''Pensamiento Serpentino'' (''Serpentine Thought'') is a

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

Chicano Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...

playwright

Luis Valdez Luis Miguel Valdez (born June 26, 1940) is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director and actor. Regarded as the father of Chicano film and theater, Valdez is best known for his play '' Zoot Suit'', his movie '' La Bamba'', and his cre ...

originally published by Cucaracha Publications, which was part of

El Teatro Campesino El Teatro Campesino (Spanish for "The Farmworker's Theater") is a Chicano theatre company in California. Performing in both English and Spanish, El Teatro Campesino was founded in 1965 as the cultural arm of the United Farm Workers and the Chicano M ...

, in 1973. The poem famously draws on philosophical concepts held by the

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

people known as ''In Lak'ech'', meaning "you are the other me." The poem also draws, although less prominently, on

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

traditions, such as through the appearance of Quetzalcoatl. The poem received national attention after it was illegally banned as part of the removal of Mexican American Studies Programs in Tucson Unified School District. The ban was later ruled unconstitutional.

Themes

Scholar Sheila Marie Contreras states that the poem "brings together Christian and

Mesoamerican Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. Withi ...

religious symbolism" and that it serves as a model for liberation and education which challenges dominant cultural conventions. Valdez drew on Mesoamerican themes through the work of Mayan scholar Domingo Martinez Paredez. As scholar Yolanda Broyles-Gonzalez states, Valdez incorporates "Indigenous knowledge" in his work, replacing

Judeo-Christian The term Judeo-Christian is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's borrowing of Jewish Scripture to constitute the "Old Testament" of the Christian Bible, or ...

belief instead with a call to "return to Indigenous spirituality to revitalize ancient cultural practices that could enable Chicanas/os to resist more successfully the debilitating effects of

Anglo-American Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...

hegemony." For Valdez, Indigenous ways of knowing are thus essential to Chicano/a spiritual liberation. The poem cites Quetzalcoatl's "cyclical shedding of skin as a dominant motif to represent the rebirth and renewal of spiritual and material forces. The undulating movement of the snake connotes the eternal presence of circulation and energy throughout the physical world, including humanity." Valdez evokes in the poem that revolutionary change is possible through Indigenous teachings, in which Chicana/os are able to re-identify with the "Cosmic Center" of Mayan spirituality. This would, in Valdez's view provide a way for the Chicana/o people to "throw off the ideological yokes of European

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and reclaim the Indigenous gods and goddesses displaced by Judeo-Christian

monotheism Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford ...

." Another theme of the poem is its criticism of the United States and its involvement in spreading war and terror throughout the world, in Valdez's view. Particularly the poem criticizes the US involvement in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

and the ways in which it has "waged violence on communities at home and abroad."

Ban of ''In Lak'ech''

The poem was used in the Mexican American Studies Programs (MAS) in Tucson School District. The MAS programs were founded from grassroots movements in 1998 which sought to help Chicano students, who were largely being ignored. On average, the classes were about 90% Chicano/a and Latino/a and proved to help students graduate, pursue

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...

, and score higher test scores. A study found that "while 48 percent of Latino students were dropping out of high school, 100 percent of those students enrolled in Mexican-American studies classes at Tucson High were graduating, and 85 percent were going on to college."{{Cite web, last=Depenbrock, first=Julie, date=13 August 2017, title=Ethnic Studies: A Movement Born Of A Ban, url=https://www.kpbs.org/news/2017/aug/13/ethnic-studies-a-movement-born-of-a-ban/, website=kpbs.org In 2010, the programs were effectively banned and former Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction,

John Huppenthal John Huppenthal (born March 3, 1954) is an American politician who served as Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2011–2015. Prior to being elected Superintendent, Huppenthal served as City Councilman, State Representative, and Sta ...

cited that reading the poem in classes of the Mexican American Studies Department was illegal and in violation of the state's ethnic studies law. Prior to the banning of the MAS programs, classes had opened with students reading of the following section of the poem so that they could understand concepts in the poem:

In Lak'ech Tú eres mi otro yo. / You are my other me. Si te hago daño a ti, / If I do harm to you, Me hago daño a mi mismo. / I do harm to myself. Si te amo y respeto, / If I love and respect you, Me amo y respeto yo. / I love and respect myself.

A study by the

American Educational Research Journal The ''American Educational Research Journal '' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that covers the field of educational research. The editors are Ellen Goldring (Vanderbilt University), Angela Calabrese-Barton (University of Michigan), Mike Cunning ...

demonstrated that students who were in the classes of the MAS programs "performed better on state tests and graduated at higher rates." In 2017, it was determined that the Tucson Unified School District had violated the rights of the students. The court also found that the ban was motivated by racism.

References

Chicano literature Poetry about spirituality