César Chávez Center Office: 7361 Bunche Mailbox: 7349 Bunche 310.206.8225 otto@ucla.edu |
Otto
Santa Ana
Associate Professor CONTENTS
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| RESEARCH
INTERESTS/ PROJECTS (Dissertation)
(click on graphic to view a larger image of both front and back cover of book) |
For my doctorate, I researched the development of Chicano English among Mexican
Americans in Los Angeles. This required 18 months of ethnographic work in four
barrios in Los Angeles (Boyle Heights, South San Gabriel, Huntington Park, and
north and south Montebello). Over 150 full-length interviews of Chicanos and
Chicanas were conducted across five generations, from immigrants to the
great-grandchildren of immigrants.
This work is part of a larger project to characterize the history of the languages and dialects of Chicanos/as involving research in rural and urban Jalisco, Mexico, as well as in Tijuana. On the Chicano English side I study linguistic features of identity in the speech of Chicanos of the Eastside. On the Spanish side, with Professor Claudia Parodi (UCLA) I am presently conducting research on the change that is taking place in the Spanish of Salvadorans who have lived in Los Angeles for several years. I have published several articles about the nature of Mexican Spanish, particularly that of the highlands of Jalisco and the bajio of Michoacán. All these studies inquire into the social and educational implications of language variation among ethnic communities. A third active area of research is the media representations of Chicanos/Latinos. I analyze the metaphors present in the print media to investigate political discourse. I have just completed a book about the political discourse of the 1990s in California about Latinos. That decade witnessed the passage of three anti-Latino referenda: Proposition 187 (anti-immigrant), Proposition 209 (anti-affirmative action), and Proposition 227 (anti-bilingual education). The book, Brown Tide Rising: Metaphoric representations of Latinos in contemporary public discourse, will be published by University of Texas Press. http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/sanbro.html http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/html/maillist.html |
| (Spanish)
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On the Spanish side, with another colleague (Professor Claudia Parodi, UCLA) I am presently conducting research on the change that is taking place in the Spanish of Salvadoreans who have lived in Los Angeles for several years. I have published several articles about the nature of Mexican Spanish, particularly that of the highlands of Jalisco and the bajio of Michoacán. All these studies inquire into the social and educational implications of language variation among ethnic communities. |
| (Media
Representations) |
Another current area of research
is the media representations of Chicanos/Latinos. I use a novel method
to analyze the metaphors present in the print media texts. This analysis
was developed to investigate political discourse in the period of Proposition
187, Proposition 209, and Proposition 227. For example, the metaphoric representation used
by Los Angeles Times to frame public discourse about immigration
in California include Immigrants are Animals, and
Immigration is Dangerous Waters. This work will appear in 2001 under the title Brown
Tide Rising: Metaphoric Representations of Latinos in Contemporary Public
Discourse (University of Texas Press).
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| TEACHING/
COURSES |
 CCS
10B Chicanos in American Society.
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