The American Dream Daughter: A Conversation With Author Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Latino USA

My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts

Society & Culture

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2020

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On paper, author Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is the poster child for the American Dream. She’s a Harvard graduate, a Yale Ph.D. candidate, and, now, a 2020 National Book Award finalist for her debut book, “The Undocumented Americans.” As a child, Villavicencio’s parents left her in their native Ecuador while they worked in the U.S., a period that continues to shape her and her work today. From parent-child separation to the stigma of mental health among the Latinx community, Villavicencio sits down to talk about the painful, tragicomic, and warm moments that come with being a child of immigrants.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Dear listener, today it's a very special and historic day.
0:13.0	Americans are electing the next president of the United States in what is perhaps the
0:16.2	most important election of this generation, and certainly probably the most important
0:20.8	election I've ever lived through.
0:23.6	But today in many ways is a celebration of what it means to be an American citizen with
0:29.9	all of the rights and responsibilities that come with that.
0:33.6	And we have to recognize the power that we have right now, especially Latinos and Latinas
0:39.4	to determine the future of this country.
0:42.5	But there are so many Americans who won't be able to vote today.
0:47.6	And author, Godelac Correjo Vievisencio is one of them.
0:51.8	She writes about people just like her in her new book, The Undocumented Americans.
0:57.4	The book has gathered a lot of attention because of its fresh voice and narrative.
1:02.8	And it is nominated now for the National Book Award.
1:06.7	I sat down with Godelac this past spring to talk about what it means to be an American.
1:12.4	And what citizenship represents today in the United States?
1:16.7	I say in the book that I would rather swallow a razor blade than try to change the mind
1:25.0	of a xenophob.
1:26.6	And I sincerely do not do that.
1:28.6	If someone brings up a question to me and is like, why does an immigrant deserve citizenship?
1:35.0	I simply do not answer.
1:36.8	That is not my job as an artist.
1:42.5	From Futuro Media, it's Latino USA, I'm Maria Inorosa.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.