Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Gender Studies and Sexuality, 2024
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Challenging European Belonging: Representations of Female Transnational Experiences in Marrón by Rocío Quillahuaman
María Auxiliadora Castillo Soto
ABSTRACT:
Rocío Quillahuaman published her first book Marrón in 2022. In this autobiographical book, Quillahuaman shares her transnational story of resettlement from her home country Peru to Spain. As a first time non-Black woman of color author, Quillahuaman challenges her inner voices that make her doubt herself and the importance of her resettlement story for the possible European readers. Throughout her story, Quillahuaman narrates about her adaptation process in Spain, her work, social, and personal experiences, and her internal debates between her now Spanish identity and her Latina roots. The present paper follows a qualitative methodological approach based on literary analysis with a women’s and gender studies perspective and a sociological approach. The analysis encompasses close reading, and comparative and content analysis methods with a thematic inductive analytic approach to identify how the case study represents female transnational experiences that challenge European identity and belonging. Through an intersectional approach, the analysis pretends to bring forth the importance that transnational narratives, especially those written by non-Black women of color authors, have in the new modes of identity construction and belonging. The traditional and hegemonic concept of ‘identity’ has been preserved as a way to identify ‘us’ from ‘them,’ however, in such a transnational and globalized world, these fixed concepts need to be challenged and redefined, understanding that hybrid identities exist and that mere assimilation should not expected. Although there is not a universal transnational experience, this paper pretends to highlight the uniqueness of Quillahuaman’s transnational story to contribute to current public debates on European identity and belonging.
keywords: identity; life writing; migration; non-Black women of color writers; resettlement