NORA SMITH
Staff Writer
Before Marie Arana, author, editor, journalist, critic and inaugural literary director of the Library of Congress, began her presentation on Chautauqua’s Literary and Scientific Circle selection for Week Three, she did what she called a “very Latina thing” and gave a testimonio.
“A testimonio is a testimony where you stand in front of your tribe, and you are my tribe,” Arana said. “You are people who are interested in the world, who are interested in books, or interested in reading and are devoted to the culture of America.”
In this testimonio, Arana recounted the story of how she got to where she is today and how her book LatinoLand: A Portrait of America’s Largest and Least Understood Minority came to be. She explained where her parents are from and how they met, her life in Peru, the start of her life in the U.S. and the formation and journey of the eight books she’s written — all of them focused on Latinos and Latin America.
“I want Americans to know who we are, where we’ve come from, what our history is, why we are so different and so alike,” Arana said. “So different in history, so alike in the fact that we’ve come from colonialism as Americans have. That we have the same passions as human beings, that we have the same ambitions, the same cares, the same priorities as Americans, although we have a very different history.”
Then, after detailing her work and focus in prior books, Arana recalled when her editor asked if she thought about the population of Latinos in America; thus, LatinoLand was born. She presented the audience with some early details from the book, like the history and contributions of Latinos.
Arana said her mission when writing LatinoLand was “to educate people about the participation of this community of people,” Arana said.
Arana then listed numerous accomplishments Latin Americans have made in medicine and in science, like how Latinos discovered the electronic microscope, birth control and generated a major development in brain surgery.
“These are accomplishments that aren’t written about,” Arana said. “They’re not in textbooks. My mission has always been to educate Americans, make ourselves known. We have been for so long, many years, so many decades, and so many centuries people have said, ‘Who are you anyway?’ and we’ve always been perceived as newcomers. We’ve been here all along.”
