Cultural Trauma and Inhuman Citizenship Impact on Mexican Americans' Identity in Rain of Gold

Anggi Puspitasari, Achmad Munjid, M.A., Ph.D.

2024 | Tesis | MAGISTER PENGKAJIAN AMERIKA

Revolusi Meksiko, menyebabkan peningkatan yang signifikan terhadap jumlah penduduk Meksiko yang melintasi perbatasan Amerika Serikat. America known as ‘the nation of immigrant’, Amerika diharapkan menerima imigrant Mexican yang masuk ke Amerika Serikat. However Mexican American banyak menghadapi diskriminasi di Amerika Serikat, hal itu menjadi topik yang sering menjadi perbincangan dan banyak dituliskan dalam karya sastra.

Rain of Gold karya Victor Villaseñor merupakan salah satu novel yang menulis mengenai Revolusi Meksiko yang menyebabkan Mexican American banyak yang bermigrasi ke Amerika Serika dan ketidaketaraan yang mereka hadapi ketika berada di negara tersebut. Oleh karena itu, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melihat ingatan trauma yang membentuk trauma kultural dalam Rain of Gold dan juga melihat inhuman citizenship yang memperparah cultural trauma yang berdampak kepada Mexican American identity yang dilihat dalam Rain of Gold. Melalui metode qualitative, teory collective memory dari Halbwachs, cultural trauma dari Alexander, dan inhuman citizenship dari Chang digunakan dalam menjawab rumusan masalah dalam penelitian ini. Data utama diambil dari novel Rain of Gold dalam bentuk kalimat yang berjumlah 30 data dan didukung dengan supporting data dari buku, thesis, articles, and online sources.

Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa memori trauma dalam Rain of Gold yang membentuk cultural trauma termasuk memori tentang ketakutan, penculikan, pemerkosaan, perampasan, dan pembunuhan ketika Revolusi Meksiko terjadi menyebabkan cultural trauma. Hasil kedua menunjukkan bahwa Mexican American menerima inhuman citizenship seperti stereotipe dan prasangka, dianggap sebagai kelompok subordinat, menghadapi segregasi pemukiman, eksploitasi di tempat kerja, serta diskriminasi di America Serikat. Inhuman citizenship memperparah cultural trauma dari Mexican American yang berdampak pada identitas mereka, hal ini menjadikan Mexican American merasa inferior, terpinggirkan, atau bahkan terputus pada akar budaya mereka.

The Mexican Revolution caused a significant increase in the number of Mexicans who emigrated to the United States. America is known as ‘the nation of immigrants. America was expected to accept Mexican immigrants who entered the United States. However, Mexican Americans face a lot of inequality in the United States; it is a topic that is often discussed and written about in literary works. 

Rain of Gold by Victor Villaseñor is one of the novels that emphasizes the Mexican Revolution issues, which led to the emigration of many Mexican citizens and the inequality they faced while in the United States.Therefore, this study aims to see the traumatic memories that shape cultural trauma in Rain of Gold and also see inhuman citizenship that exacerbates cultural trauma that impacts Mexican American identity as seen in Rain of Gold. Through qualitative methods, Halbwach’s collective memory, Alexander’s cultural trauma, and Chang’s inhuman citizenship are used to answer the formulated research problem. The data were taken from the novel Rain of Gold in the form of sentences with 30 data in total.

The result of this research shows trauma memories in Rain of Gold shape cultural trauma, including memories of fear, kidnapping, rape, robbery, and murder when the Mexican Revolution occurred, cause cultural trauma. The second result shows that Mexican Americans receive inhuman citizenship, such as stereotypes and prejudices, as a subordinate group, facing residential segregation, exploitation in the workplace, and discrimination in the United States. Inhuman citizenship exacerbates the cultural trauma of Mexican Americans, which has an impact on their identity; this makes Mexican Americans feel inferior, marginalised, or even disconnected from their cultural roots.

Kata Kunci : Collective memory, cultural trauma, inhuman citizenship, Mexican American, Rain of Gold