural and spiritual ways. Even the traditional markers of difference often established between Native American and indigenous Mexican peoples are ones determined by colonial demarcations and imposed borders. The interdependent and intertwined history between Mexico and the United States further complicated this distinction. In 1848 with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo between the two countries, Mexico was forced to cede nearly half of its territory to the United States.