José Antonio Burciaga
Encyclopedia
José Antonio "Tony" Burciaga (1940 - October 7, 1996) was a Chicano
artist
, poet
, and writer
who explored issues of Chicano identity and American
society.
. In many ways, his childhood in El Paso laid the foundations for his future as a writer. During the summer he often read biographies, his favorite pastime. His mother, who had been a schoolteacher in Mexico, used to read to him as a child. Storytelling was an integral part of his family life. His youth was also influenced by the fact that his family lived in the basement apartment
of a synagogue
, where his father worked as a caretaker for forty years. This circumstance exposed him to a different culture at an impressionable age, and in the 1950s his group of friends became known as the Temple Gang.
. After completing his military service, he earned a B.A. in fine arts from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1968 and started work as an illustrator and graphic artist, first in Mineral Wells, Texas (an experience he later recorded in an "Hispanic Link" column called "Mineral Wells--A Near and Distant Memory"), and then in Washington, D.C., where he began his participation in the Chicano movement and where he met Cecilia Preciado, whom he married in 1972.
After moving to California in 1974 so Cecilia could work at Stanford University, Burciaga started writing reviews and columns for local journals and newspapers. In 1985 he became a freelance contributor to the syndicated column "Hispanic Link" and the Pacific News Service.
On May 5, 1984, he helped found the Latino comedy troupe, Culture Clash
at the Galería de la Raza
in San Francisco's Mission District along with Marga Gómez, Monica Palacios, Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Sigüenza. Tony continued performing with group until 1988.
Tony and Cecilia Burciaga lived near Stanford University
, where Cecilia served in various positions, including Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs, and Assistant to the President as Director of the Office of Chicano Affairs. In her post, she became very active in the support and formation of the Chicano community at Stanford, including the creation of El Centro Chicano, a Chicano/Latino student center. Tony Burciaga continued his writing and drawing.
In 1985, Tony and Cecilia became Resident Fellows in Casa Zapata, a unique Chicano theme dormitory where approximately half of the residents were Chicano undergraduate students. Tony, Cecilia, and their two children lived in a small apartment attached to the dormitory. The dormitory put on various Chicano and Latino-related educational events and gatherings, and was also well-known for its history of mural art. In Casa Zapata, Burciaga contributed to this tradition, and painted several murals with students. His most well-known mural is the critically acclaimed "Last Supper of Chicano Heroes" in the Casa Zapata dining hall. The students of the dorm filled out a survey about who their heroes were, then Burciaga placed these figures sitting around the table in the traditional image of "The Last Supper." Included in this image were people such as César Chávez
, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Ignacio Zaragoza
, Che Guevara
, Martin Luther King, Jr.
, and others. It is part of a larger mural entitled "The History of Maize." The Burciagas served as Resident Fellows until 1994.
As a writer, Burciaga became increasingly successful in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the publication of several books. Weedee Peepo (1988), Drink Cultura (1993), and Spilling the Beans (1995) are all collections of essay exploring social issues with a bilingual blend of wit and wisdom. His 1992 book of poetry, Undocumented Love, won the American Book Award
.
Through his writings, he regularly spoke at various community-based events for social justice in the San Francisco Bay Area
including East Palo Alto
, Redwood City
, and San Jose
. Burciaga was intensely involved in supporting actions for social justice including opposing anti-immigration movements such as California Proposition 187 and other English-only policies.
In 1995, while in remission from cancer, Burciaga won the Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature
.
Burciaga died on October 7, 1996. At the time, he was working on his first novel about a group of friends growing up in El Paso, Texas. In 1997, In Few Words/ En Pocas Palabras: A Compendium of Latino Folk Wit and Wisdom, was published posthumously.
Burciaga's success as a muralist, poet, journalist, and humorist was in his versatility and virtuosity with language. He wrote in Spanish, English, and combinations of the two to express social criticism and his deep feelings of alienation. Francisco Lomelí and Donaldo Urioste, in their review (De Colores, 1977) of Restless Serpents (1976), said that his poetry "is powered by an incisive sense of irony with the purpose of criticizing set or ignored truths.... His critical approach becomes effective because his attacks avoid demagogic or abstract declarations."
Burciaga's appeal as a writer lay in his sense of humor, which he used to satirize the rigidity of a system still clinging to traditions of racism
and discrimination
. With few exceptions his themes are eminently political and social, echoing the early militant voices of poets like Ricardo Sánchez, Abelardo Barrientos Delgado, and Raymundo "Tigre" Pérez, although Burciaga was distinctly more sophisticated than the latter two and avoided Sánchez's strident anger and provocative license with language.
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
who explored issues of Chicano identity and American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
society.
Early life
Burciaga was born and raised in the border town of El Paso, TexasEl Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
. In many ways, his childhood in El Paso laid the foundations for his future as a writer. During the summer he often read biographies, his favorite pastime. His mother, who had been a schoolteacher in Mexico, used to read to him as a child. Storytelling was an integral part of his family life. His youth was also influenced by the fact that his family lived in the basement apartment
Basement apartment
A basement apartment is an apartment located below street level, underneath another structure—usually an apartment building, but possibly a house or a business. Rent in basement apartments is usually much lower than it is in above-ground units, due to a number of deficiencies common to basement...
of a synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
, where his father worked as a caretaker for forty years. This circumstance exposed him to a different culture at an impressionable age, and in the 1950s his group of friends became known as the Temple Gang.
Career
In 1960 Burciaga joined the United States Air Force. After spending a year in Iceland, where he wrote extensively as part of his job, he was sent to Zaragoza, Spain, for three years. There he discovered the work of Spanish poet, Federico García LorcaFederico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
. After completing his military service, he earned a B.A. in fine arts from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1968 and started work as an illustrator and graphic artist, first in Mineral Wells, Texas (an experience he later recorded in an "Hispanic Link" column called "Mineral Wells--A Near and Distant Memory"), and then in Washington, D.C., where he began his participation in the Chicano movement and where he met Cecilia Preciado, whom he married in 1972.
After moving to California in 1974 so Cecilia could work at Stanford University, Burciaga started writing reviews and columns for local journals and newspapers. In 1985 he became a freelance contributor to the syndicated column "Hispanic Link" and the Pacific News Service.
On May 5, 1984, he helped found the Latino comedy troupe, Culture Clash
Culture Clash
Culture Clash may refer to:* Culture Clash , American performance troupe* Culture Clash , British band which plays Harare Jit music...
at the Galería de la Raza
Galería de la Raza
Galería de la Raza is a non-profit art gallery and artist collective that serves the heavily-Latino population of San Francisco's Mission District. GDLR mounts exhibitions, hosts poetry readings, workshops, and celebrations, sells works of art, and sponsors youth and artist-in-residence programs...
in San Francisco's Mission District along with Marga Gómez, Monica Palacios, Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Sigüenza. Tony continued performing with group until 1988.
Tony and Cecilia Burciaga lived near Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, where Cecilia served in various positions, including Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs, and Assistant to the President as Director of the Office of Chicano Affairs. In her post, she became very active in the support and formation of the Chicano community at Stanford, including the creation of El Centro Chicano, a Chicano/Latino student center. Tony Burciaga continued his writing and drawing.
In 1985, Tony and Cecilia became Resident Fellows in Casa Zapata, a unique Chicano theme dormitory where approximately half of the residents were Chicano undergraduate students. Tony, Cecilia, and their two children lived in a small apartment attached to the dormitory. The dormitory put on various Chicano and Latino-related educational events and gatherings, and was also well-known for its history of mural art. In Casa Zapata, Burciaga contributed to this tradition, and painted several murals with students. His most well-known mural is the critically acclaimed "Last Supper of Chicano Heroes" in the Casa Zapata dining hall. The students of the dorm filled out a survey about who their heroes were, then Burciaga placed these figures sitting around the table in the traditional image of "The Last Supper." Included in this image were people such as César Chávez
César Chávez
César Estrada Chávez was an American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers ....
, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Ignacio Zaragoza
Ignacio Zaragoza
Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín was a general in the Mexican army, best known for defeating invading French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 ....
, Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
, and others. It is part of a larger mural entitled "The History of Maize." The Burciagas served as Resident Fellows until 1994.
As a writer, Burciaga became increasingly successful in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the publication of several books. Weedee Peepo (1988), Drink Cultura (1993), and Spilling the Beans (1995) are all collections of essay exploring social issues with a bilingual blend of wit and wisdom. His 1992 book of poetry, Undocumented Love, won the American Book Award
American Book Award
The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
.
Through his writings, he regularly spoke at various community-based events for social justice in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
including East Palo Alto
East Palo Alto, California
East Palo Alto is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States.-Overview:As of the 2010 census, the population of East Palo Alto was 28,155. It is situated on the San Francisco Peninsula, roughly halfway between the cities of San Francisco and San Jose...
, Redwood City
Redwood City, California
Redwood City is a California charter city located on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California, approximately 27 miles south of San Francisco, and 24 miles north of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans from its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people, to its tradition as a port for...
, and San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
. Burciaga was intensely involved in supporting actions for social justice including opposing anti-immigration movements such as California Proposition 187 and other English-only policies.
In 1995, while in remission from cancer, Burciaga won the Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature
Hispanic Heritage Foundation
The Hispanic Heritage Foundation is a non-profit organization operating out of Reston, Virginia that works to increase the number of Latina and Latino leaders in society...
.
Burciaga died on October 7, 1996. At the time, he was working on his first novel about a group of friends growing up in El Paso, Texas. In 1997, In Few Words/ En Pocas Palabras: A Compendium of Latino Folk Wit and Wisdom, was published posthumously.
Burciaga's success as a muralist, poet, journalist, and humorist was in his versatility and virtuosity with language. He wrote in Spanish, English, and combinations of the two to express social criticism and his deep feelings of alienation. Francisco Lomelí and Donaldo Urioste, in their review (De Colores, 1977) of Restless Serpents (1976), said that his poetry "is powered by an incisive sense of irony with the purpose of criticizing set or ignored truths.... His critical approach becomes effective because his attacks avoid demagogic or abstract declarations."
Burciaga's appeal as a writer lay in his sense of humor, which he used to satirize the rigidity of a system still clinging to traditions of racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
. With few exceptions his themes are eminently political and social, echoing the early militant voices of poets like Ricardo Sánchez, Abelardo Barrientos Delgado, and Raymundo "Tigre" Pérez, although Burciaga was distinctly more sophisticated than the latter two and avoided Sánchez's strident anger and provocative license with language.
Writings
- RESTLESS SERPENTS (1976) -- Book
- "La Verdad es que Me Canso" (1976) -- Poem
- "It's the Same Guy" (1977) -- Poem
- Rio Grande, Rio Bravo (1978) -- Short Story
- Romantic Nightmare (1978) -- Short Story
- "Smelda and Rio Grande" (1978) -- Poem
- "Pasatiempos and There's a Vulture" (1978) -- Poem
- "World Premiere" (1978) -- Poem
- "Ghost Riders" (1978) -- Poem
- "To Mexico with Love" (1978) -- Poem
- Drink Cultura (1979) -- Essays
- Españotli Titlan Englishic (1980) -- Short Story
- El Corrido de Pablo Ramírez (1980) -- Short Story
- "Letanía en Caloacute" (1980) -- Poem
- "Dear Max and Without Apologies" (1980) -- Poem
- "The Care Package" (1980) -- Poem
- Versos Para Centroamérica (1981) -- Novel
- "I Remember Masa" (1981) -- Poem
- "For Emmy" (1981) -- Poem
- Sammy y los Del Tercer Barrio (1983) -- Short Story
- La Sentencia (1984) -- Short Story
- "El Retefemenismo and El Juan Cuéllar de San Jo" (1984) -- Poem
- WEEDEE PEEPO: A Collection of Essays (1988) -- Book
- UNDOCUMENTED LOVE/AMOR INDOCUMENTADO: A Personal Anthology of Poetry (1992) --Book
- DRINK CULTURA: Chicanismo (1993) -- Book
- SPILLING THE BEANS: Loteria Chicana (1995) -- Book
- IN FEW WORDS/ EN POCAS PALABRAS: A Compendium of Latino Folk Wit and Wisdom (1997) --Book
- "The Last Supper of Chicano Heroes: The Selected Works of Jose Antonio Burciaga" Edited my Mimi Gladstein and Daniel Chacon. (2008)
External links
- In Memory of José Antonio Burciaga Revolutionary Worker #889, January 12, 1997
- José Antonio Burciaga (1940-1996) Cal-State Northridge, 20 years of Culture Clash
- José Antonio Burciaga Galeria de la Raza