Organic Home Spaces: the Chambered Nautilus in Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Silent Dancing; a Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood

Number: 42 October 1, 2015
Lorna Perez
EN

Organic Home Spaces: the Chambered Nautilus in Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Silent Dancing; a Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood

Abstract

Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood — a coming of age narrative played out against the backdrop of diasporic locations—is most often read in light of a series of clearly articulated dichotomies that present culture, identity, and home as dialectically opposed conditions that require cultural synthesis. In what follows, I argue that Ortiz Cofer’s text, while full of clashing dichotomies, does not actually propose a synthesis in the form of hybridization. Rather, Silent Dancing presents a complicated and nuanced consideration of home — here in terms of both the gendered, domestic space of the home, as well as the larger political and cultural space of the nation — that is informed by feminist practice on the one hand, and diasporic locations on the other

Keywords

Diaspora, Puerto Rico, identity, home, feminist

References

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  9. Derrickson, Teresa. “’Cold/Hot, English/Spanish’: The Puerto Rican American Divide in Judith Oritz Cofer’s Silent Dancing.” MELUS: The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States 28.2 (2003): 121-37. Print.
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APA
Perez, L. (2015). Organic Home Spaces: the Chambered Nautilus in Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Silent Dancing; a Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood. Journal of American Studies of Turkey, 42, 61-79. https://izlik.org/JA89NA22MT
AMA
1.Perez L. Organic Home Spaces: the Chambered Nautilus in Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Silent Dancing; a Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood. JAST. 2015;(42):61-79. https://izlik.org/JA89NA22MT
Chicago
Perez, Lorna. 2015. “Organic Home Spaces: the Chambered Nautilus in Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Silent Dancing; A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood”. Journal of American Studies of Turkey, nos. 42: 61-79. https://izlik.org/JA89NA22MT.
EndNote
Perez L (October 1, 2015) Organic Home Spaces: the Chambered Nautilus in Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Silent Dancing; a Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood. Journal of American Studies of Turkey 42 61–79.
IEEE
[1]L. Perez, “Organic Home Spaces: the Chambered Nautilus in Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Silent Dancing; a Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood”, JAST, no. 42, pp. 61–79, Oct. 2015, [Online]. Available: https://izlik.org/JA89NA22MT
ISNAD
Perez, Lorna. “Organic Home Spaces: the Chambered Nautilus in Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Silent Dancing; A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood”. Journal of American Studies of Turkey. 42 (October 1, 2015): 61-79. https://izlik.org/JA89NA22MT.
JAMA
1.Perez L. Organic Home Spaces: the Chambered Nautilus in Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Silent Dancing; a Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood. JAST. 2015;:61–79.
MLA
Perez, Lorna. “Organic Home Spaces: the Chambered Nautilus in Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Silent Dancing; A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood”. Journal of American Studies of Turkey, no. 42, Oct. 2015, pp. 61-79, https://izlik.org/JA89NA22MT.
Vancouver
1.Lorna Perez. Organic Home Spaces: the Chambered Nautilus in Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Silent Dancing; a Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood. JAST [Internet]. 2015 Oct. 1;(42):61-79. Available from: https://izlik.org/JA89NA22MT