As I read the beginning of Guadalupe in New York, there was something that I found very interesting. Previously, when we read about the Italians in Madonna on 115th Street, there was a lot of emphasis on family and the idea of home. There were no discussions about illegal immigrants, because it isn’t a big issue with Italians. With this book, illegal immigrants is one of the biggest point. As stated in the book, for Mexicans who arrive after 2000, the percentage of naturalized citizens is less than 1%, that is a lot of undocumented immigrants. For the Italians, the Madonna served as a connection for families and a reminder of home, and to the Mexicans their devotion, national identity, illegal immigrant status all serve to connect them as a community.
In one part of her discussion, Galvez states: “I trace how devotional practices to the Virgin of Guadalupe among Mexicans in New York, in multiple circumstances and settings, are a way that individuals and groups transform themselves, form communities of practices, and come to understand themselves as more deserving of rights and dignity than their status as undocumented immigrants usually entails.” The last part of that statement was the one that stood out to me the most, their devotional practices offered them a way to view themselves as someone who is worth more than the regular image of illegal immigrants. Most people are very against illegal immigrants and even with all their hard work, people are still very harsh against them. There is an idea of illegal immigrants stealing jobs from naturalized citizens but in fact, most illegal immigrants take jobs that require many hours of work a day, which are jobs that most naturalized citizens refuse to take. The fact that Galvez pointed out that the Lady of Guadalupe had such a effect on illegal immigrants caught my attention.
Another interesting aspect of the reading was how simply sweeping is considered a profound devotional practice. As had mentioned in her post, it is a chore to most of us, and it is not something done for fun. When Galvez mentioned how sweeping acted as the one thing to stabilize the rest of his life. To Marco, this simple chore was fulfilling and it was a ver important duty that he had to perform. As anyone can see from this example, being able to serve the Virgin in any way seemed to be extremely valued, even if it is something as simple as sweeping the floor. The devotion they have towards the Lady of Guadalupe is something similar to the devotion of the Italians to Madonna.
