Trinity University

Russell Guerrero '83
russell.guerrero@trinity.edu
210-999-8444
Oct. 26, 2012

Trinity University to host presentation for New Book on ‘Undesirable’ Mexican/Chicano Characters

The book, Wild Tongues, traces the development of Peladita/Peladito and the Pachuca/Pachuco characters in Mexican Transnational popular culture

SAN ANTONIO - Trinity University will hold a presentation for the release of a new book written by Rita Urquijo-Ruiz, associate professor of Spanish, on fictional Mexican/Chicano characters at odds with society. The book, Wild Tongues: Transnational Mexican Popular Cultures has been published by the University of Texas Press and is part of its Chicana Matters Series.  The event will begin at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 7, at the William Knox Holt Center, 106 Oakmont Court, and is free and open to the public. A reception and book signing will follow the presentation.

Wild Tongues traces the development and rise of the Peladita/Peladito and the Pachuca/Pachuco characters found in the literature, movies, music, and performing arts of Mexican and Chicano culture. Urquijo-Ruiz explores how the Mexican Peladita/Peladito character, usually portrayed as destitute, downtrodden, and comical but who also provided sharp social criticism, paved the way for the zoot-suited Pachuca/Pachucos found later in across the border in the United States.

In addition to the book reading by Urquijo-Ruiz, San Antonio artist Deborah Kuetzpal Vasquez, the artist who donated the book cover art, will give a presentation on her artwork.  For more information, contact the department of modern languages and literatures at 210-999-7526 or Urquijo-Ruiz at rurquijo@trinity.edu.