Research Guides: Jimmy Santiago Baca: Biography

Jimmy Santiago Baca (Born on January 1, 1952)

Black Mesa Poems shows development in other directions. Here Baca takes on machismo, the cult of aggressive manliness, and redefines it. He depicts a man who grows out of his violent concept of machismo, exemplified by killing a bull, and accepts a nurturing, caring role, represented by fatherhood. In an interview in the Albuquerque Journal, Baca stated that “I see a sort of feminism permeating the Chicano male now.” In the same interview, Baca said that in raising his children he was “learning how to reparent myself because I was so brutalized” by growing up on the streets. Baca’s efforts to reparent himself and to redefine machismo are part of his overall poetic project to reclaim himself, his heritage, and the Chicano culture. In this context, Baca’s autobiographical poetry is not simply self-engrossed; it takes on wider, even archetypal, meaning. The efforts of Baca and his hero Martín to reclaim themselves necessarily include identification with their culture, the Chicano culture, which must also be reclaimed. Continue . . .

Source: Branam, Harold. “Jimmy Santiago Baca.” Critical Survey of American Literature, Dec. 2016, pp. 156–160. From Literary Reference Center Plus database.

Book Collection

The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature

Bordering Fires: the vintage book of contemporary Mexican and Chicano/a literature

Resources

"Poetry is What We Speak to Each Other": An Interview With Jimmy Santiago Baca John Keene interviews Baca.
Conversation with Jimmy Santiago Baca Elizabeth Farnsworth talks with author and poet Jimmy Santiago Baca about two new books, "Healing Earthquakes" and "A Place to Stand."
Jimmy Santiago Baca, From Prison To Poetry NPR All Things Considered.
Winning the West in Jimmy Santiago Baca's "Black Mesa Poems." This article discusses the work of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, who is known for his outspoken representations of the Chicano community. "Immigrants in Our Own Land" was his first book of poems published in 1979. It contained many autobiographical elements while raising political awareness of a distinct Chicano culture and environmentalism.
Jimmy Santiago Baca Chicano poet, novelist and screenwriter Jimmy Santiago Baca's vivid autobiographical writings reflect the mixed cultural influences of his Southwestern upbringing. Mr. Baca reads selections from his work before an audience at La Jolla's Sherwood Auditorium. Series: "Artists on the Cutting Edge"
Jimmy Santiago Baca: Words Have the Power to Change The World Correspondent Megan Kamerick sits down with wordsmith Jimmy Santiago Baca. He was born in New Mexico of Apache and Chicano descent in 1952. Abandoned as child, he was in an orphanage and was in and out of trouble as a teenager before eventually being incarcerated in the brutal and violent Arizona State Prison for five years. That was where he taught himself to read and began writing. His poems brought him attention from the literary world even before he got out of prison. Since then he has published numerous volumes of poetry, as well as novels and essays. His novel “Blood In Blood Out” was adapted into the film “Bound By Honor.” He has also worked extensively with people who are still incarcerated as well as young people and those living on the margins of society. Baca has won numerous awards including the American Book Award, Pushcart Prize, and the International Hispanic Heritage Award. He has held a Regents Chair at UC-Berkeley, the Wallace Stevens Endowed Chair at Yale University, and the Endowed Hulbert Chair at Colorado College. He also has an honorary doctorate from the University of New Mexico. His memoir “A Place To Stand” was made into a documentary of the same name in 2016.
Count-Time: Neoliberalism, Subjectivity, and Jimmy Santiago Baca's Prisoner Poetry
Identity politics in the autobiographical novel: A comparative study of Mexican-Americans and Franco-Maghrebis.

From Films On Demand database:

Poet: Jimmy Santiago Baca Baca, part Native American and part Chicano, has emerged as a leading voice of the Hispanic community. He reads from “El Gato," a poem that traces the troubled life of a troubled youth, and a poem about his prison experience.
Baca: Poetry of Despair Baca reads from "El Gato," a poem that traces the brutal reality that formed a troubled youth and his life. Baca and Moyers discuss Baca's intense need to find resolution to despair, rage, and forgiveness.
Prison Poetry Baca's prison experience reinforces his experience of the cruelty and coldness of human beings, yet he differentiates absolute cruelty from absolute ecstasy. He reads a wrenching poem about appearing before the parole board.
Poetry of Baca Baca discusses with Moyers the value that poetry has to his life and in his life. He passionately reads a poem about men's fear of crying and the absolute necessity for men to cry.