For many Norteños, my family included, Anglo racism fractured our cultural continuity. Parents often withheld Spanish from their children to protect them from punishment and shame, resulting in the loss of an important component of our culture. What is lost is more than a language - it is the nuance of Northern New Mexican Spanish, a dialect unique to this region and deeply tied to our identity. The thought of its disappearance among other cultural traditions is devastating and this project is part of an effort to resist that loss, discover an honest history, and to celebrate our culture and collective resilience.
The beauty in our traditions aside, being Hispano is complex. Our culture is rooted in Spanish colonial and Indigenous Mexican traditions, yet it was also built upon (and often to the detriment of) the land, knowledge, and ways of Native peoples who lived in New Mexico long before our ancestors arrived. My own family history reflects this duality of existing as both colonizer and colonized. Being biracial - half Hispano and half Anglo - these complexities are further amplified, and continue to shape my perspective, my practice, and are part of the impetus for this project.
