The Corrido and the Emergence of Texas-Mexican Social Identity
Author(s): Richard R. Flores
Source: The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 105, No. 416 (Spring, 1992), pp. 166-182 Published by: American Folklore Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/541084 . Accessed: 17/01/2011 15:54 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=folk. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. American Folklore Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of American Folklore. http://www.jstor.org RICHARD R. FLORES The Corrido and the Emergence of Texas-Mexican Social Identity The scholarship on the Lower-Border corrido of South Texas reveals how this genre is itself related to the cultural tension that has existed along the Texas- Mexico border since the early 1800s. This article shows how "Los Sediciosos," a corrido that appeared sometime after 1915, shifts the boundaries of the classic narrative form of the corrido in ways that anticipate future Mexican-American and Chicano/Chicana narrative practices. In essence, folklore performance in South Texas is the vehicle through which the identity of an emerging group of people, the mexicotejano, or Texas-Mexican, is expressed. THE SCHOLARSHIP ON THE LOWER-BORDER "CORRIDO" [folk ballad] of South Texas shows how the social world that produced this narrative form posited the notion of a unified and collective Mexican hero fighting against the Texas Rangers. As such, this genre is deeply related to the cultural and national con- flict that has existed along the Texas-Mexico border since the early 1800s. The purpose of this article is to show that soon after the events surrounding the Plan de San Diego in 1915, the narrative form of the corrido gave way, if only momentarily, to the emergent consciousness of Texas-Mexican social iden- tity, a consciousness different from that expressed by the poetics of the Mex- ican hero. That is, the text of the corrido "Los Sediciosos," which is the focus of this article, begins to distinguish between two types of Mexicans: the puro mexicano [true-born Mexican], whose identity and consciousness is related more to the politics of Mexico; and the mexicotejano [Texas-Mexican], whose identity is shaped by issues of ethnic identity in the United States. Further- more, although it has been said that the cohesiveness of the corrido is that it speaks in a singular voice, and that it represents the communal and integrated character of the community from which the corrido's authors and audience descend (Saldivar 1990), I wish to show that it is precisely in the narrativization of the actions of the Seditionists in 1915, in the text of "Los Sediciosos," that a new social experience and identity, however uneven and incomplete, shifts the formal boundaries of the corrido by adding a second voice to its mono- vocal form.' In essence, the folk performance of the corrido "Los Sediciosos" Richard R. Flores is assistant professor, Department ofAnthropology and Chicano Studies Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison Flores, The Corrido and the Emergence of Texas-Mexican Social Identity 167 becomes the vehicle for signaling the emergent consciousness of the mexico- tejano, or Texas-Mexican, and, as such, is a precursor of future "Mexican- American," "Chicano" and "Chicana" narrative formations.2 The Anglo-Mexican World: 1800-1915 The history of Texas-Mexico border clashes between 1850 and 1910 is dom- inated by crisis, tension, and conflict between Anglos and Mexicans.3 How- ever, of all the issues, those involving national boundaries, property, and the use of land in general were the most significant. Beginning in the early 1800s, the movement of Anglo-American settlers into Mexican territory caused the first major confrontation between these two groups. Border disputes contin- ued throughout the first three decades of the century and culminated in the war for Texas independence that ended in 1836 and the U.S. declaration of war against Mexico in 1846. Expansion of U.S. territory and the development of American economic interest served as major causes of this war. The defeat of the Mexicans ended with the signing of the "Treaty of Gua- dalupe-Hidalgo" on 2 February 1848. The key elements of the treaty were the establishment of the Rio Grande River as the border between the two countries and the ceding of the lands to the United States. This territory included the current states of California, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, and parts of Col- orado, Arizona, and Utah. The Mexican people living in these areas had a choice of remaining and becoming citizens of the United States or returning to Mexico. For those who stayed, land grants and property were to be re- spected as well as the Mexican culture and language. The signing of the treaty put a formal end to the hostilities, but, in effect, it was the beginning of a new era of conflicts and struggles between Mexicans in the U.S. and their Anglo neighbors. The rights guaranteed by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo to the Mexican people-ownership of the land, due process of law, maintenance of the cul- ture, and others-were quickly undermined by the Anglo community (Acufia 1981). As could be expected, control and ownership of land was a key factor in establishing Anglo-Texan authority in the territory. "Immediately after the war with Mexico," Richmond claims, a greedy land grab ensued which alienated the Mexican community in Texas for good. .... The authorities declared "vacant" all communal and municipal lands distributed earlier. The General Law of 1852 validated some original Spanish land grants but many claims were lost simply for the lack of representation before the commission as required by law. The "vacant" lands were then sold to Anglos at very low prices. [Richmond 1980:3] These and similar practices of the growing Anglo community did not find passive victims in the Mexican people. In July 1859Juan Cortina, a U.S. citi- zen under the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, shot Marshall Bob Spears of Brownsville after seeing him pistol whip a Mexican. After shooting Spears, 168 Journal of American Folklore 105 (1992) Cortina enlisted the support of several landowners in the area and wrote a manifesto against the Anglo-Texans. In an effort to strike back at those who had persecuted Mexicans as well as stolen their land, Cortina attacked Brownsville, defeated the local Brownsville and Matamoros militias (as well as the Texas Rangers), and raised the Mexican flag over the city. In February of 1860, Robert E. Lee was sent after Cortina. Cortina eventually fled to the Mexican side of the border, turning his interest to Mexico's war with the French. Although the conflict ceased with Cortina on the Mexican side of the border, the backlash from his raids would be felt for some time. Perhaps the best known incident of the border conflict years occurred in 1901 when Gregorio Cortez shot and killed Sheriff W. T. Morris in self de- fense after the two had an argument and linguistic miscommunication over the trading of a mare. Morris's death resulted in a massive search for Cortez by the Texas Rangers. As they followed him to the Mexican border, the Rangers thought little of shooting innocent Mexicans whom they considered to be part of a nonexistent Cortez gang. In a show of solidarity, the Mexican community organized to raise money and social awareness about the Cortez affair (Paredes 1958). One of the least known instances of border conflict occurred in 1915 and concerns a revolutionary plan known as the Plan de San Diego. Although the circumstances surrounding the writing of the Plan are debated by historians, the Plan is believed to have been partially written by six or seven Mexicans, who have come to be known as the Seditionists, while they were imprisoned in Monterrey, Mexico, in January 1915. It was finalized by Basilio Ramos and other signatories later that year (Cumberland 1954; Gomez-Quifiones 1970; Harris and Sadler 1978; Richmond 1980). The Texas authorities acquired the Plan when a copy was found in the possession of one of its authors, Basilio Ramos, when he was arrested in McAllen, Texas, in lateJanuary 1915. Ramos was charged with treason for possession of a revolutionary document, but when the revolt, as outlined in the Plan, failed to materialize, the charges were dismissed and Ramos was released on 13 May 1915 (Longoria 1982:214). The details of the Plan call for a general uprising of all Texas-Mexicans liv- ing on the border at 2:00 P.M. on 20 February 1915. The objective of the up- rising was to retake the territories lost to the United States in the wars of 1836 and 1846-48. This territory, consisting of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and California, was to become a new independent Mexi- can republic from which land would be granted to Blacks, Indians, and Asians so that they could form their own autonomous states (Gomez-Quifiones 1970; Hager 1963). With the incarceration of Ramos, 20 February passed uneventfully. How- ever, in late May and continuing until late fall of that year, border raids led by Aniceto Pizafia and Luis de la Rosa, two local Texas-Mexican Seditionists, were carried out, almost weekly, against the Anglo-Texan community. These raids consisted of attacks on individuals, stores, post offices, bridges, and rail- Flores, The Corrido and the Emergence of Texas-Mexican Social Identity 169 roads. Also, as noted from the text of "Los Sediciosos," the Seditionists di- rected special aggression against the Texas Rangers. Pizafia and de la Rosa car- ried out their attacks with no more than a hundred men-the numbers were often fewer-and they raided as far north as the King Ranch in Kleberg County. The United States government responded by increasing its military force on the border with troops from the U.S. Army and the Texas Rangers (Cumberland 1954; Hager 1963). On 21 October 1915 the last raid by the Se- ditionists took place at Ojo de Agua, putting an end to the revolutionary effort connected with the Plan de San Diego.4 The Lower-Border Corrido Tradition: The Social Content of Aesthetic Form The work of Americo Paredes has set the standard for corrido scholarship, and his book, With His Pistol in His Hand: A Border Ballad and its Hero (1958), is a classic text on the subject. According to Paredes, the corrido of border conflict originated in 1859 with the Cortina incident and reached its height in 1915 with the border raids conducted by the Seditionists. This genre is rec- ognized through its highly formalized narrative style, exemplified by its oc- tosyllabic lines and regulated use of rhyme and assonance, and built upon the use of its key metaphors of "rinche" (the name given to the Texas Rangers that makes use of the negative Spanish language suffix -inche) and the Mexican hero "con su pistola en la mano" [with his pistol in his hand]. Relatedly, the corrido speaks of the Mexican hero standing up to U.S. authorities, usually repre- sented by the rinches, and boasting about his bravery. In most cases, descrip- tions of horses can be found, as well as the "clown" who, on the verge of tears, exists in sharp contrast to the honor of the Mexican hero (Paredes 1974). Therefore, the corrido strategically adapts various aspects of conflict so that they become battles between the "rinches" and the Mexican "heroes." And to the extent that conflict between Anglos and Mexicans on the Texas-Mexico border is due to cultural and national difference, the border corrido functions as an expression of resistance. Although the majority of corridos of border conflict are based on historical fact and depict the actions and events of actual characters, the corrido is also a vehicle for interpreting historical events. Paredes states that a ballad tradition "crystallize[s] at one particular time and place into a whole ballad corpus, which by its very weight impresses itself on the consciousness of the people" (1963:231-235). This crystallization is critical in understanding the narrative (and semic) cohesiveness of the corrido, because the corrido form is not just a vehicle for representing day-to-day events (like the classic corridos of Juan Cortina, Gregorio Cortez, and others), but one that expresses the collective ideas and social discourse of Mexicans in South Texas. In a case study on this point, Paredes analyzes the account ofJos6 Mosqueda, an outlaw who robbed a train carrying approximately $75,000 in gold and silver from Brownsville, 170 Journal ofAmerican Folklore 105 (1992) Texas, to Point Isabel. The "Corrido ofJos6 Mosqueda," however, denies the events of the robbery, and instead fabricates a new sequence of events in which Mosqueda becomes a hero of border conflict. In this example, actual events are changed to fit the culturally mediated narrative form of the border-conflict corrido. Paredes anticipates, in a perhaps unconscious way, the later work of critical theorist Fredric Jameson by showing how narratives are reshaped in ways that signal their social and class formations (Jameson 1981). At this point, the social content of the corrido of border conflict becomes the focus of my inquiry. For, if history has been excised for the purpose of constructing a cohesive (and ideological) narrative, those that fit the classic characteristics of the corrido form, the task of recovering this lost history calls for a rereading and rewriting through the narrative discourse itself. Of Heroes and Rinches The classic form of the corrido is not confined to Cortina, Cortez, or the Seditionists, but is found in most corridos of border conflict. In his book, A Texas-Mexican Cancionero, Paredes mentions 33 songs in the chapter "Songs of Border Conflict" (1976). Of these songs, 18 concern the mexicano commu- nity, and 12 specifically mention the Mexican hero armed with a pistol or rifle. In these texts, the hero is the idealized and symbolic Mexican "who defends his right with his pistol in his hand, and who either escapes at the end or goes down before superior odds in a sense victor even in defeat" (Paredes 1958:124). But at the level of form, the Mexican hero is not the individual historical figure (as was evidenced in the "Corrido of Jose Mosqueda"), but embodies the larger, collective figuration of the local community. The extent to which the Mexican hero is synonymous with the fate of the local community has led Ram6n Saldivar to conclude that a distinction between the Mexican hero and the community as a whole cannot be maintained, and that the Mexican hero stands "not as an individual" but as a poetically constructed figure represent- ing the community that constitutes him (1990:36). Considering this, the Mex- ican heroes of the corrido, like the narrative figures of Cortez, Cortina, and others, are no longer individual personas, but discursive figures who are de- rived from the social and cultural world of the corrido's authors and audience. The narrative and collective constructions of the corridos are not limited to the Mexican hero, but also provide for their narrative antagonist in the "rinche." Through this poetic form, the mexicano community objectified its mistrust of the Anglo-Texans who assumed social, cultural, and economic dominance in the area through the brutal activities of the Texas Rangers. As Paredes states, The Texas Ranger always carries a rusty old gun in his saddlebags. This is for when he kills an unarmed Mexican. He drops the gun beside the body and then claims he killed the Mexican in self-defense and after a furious battle. [Paredes 1958:24] Flores, The Corrido and the Emergence of Texas-Mexican Social Identity 171 The term "rinche" not only signifies mistrust or deceit, but also the violence and exploitation inflicted upon the mexicano community by the Texas Rang- ers. It was not uncommon for Rangers, acting as judge, jury, and execution- ers, to summarily lynch Mexicans suspected of thievery or banditry. Nor was it unknown for the Rangers to seize the land of Mexicans so that it could be sold cheaply to incoming Anglo-Texan entrepreneurs (Montejano 1987). In sum, the Lower-Border corrido stemmed from the political and cultural po- etics of the mexicano community and was a means of responding to and re- sisting the encroachment and exploitation of the Anglo-Texan. Of Rangers and Bandits The binary opposition of Mexican "heroes" and Anglo "rinches" found in border corridos is not only a textual construction but also dialogically related to the accepted Anglo-Texan view of the relationship between Mexicans and the Texas Rangers. This is perhaps best summarized by Lyndon Johnson in his foreword to the second edition of Walter Prescott Webb's The Texas Rang- ers (1965:x), where he characterizes the Texas Rangers as men engaged in a "never-ending quest for an orderly, secure, but open and free society. . . ." And, whereas Webb perpetuates, even celebrates, the Texas Rangers as knights pursuing a chivalrous quest for order, he cannot entirely overlook the suffering and "orgy of bloodshed" they inflicted on the Mexican population of Texas (Webb 1965:478). As such, the Texas Rangers signified the kind of power and blind ambition that was necessary for gaining land and commercial dominance in this once Mexican territory. Anglo-Texans also created their own generally agreed upon notion of the Mexican character, as seen in the way the exploits of the Seditionists were dis- cussed in the local Anglo-Texas press. Although the Plan, from the perspec- tive of the Mexicans who wrote it, was based upon the reclamation of lost or stolen land, the Anglo-Texan discourse concerning the raids of the Seditionists was quite different. The headline of a San Antonio paper of 9 August 1915 reads: "Border Outlaws Engage Rangers on Norias Ranch" (San Antonio Ex- press:1); the Brownsville paper of 27 August 1915 claims: "Alleged Norias Bandit Killed-An Encounter North of Edinburg between Rangers and sup- posed Bandits" (Brownsville Herald:1); and in Del Rio, Texas, the events take on heightened proportions as reported in a San Antonio paper on 27 August 1915: "Del Rio Ask for more Protection-A Heavy Increase in Mexican Pop- ulation alarms citizens of Val Verde County" (San Antonio Express:2). In these accounts, the political and social exploits of a few Mexican revolutionaries are presented as the activities of "bandits," generalized to the entire population, and are responsible for promoting an image of Mexicans as "lazy, dirty, thiev- ing, devious, conspiratorial, sexually hyperactive and overly fond of alcohol" (Lim6n 1983:217). 172 Journal of American Folklore 105 (1992) The Lower-Border corrido dialogically responds to the Anglo discourse represented by the Texas Rangers through its own construction of Anglos as rinches and, more important, the Mexican as a "hero with his pistol in his hand." Corrido Form and Emergent Identity In his analysis of the narrative form of the corrido, John McDowell (1981) articulates several key features that are significant for my analysis of "Los Sed- iciosos." Lower-Border corridos, according to McDowell, consist of narra- tive elements, interspersed by dialogue or reported speech, that function as icons of the experiential substratum and lead to a sense of identification for the corrido community. This is achieved through the use of an impersonal and distancing authorial voice that separates the narrator from the events depicted, allowing the narrative material to "move from iconicity to identification" (1981:49). Essentially, the authorial voice of the corrido, through impersonal narrative and reported speech, expresses the values and sentiments located in the mexicano community (see Fig. 1).5 As diagramed, the authorial voice in the corrido, although it gives rise to dialogic elements through reported speech, frames the narrative as a cohesive, unified, and monolithic representation of the collective corrido community. Against this backdrop, the significance of a text that alters this form, such as "Los Sediciosos," is significant. The striking difference between the text of "Los Sediciosos" and the earlier corridos of Cortina, Cortez, and other heroic figures is the presence of two authorial voices. This is detected in the tension between the "puro mexicano" and the "mexicotejano. "6 The social world of earlier corridos posited a collec- tive and unified (homogeneous) Mexican hero(es) against the Anglo rinches. In "Los Sediciosos," this has changed; the notion of a homogeneous border AUTHORIAL VOICE L NARRATIVE REPORTED SPEECH l DIALOGUE Mexican Hero Rinche/Americano AUTHORIAL VOICE ' NARRATIVE Figure 1. Diagram of the classic corrido form. Flores, The Corrido and the Emergence of Texas-Mexican Social Identity 173 Mexican has given way to two voices: the pure Mexican and the Texas-Mex- ican, or mexicotejano, as the text of "Los Sediciosos" states. Ya la mecha estai encendida Now the fuse is lit por los puros mexicanos, by the true-born Mexicans, y los que van a pagarla and it will be the Texas-Mexicans son los mexicotejanos. who will have to pay the price. Although the phrase "mexicotejano" appears only once in this literal for- mat, the distinction is carried out in the next two stanzas. Ya la mecha estai encendida Now the fuse is lit, con azul y colorado, in blue and red, y los que van a pagarla and it will be those on this side, van a ser los de este lado. who will have to pay the price. Ya la mecha estai encendida, Now the fuse is lit, muy bonita y colorada, very nice and red, y la vamos a pagar and it will be those of us who are blameless, los que no debemos nada. who will have to pay the price. Breaking from its traditional form, the corrido of "Los Sediciosos" exhibits the following characteristics (see Fig. 2). Stanzas 1-3 (see Appendix) constitute authorial voice 1 (AVI), but the narrative changes in stanzas 4-6 create another voice, that of authorial voice 2 (AV2). Whereas Avl is, as McDowell suggests, impersonal in tone, that is not the case with AV2, which begins to bemoan the wrath the mexicotejano community will encounter as a result of the exploits of the Seditionists ("los que van a pagarla van a ser los de este lado"). This shift in tone signifies a crucial change in the classical form of the Lower-Border cor- rido. Because if it is true that "deeds do not have clearly distinct public and private reasons, motivations, or consequences, but only collectively symbolic dimensions," as Saldivar says (1990:37), the concern over the consequences of heroic deeds signals a variation in the classic corrido form. I will explore the meaning of this change below. The dialogic element of the text follows the corrido form outlined by McDowell with only slight variation. Instead of more direct and numerous AUTORIAL VOICETHAL VoICE'--- 4 AUTHORIAL VOICE- NARRATIVE I REPORTED SPEECH DIALOGUE Los Sediciosos Los Sediciosos Americano I AUTHORIAL VOICE'&2 NARRATIVE Figure 2. Diagram of the form of the corrido "Los Sediciosos." 174 Journal ofAmerican Folklore 105 (1992) exchanges between the Mexican hero(es) and the rinches or americanos, most of the dialogue takes place between the Seditionists themselves. The one place where the americano does speak, in stanza 11, he does so parodically, "con su sombrero en las manos" [with his hat in his hand]. Like the introductory narrative, the concluding narrative also diverges from the classic corrido form. Instead of the impersonal retelling of information, as in stanzas 13, 14, and 20, a personal narrative voice again expresses concern over the consequences of the deeds of the Seditionists, as seen in the phrase "nos dejaron una veta colorada" [they have left us a red swath to remember them by]. This leads to a fusion of authorial voices (AV1-Av2), as found in stanzas 21-23. At this point I would like to introduce Bakhtin's discussion of "authorita- tive" and "internally persuasive" discourse as a means of untangling these di- vergent voices in "Los Sediciosos." Authoritative discourse, for Bakhtin, is a narrative that is preeminent, powerful, and cohesive, forming the singular voice of political and moral authority that shapes and incorporates other dis- cursive forms to itself (here the significance of the outlaw-made-hero rings with special acuity) (1981:343). Subsequently, for Bakhtin, as well as for the classic corrido, this discourse cannot be "divided," or for the purposes of this text, hyphenated (1981:343). From my reading, authoritative discourse is the impersonal voice found in the Lower-Border corrido, one that coheres, uni- fies, and binds "without internal contradiction" (1981:342). Whereas Bakhtin sees it as the "word of fathers" (1981:344), I take it as the "word of heroes"; and whereas he sees it as the "voice of tradition" and "acknowledged truths" (1981:344), I read it as the demand of form. But, as noted above, "Los Sediciosos" encompasses more than one authorial voice. This second voice, I suggest, that of the mexicotejano (Av2), is, follow- ing Bakhtin, an "internally persuasive" discourse that is not backed by au- thority, tradition, or form, but one "born in a zone of contact" (1981:346). This voice signals a new set of emergent meanings that stem from the geo- graphical and cultural border zone where the U.S. and Mexico meet; it is a voice that can no longer be contained by the unifying discourse of the Mexican hero, but gives rise to a new, yet incomplete, voice in the mexicotejano. The uniqueness of this discourse for "Los Sediciosos" cannot be understated. No- where in Paredes's collection of songs from the Lower Border does the phrase "mexicotejano" exist until this text; and such "narrativization" works against the weight of a "whole ballad corpus" that has posited the notion of a unified Mexican hero. I suggest, therefore, that the addition of this narrative voice signals a different kind of awareness and identity for South Texas Mexicans. I would add to Bakhtin that not only is an "individual's becoming" marked by a "gap" between authoritative and internally persuasive discourse, but so is that of a "group" (1981:342). The "becoming" witnessed in this text is that of an emergent identity trying to speak in an expressive, formal voice, over and above the voice of the authoritative "Mexican" hero. And although this voice Flores, The Corrido and the Emergence of Texas-Mexican Social Identity 175 does not yet represent that of an autonomous "group," we have the begin- nings of a differentiated, neither Mexican nor American, community. Accordingly, references to los de este lado [those on this side] and los que no debemos nada [those of us who are blameless], synonyms for the mexicotejano, stem from the dialogic interaction between this emergent, internally persua- sive discourse of ethnic consciousness and the authoritative and formal voice expressed in the Mexican hero. One major event to substantiate this occurred in 1911, just prior to the peak of the corrido period. This is the primer con- greso mexicanista de 1911 [First Mexican Congress of 1911], which took place in Laredo, Texas. This congreso, organized by Nacasio Idar and his family, met to discuss five issues: (1) deteriorating Texas-Mexican economic condi- tions; (2) the already perceptible loss of Mexican culture and the Spanish lan- guage among border inhabitants; (3) general social discrimination; (4) educa- tion discrimination; and (5) the officially tolerated lynchings of Texas-Mexi- cans (Lim6n 1974:87-88). The primer congreso mexicanista is important in that it represents the mexicano community's emerging recognition of its rights and place in American society. These were not international or cross-border grievances, but the grievances of a community that, although experiencing social discrimination, was just beginning to see itself as part of U.S. society. Although Lim6n's article on the primer congreso mexicanista refers to many of the people with the referent "Texas-Mexican," the majority of those he quotes refer to themselves as "mexicanos." Only one person uses the phrase "Texas-Mexican" representing the new, and many times uneven, qualities of emergent identity (Williams 1977). However, it goes without saying that the entire agenda of the congreso signaled a growing distinction between those who saw themselves as Mexican in the national and geographic sense, like the Seditionists, and the new mexicotejanos. The text of "Los Sediciosos" contains other evidence of this new and emerg- ing social identity. In the same stanzas quoted above there is reference to the colors blue and red: "Ya la mecha esta encendida con azul y colorado. Ya la mecha esta encendida muy bonita y colorada." Reference to blue and red has a very spe- cific political meaning at this historical moment (Gonzalez 1930:89). The "pu- ros mexicanos" light their fires in blue and red, colors associated with the dem- ocratic and republican parties in South Texas, because these parties do not rep- resent their interests. The political process, American by design and jurisdic- tion, is of no significance to the puros mexicanos since they are culturally and ideologically Mexican. A recruiting handbill for the Plan de San Diego refers to them as "los buenos mexicanos, lospatriotas" [the good Mexicans, the patriots] (Montejano 1987:154). The puro mexicano is a patriot, not of the United States, but of Mexico. It is precisely here, in the difference between the puros mexicanos and mexicotejanos, that the unity of the corrido form shifts by in- corporating a second authorial voice (AV2). Although at one point Paredes, writing about Gregorio Cortez, could claim that "the point of view is local rather than national" (1958:183), I would suggest that, 15 years later, the view- 176 Journal of American Folklore 105 (1992) point is neither local nor national but "remains on that precarious utopian mar- gin between the two" (Saldivar 1990:174). The text of "Los Sediciosos" speaks in two distinct voices. Those who speak as puros mexicanos see Mexico, like their Mexican identity, as a haven to which they return (it is no coincidence that the heroic figures of Cortina, Cor- tez, and the Seditionists cross the border into Mexico). As such, the Lower- Border corrido is the collective expression of national and geo-cultural con- flict. But the text of "Los Sediciosos" is quite different. The communal, col- lective voice is split, no longer Mexican, but mexicotejano, reflexively signal- ing the mexicotejano community as the source and place of its construction. When the Lower-Border corrido has the Mexican "hero" and the Anglo "rinche" as its primary characters, issues of national and cultural conflict are represented, never moving beyond the "Mexicanness" of the mexicano hero or the "Americanness" of the Anglo rinche. However, as in the case of the mexicotejanos, "los de este lado," once identity is constructed from the social borders of socioeconomic and historical conditions of marginalization be- tween two cultures, the expressive, discursive form of that identity also changes.7 The personal narrative voice of "Los Sediciosos" is not that of the hero "with his pistol in his hand, " but of "los de este lado" [those on this side], who must face the consequences of an increasingly marginalized identity. Therefore, the authorial tension between the puro mexicano and mexicote- jano, between those who flee to Mexico and those who stay and "pay the price," signals an emergent social identity evolving from that "unstable bor- derline of difference," as Saldivar refers to it (1990:174), that distinguishes the mexicotejano from both Mexicans and Americans. As such, the narrative voice of the mexicotejano, and the emergent identity it represents, shift the formal boundaries of the Lower-Border corrido. Essentially, once border conflict ceases to be the primary issue, and the nar- rative terrain is the marginalized space between U.S. and Mexican culture, and not the U.S.-Mexico border, new narrative forms emerge, changing the role of the corrido and its "interpretations of the historical world" (Saldivar 1990:48).' However, future narratives do not appear sui generis, but emerge from, and draw upon, earlier expressive forms. Here lies the significance of "Los Sediciosos": it symbolically and formally begins to anticipate a con- sciousness found in future Chicano/Chicana narrative forms. As such, "Los Sediciosos" sets the narrative stage and enacts particular expressive precondi- tions of political consciousness that, a few years later, are realized.9 As Mario Garcia claims, The Mexican-American Generation, as a political entity, began to come of age in the 1930s, but its embryo can be detected in the Roaring Twenties. In this decade Mexican Americans already stressed the need for a new political direction for themselves based on two basic needs: the im- portance of instilling a new consiousness among Mexican Americans-to develop a "new Mex- ican" in the United States-and the need to organize new forms of political and civic organiza- Flores, The Corrido and the Emergence of Texas-Mexican Social Identity 177 tions-a "new politics"-that would best serve their interests separate from those of Mexican immigrants. [1989:26] Likewise, in an article on the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), an early Mexican-American political organization that appeared in the late 1920s, O. Douglas Weeks refers to this group as a "Texas-Mexican" organization (1929). The reference to "Texas-Mexican" is quite salient, be- cause it represents the extent to which this emergent identity had developed by 1929. And, more important, it reveals how narrative formations signal changes in social practice, since LULAC, according to Garcia, is one of the early political organizations attempting to rectify the marginal conditions of mexicanos in the U. S. (Garcia 1989). I contend that the presence of the mexicotejano voice in the text of "Los Sediciosos" anticipates, through formal change and reflexive self-reference, the ethnic consciousness of later generations. At the same time, I do not sug- gest that this text, and its formal changes, signal the presence of a fully devel- oped Mexican-American identity, or that one text constitutes an entire tradi- tion. Nor do I suggest that future Mexican-American or Chicano/Chicana narrative forms are based directly or entirely on the corrido. Yet, Saldivar's claim that the corrido's collective character leaves no space for the idiosyn- cratic voice must be reconsidered. In "Los Sediciosos," the mexicotejano ex- presses a collective consciousness, however fleeting and unformed, of the cor- rido community's emerging ethnic identity, an identity incapable of being ex- pressed by the authoritative discourse of the Mexican hero. That "Los Sedi- ciosos" begins to subvert the notion of a unified Mexican hero by displacing and decentering such an identity in favor of a split and multiple one character- istic of Chicano/Chicana narratives of future generations points to the discur- sive consonance this text anticipates."' Although in many ways the corrido "Los Sediciosos" maintains elements of the classic form-boasts, description of horses, the fearful clown (de la Rosa), and farewell-primary elements, such as the sense of a unified Mexican hero and the use of authoritative dis- course, are no longer present. Instead, the text distinguishes between two types of Mexicans: the "puro mexicano," whose identity stems from his Mex- ican allegiance, and the "mexicotejano," a cultural form born from the ethnic margins of Mexican and American society. Notes This article is an expanded and revised version of a paper read at the American Ethnological Society Meet- ing and the Mexican Americans in Texas History Conference, both held in the spring of 1991. I wish to thank Jos6 Lim6n, Richard Bauman, Olga Naijera Ramirez, Steve Lee, Ram6n Saldivar, Lourdes Giordani, and, as always, Christine Flores for reading and commenting on earlier drafts of this article. This research has been made possible by support from the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I would like to dedicate this article to Am6rico Paredes, whose scholarship and humanism have served as a model to em- ulate, and Jos6 Lim6n, whose critical insights and friendship have challenged me to think beyond my own personal borders. 178 Journal of American Folklore 105 (1992) 'For the sake of clarity, references to the Seditionists (in English) refer to the people who formulated and executed the Plan de San Diego, a small but significant revolutionary movement on the Texas-Mexico border in 1915 spoken about later in this article. References to "Los Sediciosos" (in Spanish) refer to the corrido describing the events. 2My distinction between Mexican-American and Chicano is quite specific. Mexican-Americans are gen- erally members of the Mexican origin population who were born in the U.S. and differentiate themselves from recent immigrants from Mexico on the basis of distinctions such as higher class ranking and social status. Such an effort has been characterized by Mario Garcia as the development of a "new Mexican" alongside a "new politics" (1989:26). I follow Jos6 Lim6n's usage of the term Chicano and use it "to identify an ethnic, nationalist individual or position, one opposed to accommodation and assimilation with United States culture and society" (1981:200). For an overview of Chicano and Chicana narrative see Saldivar (1990). 3This history has been the subject of recent, and not so recent, historiography. Historical surveys on this issue can be found in Acufia (1981), De Leon (1983), Montejano (1987), and Weber (1973). Works that are more focused along geographical or disciplinary lines include Barrera (1979), Foley et al. (1988), Garcia (1981), and Hinojosa (1983). Several of these historical events have been interpreted with their own corridos. The corridos ofJuan Cortina, Jacinto Trevifio, and Gregorio Cortez and the events surrounding them are espe- cially interesting. For a brief summary of these and other historical and narrative figures, see Paredes (1976, 1979). 4For a detailed study of the Mexican history of this period see Alba (1967) and Cockcroft (1968). 5The diagram I have outlined is my own variation of McDowell's schema (1981:48). 6In an earlier version of this article I alluded to this second voice less directly. I want to thank Richard Bauman for encouraging me to develop this idea further. 7Historical accounts of this marginalization can be found in Barrera (1979), Foley et al. (1988), and Mon- tejano (1987). 8Manuel PNna (1985) has suggested that the conjunto music of South Texas replaces the corrido in popu- larity after 1930 because its expressiveness allows it to more effectively interpret the class experience of South Texas Mexicans. On the changing function of the corrido see Pefia (1982). 9A classic example of how aesthetic forms begin to anticipate and set the preconditions of future political enactments and consciousness is Raymond Williams's discussion of how Jacobean dramatic form anticipated the subsequent enactment of Hobbesian political philosophy (1981:159). .0Lim6n (1992) considers the corrido as a "master poem," in Harold Bloom's terms, against which future generations of Chicano poets attempt to write their own "strong" poems. References Cited Acufia, Rodolfo. 1981 [1972]. Occupied America: A History of Chicanos. New York: Harper & Row. Alba, Victor. 1967. The Mexicans. New York: Praeger. Bakhtin, M. M. 1981. The Dialogic Imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press. Barrera, Mario. 1979. Race and Class in the Southwest. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press. Cockcroft, James D. 1968. Intellectual Precursors of the Mexican Revolution, 1900-1913. Austin: University of Texas Press. Cumberland, Charles C. 1954. Border Raids in the Lower Rio Grande Valley-1915. South- western Historical Quarterly 57:285-311. De Leon, Arnoldo. 1983. They Called Them Greasers. Austin: University of Texas Press. Foley, Douglas E., Clarice Mota, Donald E. Post, and Ignacio Lozano. 1988 [1977]. From Peones to Politicos. Austin: University of Texas Press. Garcia, Mario T. 1981. Desert Immigrants: The Mexicans of El Paso, 1880-1920. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. . 1989. Mexican Americans: Leadership, Ideology, and Identity 1930-1960. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. Flores, The Corrido and the Emergence of Texas-Mexican Social Identity 179 Gomez-Quifiones, Juan. 1970. The Plan of San Diego Revisited. Aztldn 1:124-132. Gonzalez, Jovita. 1930. Social Life in Cameron, Starr and Zapata Counties. M.A. thesis. Depart- ment of History, University of Texas, Austin. Hager, William H. 1963. The Plan of San Diego: Unrest on the Texas Border in 1915. Arizona and the West 5:326-336. Harris, Charles H. III, and Louis R. Sadler. 1978. The Plan of San Diego and the Mexican-United States War Crises of 1916: A Reexamination. Hispanic American Historical Review 58:381-408. Hinojosa, Gilberto. 1983. A Borderlands Town in Transition. College Station: Texas A&M Press. Jameson, Fredric. 1981. The Political Unconscious. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. Lim6n, Jose E. 1974. El Primer Congreso Mexicanista de 1911: A Precursor to Contemporary Chicanismo. Aztldn 5:85-117. . 1981. The Folk Performance of "Chicano" and the Cultural Limits of Political Ide- ology. In "And Other Neighborly Names": Social Process and Cultural Image in Texas Folklore, ed. R. Bauman and R. Abrahams, pp. 197-225. Austin: University of Texas Press. . 1983. Folklore, Social Conflict, and the United States-Mexico Border. In Handbook of American Folklore, ed. Richard Dorson, pp. 216-226. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. . 1992. Mexican Ballads, Chicano Poems: History and Influence in Mexican-American Social Poetics. Berkeley: University of California Press (in press). Longoria, Mario D. 1982. Revolution, Visionary Plan, and Marketplace: A San Antonio Inci- dent. Aztldn 12:211-225. McDowell, John H. 1981. The Corrido of Greater Mexico as Discourse, Music, and Event. In "And Other Neighborly Names": Social Process and Cultural Image in Texas Folklore, ed. R. Bau- man and R. Abrahams, pp. 44-75. Austin: University of Texas Press. Montejano, David. 1987. Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1986. Austin: Uni- versity of Texas Press. Paredes, Americo. 1958. "With His Pistol in His Hand": A Border Ballad and its Hero. Austin: Uni- versity of Texas Press. 1963. The Ancestry of Mexico's Corridos: A Matter of Definition. Journal of Amer- ican Folklore 76:231-235. . 1974. Jose Mosqueda and the Folklorization of Actual Events. Aztldn 4:1-30. 1976. A Texas-Mexican Cancionero. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 1979. The Folk Base of Chicano Literature. In Modern Chicano Writers: A Collection of Critical Essays, ed. Joseph Sommers and Tomais Ybarra-Frausto, pp. 4-17. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Pefia, Manuel. 1982. Folksong and Social Change: Two Corridos as Interpretive Sources. Aztldn 13:13-42. 1985. The Texas-Mexican Conjunto: History of a Working Class Music. Austin: Uni- versity of Texas Press. Richmond, Douglas W. 1980. La Guerra de Texas se renova: Mexican Insurrection and Carran- cista Ambitions, 1900-1920. Aztldn 11:1-32. Saldivar, Ram6n. 1990. Chicano Narrative: The Dialectics of Difference. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Webb, Walter Prescott. 1965 [1935]. The Texas Rangers. Austin: University of Texas Press. Weber, DavidJ., ed. 1973. Foreigners in their Native Land. Albuquerque: University of New Mex- ico Press. Weeks, O. Douglas. 1929. The League of United Latin American Citizens: A Texas-Mexican Civic Organization. Southwestern Political and Social Science Quarterly 3:257-278. William~s, Raymond. 1977. Marxism and Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1981. The Sociology of Culture. New York: Schocken Books. 180 Journal of American Folklore 105 (1992) Appendix "Los Sediciosos" 1. En mil novecientos quince, iqu6 dias tan calurosos! voy a cantar estos versos, versos de los sediciosos. 2. Ya con 6sta van tres veces que sucede lo bonito, la primera fue en Mercedes, en Br6nsvil y en San Benito. 3. En ese punto de Norias ya merito les ardia, a esos rinches desgraciados muchas balas les llovia. 4. Ya la mecha est-i encendida por los puros mexicanos, y los que van a pagarla son los mexicotejanos. 5. Ya la mecha estai encendida con azul y colorado, y los que van a pagarla van a ser los de este lado. 6. Ya la mecha esti encendida, muy bonita y colorada, y la vamos a pagar los que no debemos nada. 7. Decia Aniceto Pizafia, en su caballo cantando: -?D6nde estain por ahi los rinches? que los vengo visitando. 8. -Esos rinches de la Kinefia, dicen que son muy valientes, hacen ilorar las mujeres, hacen correr a las gentes.- 9. Decia Teodoro Fuentes, abrochlindose un zapato: -A esos rinches de Kinefia les daremos un mal rato.- 10. Decia Vicente el Giro In nineteen hundred fifteen, Oh but the days were hot! I am going to sing these stanzas, stanzas about the seditionists. With this it will be three times that remarkable things have happened, the first time was in Mercedes, then in Brownsville and San Benito. In that well-known place called Norias, it really got hot for them; a great many bullets rained down on those cursed rinches. Now the fuse is lit by the true-born Mexicans, and it will be the Texas-Mexicans who will have to pay the price. Now the fuse is lit, in blue and red, and it will be those on this side who will have to pay the price. Now the fuse is lit, very nice and red, and it will be those of us who are blameless who will have to pay the price. Aniceto Pizafio said, singing as he rode along, "Where can I find the rinches? I'm here to pay them a visit. "Those rinches from King Ranch say that they are very brave; they make the women cry, and they make the people run." Then said Teodoro Fuentes, as he was tying his shoe, "We are going to give a hard time to those rinches from King Ranch." Then said Vicente el Giro, Flores, The Corrido and the Emergence of Texas-Mexican Social Identity 181 en su chico caballazo: -Echenme ese gringo grande, pa'llevairmelo de brazo.- 11. Contesta el americano, con su sombrero en las manos: -Yo sf me voy con ustedes, son muy buenos maxacanos.- 12. Decia Miguel Salinas en su yegiiita almendrada: -iAy, qu6 gringos tan ingratos! que no nos hagan parada.- 13. En ese punto de Norias se ofa la peloteria, del sefior Luis de la Rosa nomis el llanto se oia. 14. El Sefior Luis de la Rosa se tenia por hombrecito, a la hora de los balazos Iloraba como un chiquito. 15. Decia Teodoro Fuentes, decia con su risita: -Echen balazos, muchachos, iqu6 trifulca tan bonita! 16. -Tiren, tiren muchachitos, tiren, tiren de a mont6n, que el Sefior Luis de la Rosa ha manchado el pabell6n.- 17. Gritaba Teodoro Fuentes: -Hay que pasar por Mercedes, para ensefiarle a los rinches que con nosotros no pueden.-- 18. Les dice Luis de la Rosa: -Muchachos qu6 van a hacer? Por Mercedes no pasamos, y si no lo van a ver.-- 19. Contesta Teodoro Fuentes con su voz muy natural: -Vale mis que usted no vaya porque nomis va a llorar.- 20. Pues pasaron por Mercedes, sitting on his great big horse, "Let me at that big Gringo, so we can amble arm-in-arm." The American replies, holding his hat in his hands, "I will be glad to go with you; you are very good Maxacans." Then said Miguel Salinas, on his almond-colored mare, "Ah, how disagreeable are these Gringos! Why don't they wait for us?" In that well-known place called Norias, you could hear the sound of firing, but from Sefior Luis de la Rosa, all you could hear was his weeping. Sefior Luis de la Rosa considered himself a brave man, but at the hour of the shooting, he cried like a baby. Then said Teodoro Fuentes, smiling his little smile, "Pour on the bullets, boys; what a beautiful fracas! "Fire, fire away, my boys; fire, fire all at once, for Sefior Luis de la Rosa has besmirched his colors." Teodoro Fuentes shouted, "We have to go through Mercedes, so we can show the rinches that we are too much for them." Luis de la Rosa tells them, "Boys, what are you going to do? We cannot go through Mercedes, and if you doubt it, you soon will see." Teodoro Fuentes replies, in a very natural voice, "It's best that you not go with us, because all you will do is cry." So they did go through Mercedes, 182 Journal of American Folklore 105 (1992) y tambidn por San Benito, iban a tumbar el tren a ese dipo del Olmito. 21. Ya se van los sediciosos, ya se van de retirada, de recuerdos nos dejaron una veta colorada. 22. Ya se van los sediciosos y quedaron de volver, pero no dijeron cuando porque no podian saber. 23. Despedida no la doy porque no la traigo aqui, se la llev6 Luis de la Rosa para San Luis Potosi. and also through San Benito; they went to derail the train at the station of Olmito. The seditionists are leaving, they have gone into retreat; they have left us a red swath to remember them by. The seditionists are leaving, they said that they would return; but they didn't tell us when because they had no way of knowing. I will not give you my farewell, because I did not bring it with me; Luis de la Rosa took it with him to San Luis Potosi. [as quoted in Paredes 1976:71-73]