The author discusses body politics in contemporary latino/a visual culture

Gonzales-Day, Ken

English

Keck Graduate Institute

Claremont Colleges
Scholarship @ Claremont
Scripps Faculty Publications and Research Scripps Faculty Scholarship
1-1-2001
Choloborg: The Disappearance of the Latino Body
Ken Gonzales-Day
Scripps College
This Article - postprint is brought to you for free and open access by the Scripps Faculty Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted
for inclusion in Scripps Faculty Publications and Research by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please
contact scholarship@cuc.claremont.edu.
Recommended Citation
Gonzales-Day, Ken. "Choloborg: The Disappearance of the Latino Body." Art Journal 60.1 (2001): 23-26.
history." 'f Parker' s art is about the conjur ing of these sorts of troubling trans­
formations , about bringing us into contact with an historical presence we are 
asked to feel rath er than Simply see. To paraphrase Barthes on ph otography , 
she also shows that contiguity is something I add to the work and wh ich is 
none theless already there. 
Australian art ist Ann e Ferran engineers a similar conjuring with her 1998 
photographic conta ct pr ints of nineteen th-c entury garments from Sydney' s his­
tor ic Rouse Hill estate. Cloth ing is a ph ysical 
memory, an imprint, a second skin to the 
body that once wore it. So these photograms 
are traces of the body twice over, imprints 
of imprints. Hovering in a sur roundin g 
darkness, the garment-imag es softly radia te 
an inner light, the residual filament s for a 
century of absorbed sunshine . Raising the 
dead via the magical medium of ph otogra­
phy , Ferran transforms history int o a seance , 
into a direct communion of past and pre­
sent. "When I try to reflect on these images 
the two thin gs I keep coming up with are 
these: on one hand the obdurate barri er, like 
a high wall or a range of distant mountains, 
of short memory/thin skin ; and on the other 
the longing to close the gap, recover the 
past , cross touc h with Sight, or lose them 
in one another , to press up close to thin gs, 
cloth against paper , skin against skin ."5 
If we were to treat the work of our 
art ists as a kind of collective cultural un­
consci ous, then we might see in these 
manoeuvres some palp able anxiety about 
contiguity's future. And indeed, it is pre­
cisely a capacity for visual conti nguity that 
is now und er threat as the photograph ic 
image is irr esistably transformed in to a con­
tinuous flow of electronic data. Where pho­
tography is inscribed by the thin gs it repre­
sents , it is possibl e for digital images to have 
no origin other than their own computer 
program . These images may still be indices 
of a sort, but their referent s are not the 
objects they picture but rather electronic 
flows , differential circu its, and abstracted data banks of information (inform a­
tion that includes, in most cases, the look , if not the epistemo logical substance, 
of the photograph ) . Where a ph otograph compels by way of " the condition 
of being in con tact," by promising a dynamic temporal depth beneath its calm, 
static surface , digital images fascinate by overtly aband oni ng any such claim ; 
as images they are content to be nothin g but sur face. Psychologically speaking , 
22 SPR I !': U 2 0 0 1 
I . Donna Haraway, "A Cybo rg Manifesto." in 
Simians. Cyborgs. and Women: The Reinvention of 
Nature (New Yo rk: Routledge . 1991). 180. 
2. Haraway discusses situa te d and embo died 
knowledge in the chap ter following "A Cyborg 
Manifesto," entitled "Situated Knowledges: The 
Science Questio n in Feminism and the Privilege of 
Part ial Perspective ," in ibid.. 191. 
3. "Census and You," U.S. Bureau of the Census, 
November 1996 , 10: cited in Mike Davis, Magical 
Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the US City (New York: 
Verso, 2000), 99. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
      
  . 
Race, gender and capital require a cyborg theory of wholes and ports. 
- Donna Haraway, "A Cyborg Manifesto " 
In her epochal essay on the effects of technology on subjectivity, "A Cyborg 
Manifesto," Donna Haraway coyly position s the cyborg as something of a tech­
nologically evolved monster and claims that "Monsters have always defined the 
lim its of commun ity in Western ima ginat ion s."1 If this is true, then one mi ght 
conclude that race was the monster that has defined those early limits of the 
cyborg communi ty. 
Returning to my epigraph , it is clear that Haraway acknowledges a certain 
fragmentation when she writ es that cyborg theory mu st be made of "wholes" 
and "parts." Race is one of those parts that has yet to be 
Ken Gonzales-Day fully theori zed, specifically with regard to Latino bodies. 
Nevertheless, she later argues that , informed by situated Choloborg; or, 
and embodied knowledges, such fragments contain a 
The Disappearing Latino Body critical potenti al.' Given the triumvirate of race, gender , 
and capital, conventional knowl edge tells us that Latinos 
embody physiological difference and are "situated " both economically and 
culturally, raising the question : are Latino/ a bod ies cyborg bodies? 
In 1999, the saucy stylings of Ricky Martin made it to the Grammy 
Awards, while Jennifer Lopez continues to enjoy the admiration of television 
and movie aud iences, suggesting that Latino bodies have never been more 
visible. They are on the pop charts, in magazines, and on television; yet, 
accord ing to the cultur al critic Mike Davis, Latinos have seen the lowest 
income growth , with the median household income increasing only S276 
betwee n 1980 and 1995, compared to $4 ,84 5 for whites and $'j.,576 for 
blacks.' Likewise, under NAFTA, companies like Hyun dai , Sony, Sanyo , and 
Toyota have redefined the notion of a transnational economy. In MODica! 
23 art journal 
4. Ibid.. 30. 
5. Ibid.. 102. 
b. Na talie Angier. "Do Races Differ? No t Really. 
Ge nes Show," New York Times on the Web. 
Arch ive. Science Desk. August 22, 2000 . 
7. Q uoting Dr. Son ia S. Anand . Assistant 
Pro fessor of Medicine. McMaster Univer sity. 
Ontario. Angie r writ es : "Thinking abou t ethnicity 
Is a way to bring togeth er ques tions of a person' s 
biology. lifestyle. diet . rath er than just focusing on 
race. Ethnicity is about phenotyp e and gen otype. 
and. if you define the terms of your study. it 
allows you to loo k at differences be tween gro ups 
in a valid wa y." 
8. Roberto R. Ramirez. "Cur rent Pop ulation 
Reports. " U.S. Bureau of the Census. Ethnic and 
Hispanic Statistics Branch. Pop ulation Division 
(www.ee nsus.gov). Interne t Release Date: 
March 8. 2000. 20-527.pdf.. p.l. 
9. U.S. Bureau of the Censu s. Population Division. 
Special Population. "Racial and Ethnic Classifica­
tions Used in Census 2000 and Beyond" 
(www.ee nsus.gov). created : Apri l 12. 2000. 
10 Ibid. 
Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the US City. Davis writes : "Just as rows of ultra -modern 
assem bly plants now line the sou th side of the border, so have scrap wood 
and tar paper shantytowns become an increasingly common sight on the US 
side of the border .":' Migrant labor played a central role in Californ ia 's agri ­
cultural p rosperit y, and if hidden and undervalued , Latino/ a wo rkers may play 
the same role in the new globa l econ om y. Davis goes on to note that Apple, 
Sun, Adobe, Netscape, and Oracle have all "been fined or sued for racial dis­
crimi na tion or for failure to meet federal diversity deadlines ."! In a nu tshell, 
new technologies have yet to transcend old race and class relations . 
Wha t technologies do Latinos embody anyway? Clearly , our existence as 
a labor ing und erclass is anything but new . Even the glizty glamor of Ricky 
Mart in and Jennifer Lopez does little more than reshape this mythic physica l­
ity. At www.rickymartin.com, on e can register to "get into Ricky's Pants"­
a promotiona l contes t offering the grand prize winner a pair of Ricky's red 
velvet pants. On another site , www.jennifer-Iopez.org, one can download 
over 1 ,50 0 photographs and even order Jennifer Lopez wallpaper. The Web 
is today's hottest marketing too l, claimi ng nothing less than the liberatory 
po ten tial of capi tal for those who choose to spend it. 
Capitalism makes use of the Latin o/ a body, but what of the particular 
appearance of this body? Ricky and Jennifer are currentl y sporting buffed bod­
ies and blonde highlights, and why not? But what of the workers in Tijuana 's 
factories ? Do they tend to look a little different, highlights or no? Latinos can 
rang e from india, to mestiza or mi xed blood , to blonde with blue eyes. Even 
befor e the contemporary deve lopment of gene tiC engineering, the dynamics 
of colonization, migration . politics, capital , economics, love, and war had 
already reshaped the Latino/a body. Dr. Harold P. Freeman . in a recent article 
in the New York Times , was quoted as saying: "If you ask what per cen tage of 
your genes is reflected in your external appearance, the bas is by which we talk 
abou t race, the answer seems to be in the range of .0 1 perccnt.:" In the same 
article, the author , Natalie Angier, reminds readers that race encompasses bot h 
genetics and culture.' 
As if all this gene mix ing wasn' t confu sing enough, accord ing to the U.S. 
Bureau of the Census, "Hispanic" refers to people whose origins are Mexican , 
Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American , or other Hispanic/ Latino. 
At last COU11l, the Latino population in this cou ntry was estimated at 31.7 mil­
lion, or I I. 7 percent of the total population ." On the 2000 Census , Latinos 
were asked to indicate their origin in a question on "Hispanic origin ," no t 
in the qu' tion on race, because in the federal statistical system ethnic origin 
is considered to be a separate concept from race .? The Census went on to 
explain that Hispanics might be of any number of racial groups, and as of 
October 1997, the Office of Management and Budget annou nced the revised 
standards for federal data on race and ethnici ty. The official categories for race 
are now : American Ind ian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, 
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Island er , White, and "some other race." In 
addition, two ethnicity categories were established : Hispanic origin and No t of 
Hispanic origin. 10 Because the Census ident ified Latinos as Caucasian for mos t 
of the twent ieth cen tur y, these recent chan ges may allow new statistics to 
emerge as researchers can now do more than Simply track Spanish surnames. 
24 SPRI . G 2 0 0 I 
Ken Gonzales-Day. 
Untitled # / 32 (Com position 
with Lines), 2000. 
Ektacrome print . 
24 x 18In.(61 X 45.7 em). 
Courtes y o f the a r t ist. 
25 art journ al 
lJrbunism: Latinos Reinvent the US City. Davis writes: "Ju st as row s of ultra-modern 
.sscm bly pl ant s now line the south side of the border, so have scrap wood 
uid tar paper shant ytowns become an increasin gly com mon sigh t on the US 
i de of the border. " 4 Migrant labor played a cen tral ro le in California 's agri ­
:ultur al prosperi ty. and if hid den and undervalued, Larine /a workers m ay pla y 
he same ro le in the new globa l eco nomy. Davis goes on to not e that Appl e , 
.un , Adobe, Net scape . and Or acle hav e all " been fined o r sued for racial dis­
:rim ination o r for failure to meet federal diversity deadli nes." .I Tn a nutshell , 
lew techno log ies ha ve yet to transcend o ld race and class rel ations. 
What techn ologies do Latinos embody anyway? Clearly, our existence as 
laboring undc rclass is anythi ng but new. Even the glizty glamor of Ricky 
vlar tin and Jenn ifer Lopez does litt le mor e than reshape this mythic ph ysical­
ty. At www.rlckymartin .com, one can register to " get into Ricky's Pant s" ­
. promotional contest offerin g the grand prize wi nner a pai r of Ricky's red 
-elvet pants. On an o th er site , www.jennifer-Iopez.org, one can download 
ivcr 1 ,500 photog raphs and even order Jennifer Lopez w allpaper. The Web 
s today's hott est marketing tool , claiming nothi n g less than the Iiberatory 
io ten tial of cap ital for th ose who choose to spen d it. 
Capitalism ma kes use of the Latinc/a body , but what of the particular 
ppearance of this body? Ricky and Jennifer are current ly spo rt in g buffed bod­
es and blond e highligh ts, and why not ? But w hat of the workers in Tijuana' s 
actorics? Do they tend to look a little d ifferent , hig hlights or no ? Latinos can 
ange from indio, to mestizo or mixed blood, to blonde w ith blue eyes. Even 
iefore the con temporary de velopment of genetic engi nee ring , the dynami cs 
of colonization , m igration , polit ies, capita l, economics, love, and w ar had 
ilready resha ped the Latino / a bod y. Dr. Haro ld P. Freeman, in a recent article 
11 th e New York Times, was quot ed as saying: "If you ask wha t pe rcentage of 
.our genes is reflected in your extern al appea rance , the basis by which we talk 
ibou t race , the answer seems to be in the range of .0 I percent. " 6 In the same 
rrticle, the au thor , Natalie Angier , reminds readers that race encompasses bo th 
~ ene tics and culture ." 
As if all thi s gene m ixin g wa sn' t con fusing eno ugh, according to the U.S. 
surcau of the Census , "Hispanic " refers to peop le whose origin s are Mexican, 
'uc r to Rican, Cuban, Sou th or Central Amer ican, or o the r Hispanic/Latino. 
\t last coun t, the Latino population in this cou nt ry w as estim ated at 31.7 mil ­
ion , or 11.7 percent of the total populanon ." On the 2 0 0 0 Census, Latinos 
vcre asked to indicat e their o rigin in a qu estion on "Hispani c origin," not 
n the qu estion on race, bec ause in the federal statistical system ethnic origin 
s considered to be a separate concep t from race .? The Census w en t on to 
.xplain that Hispanic s migh t be of an y number of racial groups, and as of 
)ctober 199 7, the Office of Managem ent and Budget ann ounced the revised 
randards fo r federal da ta on race and ethn icity, The official categor ies for race 
re now: Amer ican Ind ian or Alaska Native . Asian. Black or African American, 
lative Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander , White , and "some o ther race." In 
Idi tio n , two ethnicity categories w ere established : Hi spanic origi n and Not of 
Ispanic origin . 10 Because the Census identified Latin os as Caucasian for most 
f the tw entieth cent ury , these rec ent changes ma y allow new statistics to 
merge as researchers can now do mor e than simp ly track Spanish surn ames. 
S I ' R I~G 20 0 1 
Ken Go nzales-D ay.
 
Untitle d # /32 (Composition
 
with Lines), 2000.
 
Ekta crome print .
 
24 x 18In. (61 x 45.7cm).
 
Courte sy of the artist.
 
25 art journ al 
If one goal o f Harawa y's "Cybor g Mani festo " was to prop ose a world 
wi thout gend er, then perhap s in acknowledging the possibility of a wide 
range of gene tic combinations among the descendants of America 's other 
indigenous peop les (south of the U.S. border) the OMB is trying to create 
a world without race. If this is so , then the Census Bureau has created 3 ' 
mill ion Latino/ a cyborgs whose racial complexities may , on the one hand , 
break do wn the barrier of race, and on the other, erase historical notions 
of lo ram, statistically identifying million s of dark-skinned , straight-h aired, 
sharp-featured , Maya and other indi gen ous descendants as "some o ther 
race. " 
The term s Hispani c , Chicano , Latino , and Cholo speak to the contested 
histo ry of this chim erical body. II While miscegenat ion law in the United 
States, best understood as a crime of " blood ," as in the criminalizatio n of 
marr iage between white women and black men , concerned itself wit h even a 
single drop of black blood , the racial politics involved in the colonization of 
the ru ericas was far less precise.Il Thus, even in the wake of technological 
revolution s like the Hum an Geno me Project , Latino/ a bod ies may pose the 
ultima te " ironic polit ical myth." Assimi lated , evasive, unshakably linked , we 
are Cho loborg . 
Ken Gonzales-Day is an artis t and writer living in Los Angeles. Recent exhibitions of his work include 
America Foto/arina at the Museo de las Artes in Guadalajara. Mexico; Beyond Boundaries: Contemporary 
Phorography in California. at the Ansel Adams Center for Pho tography in San Francisco : and Made in 
California 1900-2 000. at the Lo s Angeles County Museum of Art. Solo exhibitions include Suzanne 
Vielmetter. Los Angeles Pro jects . and Deep River. Los Angeles. 
26 S P RIN G 2 0 01 
Salomon Huerta. Untitled
 
Head, 2000. Oil on pan el.
 
I IYo x 12 in. (29.8 x 30.5 em).
 
Co ur t esy of Patricia Faure
 
Gallery, Los Angeles.
 
Salo mon Hu erta. Untilled
 
Head, 1998, Oi l on canvas
 
on panel. 12 x 14 in. (30.5 x
 
35.6 em ), Courtesy of 
Pa tricia Faure Gall e ry, Los 
Angeles. 
I I. The te rm cholo is mostly used in the weste rn 
sta tes. as an extension of youth culture. It is not 
intended to replace the term Lorino. but simply to 
suggest a global/local co ntext. 
12. See Eva Saks. "Representing Miscegenation 
Law." Raritan 8. no. 2 (Fall 1988): 42. 
Like discourses of relig iou s conversior 
the new techn ologies tends to relegau 
for the damned. I accepted my ev icti c 
back, so I'm more or less im mune to 
ob noxious no netheless. 
The discourse of the new technol 
world" metaphor first put into circula 
reminded his big-eyed dau ghter that ' 
the objects of it. But to hear the melo 
one mig ht conclude that before the in 
the wo rld was atechn ological. Art hisu 
posterous proposition , but few bother 
" inevttabiluy" o f t 
Peggy Phel a n already ceded the I 
Heave n Can W ait But it 's wort h the repetition of \\ 
we do not. Concer 
one can trace the ways in wh ich , for e 
geometry of the vanishing point , the c 
acrylic , and the persistence of the grid 
techn ologies of Western paint ing. Vine 
Pipilotti Rist . Piclcelporno, 
I992.Videotape, 12 m in. 
Court esy of Luhring 
August ine , New York . Photo 
th e ar t ist. 
mi ght be dismissed as nostalgia for a 10 
we embrace the ideology of post-able a' 
of knowledg e, before we mass,lge the C' 
fetish, and before we reduce the Web t, 
2 7 a rt journal 


Choloborg: The Disappearance of the Latino Body

Scholarship@Claremont

Claremont CollegesScholarship @ ClaremontScripps Faculty Publications and Research Scripps Faculty Scholarship1-1-2001Choloborg: The Disappearance of the Latino BodyKen Gonzales-DayScripps CollegeThis Article - postprint is brought to you for free and open access by the Scripps Faculty Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been acceptedfor inclusion in Scripps Faculty Publications and Research by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, pleasecontact scholarship@cuc.claremont.edu.Recommended CitationGonzales-Day, Ken. "Choloborg: The Disappearance of the Latino Body." Art Journal 60.1 (2001): 23-26.history." 'f Parker' s art is about the conjur ing of these sorts of troubling trans­formations , about bringing us into contact with an historical presence we are asked to feel rath er than Simply see. To paraphrase Barthes on ph otography , she also shows that contiguity is something I add to the work and wh ich is none theless already there. Australian art ist Ann e Ferran engineers a similar conjuring with her 1998 photographic conta ct pr ints of nineteen th-c entury garments from Sydney' s his­tor ic Rouse Hill estate. Cloth ing is a ph ysical memory, an imprint, a second skin to the body that once wore it. So these photograms are traces of the body twice over, imprints of imprints. Hovering in a sur roundin g darkness, the garment-imag es softly radia te an inner light, the residual filament s for a century of absorbed sunshine . Raising the dead via the magical medium of ph otogra­phy , Ferran transforms history int o a seance , into a direct communion of past and pre­sent. "When I try to reflect on these images the two thin gs I keep coming up with are these: on one hand the obdurate barri er, like a high wall or a range of distant mountains, of short memory/thin skin ; and on the other the longing to close the gap, recover the past , cross touc h with Sight, or lose them in one another , to press up close to thin gs, cloth against paper , skin against skin ."5 If we were to treat the work of our art ists as a kind of collective cultural un­consci ous, then we might see in these manoeuvres some palp able anxiety about contiguity's future. And indeed, it is pre­cisely a capacity for visual conti nguity that is now und er threat as the photograph ic image is irr esistably transformed in to a con­tinuous flow of electronic data. Where pho­tography is inscribed by the thin gs it repre­sents , it is possibl e for digital images to have no origin other than their own computer program . These images may still be indices of a sort, but their referent s are not the objects they picture but rather electronic flows , differential circu its, and abstracted data banks of information (inform a­tion that includes, in most cases, the look , if not the epistemo logical substance, of the photograph ) . Where a ph otograph compels by way of " the condition of being in con tact," by promising a dynamic temporal depth beneath its calm, static surface , digital images fascinate by overtly aband oni ng any such claim ; as images they are content to be nothin g but sur face. Psychologically speaking , 22 SPR I !': U 2 0 0 1 I . Donna Haraway, "A Cybo rg Manifesto." in Simians. Cyborgs. and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New Yo rk: Routledge . 1991). 180. 2. Haraway discusses situa te d and embo died knowledge in the chap ter following "A Cyborg Manifesto," entitled "Situated Knowledges: The Science Questio n in Feminism and the Privilege of Part ial Perspective ," in ibid.. 191. 3. "Census and You," U.S. Bureau of the Census, November 1996 , 10: cited in Mike Davis, Magical Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the US City (New York: Verso, 2000), 99.                      . Race, gender and capital require a cyborg theory of wholes and ports. - Donna Haraway, "A Cyborg Manifesto " In her epochal essay on the effects of technology on subjectivity, "A Cyborg Manifesto," Donna Haraway coyly position s the cyborg as something of a tech­nologically evolved monster and claims that "Monsters have always defined the lim its of commun ity in Western ima ginat ion s."1 If this is true, then one mi ght conclude that race was the monster that has defined those early limits of the cyborg communi ty. Returning to my epigraph , it is clear that Haraway acknowledges a certain fragmentation when she writ es that cyborg theory mu st be made of "wholes" and "parts." Race is one of those parts that has yet to be Ken Gonzales-Day fully theori zed, specifically with regard to Latino bodies. Nevertheless, she later argues that , informed by situated Choloborg; or, and embodied knowledges, such fragments contain a The Disappearing Latino Body critical potenti al.' Given the triumvirate of race, gender , and capital, conventional knowl edge tells us that Latinos embody physiological difference and are "situated " both economically and culturally, raising the question : are Latino/ a bod ies cyborg bodies? In 1999, the saucy stylings of Ricky Martin made it to the Grammy Awards, while Jennifer Lopez continues to enjoy the admiration of television and movie aud iences, suggesting that Latino bodies have never been more visible. They are on the pop charts, in magazines, and on television; yet, accord ing to the cultur al critic Mike Davis, Latinos have seen the lowest income growth , with the median household income increasing only S276 betwee n 1980 and 1995, compared to $4 ,84 5 for whites and $'j.,576 for blacks.' Likewise, under NAFTA, companies like Hyun dai , Sony, Sanyo , and Toyota have redefined the notion of a transnational economy. In MODica! 23 art journal 4. Ibid.. 30. 5. Ibid.. 102. b. Na talie Angier. "Do Races Differ? No t Really. Ge nes Show," New York Times on the Web. Arch ive. Science Desk. August 22, 2000 . 7. Q uoting Dr. Son ia S. Anand . Assistant Pro fessor of Medicine. McMaster Univer sity. Ontario. Angie r writ es : "Thinking abou t ethnicity Is a way to bring togeth er ques tions of a person' s biology. lifestyle. diet . rath er than just focusing on race. Ethnicity is about phenotyp e and gen otype. and. if you define the terms of your study. it allows you to loo k at differences be tween gro ups in a valid wa y." 8. Roberto R. Ramirez. "Cur rent Pop ulation Reports. " U.S. Bureau of the Census. Ethnic and Hispanic Statistics Branch. Pop ulation Division (www.ee nsus.gov). Interne t Release Date: March 8. 2000. 20-527.pdf.. p.l. 9. U.S. Bureau of the Censu s. Population Division. Special Population. "Racial and Ethnic Classifica­tions Used in Census 2000 and Beyond" (www.ee nsus.gov). created : Apri l 12. 2000. 10 Ibid. Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the US City. Davis writes : "Just as rows of ultra -modern assem bly plants now line the sou th side of the border, so have scrap wood and tar paper shantytowns become an increasingly common sight on the US side of the border .":' Migrant labor played a central role in Californ ia 's agri ­cultural p rosperit y, and if hidden and undervalued , Latino/ a wo rkers may play the same role in the new globa l econ om y. Davis goes on to note that Apple, Sun, Adobe, Netscape, and Oracle have all "been fined or sued for racial dis­crimi na tion or for failure to meet federal diversity deadlines ."! In a nu tshell, new technologies have yet to transcend old race and class relations . Wha t technologies do Latinos embody anyway? Clearly , our existence as a labor ing und erclass is anything but new . Even the glizty glamor of Ricky Mart in and Jennifer Lopez does little more than reshape this mythic physica l­ity. At www.rickymartin.com, on e can register to "get into Ricky's Pants"­a promotiona l contes t offering the grand prize winner a pair of Ricky's red velvet pants. On another site , www.jennifer-Iopez.org, one can download over 1 ,50 0 photographs and even order Jennifer Lopez wallpaper. The Web is today's hottest marketing too l, claimi ng nothing less than the liberatory po ten tial of capi tal for those who choose to spend it. Capitalism makes use of the Latin o/ a body, but what of the particular appearance of this body? Ricky and Jennifer are currentl y sporting buffed bod­ies and blonde highlights, and why not? But what of the workers in Tijuana 's factories ? Do they tend to look a little different, highlights or no? Latinos can rang e from india, to mestiza or mi xed blood , to blonde with blue eyes. Even befor e the contemporary deve lopment of gene tiC engineering, the dynamics of colonization, migration . politics, capital , economics, love, and war had already reshaped the Latino/a body. Dr. Harold P. Freeman . in a recent article in the New York Times , was quoted as saying: "If you ask what per cen tage of your genes is reflected in your external appearance, the bas is by which we talk abou t race, the answer seems to be in the range of .0 1 perccnt.:" In the same article, the author , Natalie Angier, reminds readers that race encompasses bot h genetics and culture.' As if all this gene mix ing wasn' t confu sing enough, accord ing to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, "Hispanic" refers to people whose origins are Mexican , Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American , or other Hispanic/ Latino. At last COU11l, the Latino population in this cou ntry was estimated at 31.7 mil­lion, or I I. 7 percent of the total population ." On the 2000 Census , Latinos were asked to indicate their origin in a question on "Hispanic origin ," no t in the qu' tion on race, because in the federal statistical system ethnic origin is considered to be a separate concept from race .? The Census went on to explain that Hispanics might be of any number of racial groups, and as of October 1997, the Office of Management and Budget annou nced the revised standards for federal data on race and ethnici ty. The official categories for race are now : American Ind ian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Island er , White, and "some other race." In addition, two ethnicity categories were established : Hispanic origin and No t of Hispanic origin. 10 Because the Census ident ified Latinos as Caucasian for mos t of the twent ieth cen tur y, these recent chan ges may allow new statistics to emerge as researchers can now do more than Simply track Spanish surnames. 24 SPRI . G 2 0 0 I Ken Gonzales-Day. Untitled # / 32 (Com position with Lines), 2000. Ektacrome print . 24 x 18In.(61 X 45.7 em). Courtes y o f the a r t ist. 25 art journ al lJrbunism: Latinos Reinvent the US City. Davis writes: "Ju st as row s of ultra-modern .sscm bly pl ant s now line the south side of the border, so have scrap wood uid tar paper shant ytowns become an increasin gly com mon sigh t on the US i de of the border. " 4 Migrant labor played a cen tral ro le in California 's agri ­:ultur al prosperi ty. and if hid den and undervalued, Larine /a workers m ay pla y he same ro le in the new globa l eco nomy. Davis goes on to not e that Appl e , .un , Adobe, Net scape . and Or acle hav e all " been fined o r sued for racial dis­:rim ination o r for failure to meet federal diversity deadli nes." .I Tn a nutshell , lew techno log ies ha ve yet to transcend o ld race and class rel ations. What techn ologies do Latinos embody anyway? Clearly, our existence as laboring undc rclass is anythi ng but new. Even the glizty glamor of Ricky vlar tin and Jenn ifer Lopez does litt le mor e than reshape this mythic ph ysical­ty. At www.rlckymartin .com, one can register to " get into Ricky's Pant s" ­. promotional contest offerin g the grand prize wi nner a pai r of Ricky's red -elvet pants. On an o th er site , www.jennifer-Iopez.org, one can download ivcr 1 ,500 photog raphs and even order Jennifer Lopez w allpaper. The Web s today's hott est marketing tool , claiming nothi n g less than the Iiberatory io ten tial of cap ital for th ose who choose to spen d it. Capitalism ma kes use of the Latinc/a body , but what of the particular ppearance of this body? Ricky and Jennifer are current ly spo rt in g buffed bod­es and blond e highligh ts, and why not ? But w hat of the workers in Tijuana' s actorics? Do they tend to look a little d ifferent , hig hlights or no ? Latinos can ange from indio, to mestizo or mixed blood, to blonde w ith blue eyes. Even iefore the con temporary de velopment of genetic engi nee ring , the dynami cs of colonization , m igration , polit ies, capita l, economics, love, and w ar had ilready resha ped the Latino / a bod y. Dr. Haro ld P. Freeman, in a recent article 11 th e New York Times, was quot ed as saying: "If you ask wha t pe rcentage of .our genes is reflected in your extern al appea rance , the basis by which we talk ibou t race , the answer seems to be in the range of .0 I percent. " 6 In the same rrticle, the au thor , Natalie Angier , reminds readers that race encompasses bo th ~ ene tics and culture ." As if all thi s gene m ixin g wa sn' t con fusing eno ugh, according to the U.S. surcau of the Census , "Hispanic " refers to peop le whose origin s are Mexican, 'uc r to Rican, Cuban, Sou th or Central Amer ican, or o the r Hispanic/Latino. \t last coun t, the Latino population in this cou nt ry w as estim ated at 31.7 mil ­ion , or 11.7 percent of the total populanon ." On the 2 0 0 0 Census, Latinos vcre asked to indicat e their o rigin in a qu estion on "Hispani c origin," not n the qu estion on race, bec ause in the federal statistical system ethnic origin s considered to be a separate concep t from race .? The Census w en t on to .xplain that Hispanic s migh t be of an y number of racial groups, and as of )ctober 199 7, the Office of Managem ent and Budget ann ounced the revised randards fo r federal da ta on race and ethn icity, The official categor ies for race re now: Amer ican Ind ian or Alaska Native . Asian. Black or African American, lative Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander , White , and "some o ther race." In Idi tio n , two ethnicity categories w ere established : Hi spanic origi n and Not of Ispanic origin . 10 Because the Census identified Latin os as Caucasian for most f the tw entieth cent ury , these rec ent changes ma y allow new statistics to merge as researchers can now do mor e than simp ly track Spanish surn ames. S I ' R I~G 20 0 1 Ken Go nzales-D ay. Untitle d # /32 (Composition with Lines), 2000. Ekta crome print . 24 x 18In. (61 x 45.7cm). Courte sy of the artist. 25 art journ al If one goal o f Harawa y's "Cybor g Mani festo " was to prop ose a world wi thout gend er, then perhap s in acknowledging the possibility of a wide range of gene tic combinations among the descendants of America 's other indigenous peop les (south of the U.S. border) the OMB is trying to create a world without race. If this is so , then the Census Bureau has created 3 ' mill ion Latino/ a cyborgs whose racial complexities may , on the one hand , break do wn the barrier of race, and on the other, erase historical notions of lo ram, statistically identifying million s of dark-skinned , straight-h aired, sharp-featured , Maya and other indi gen ous descendants as "some o ther race. " The term s Hispani c , Chicano , Latino , and Cholo speak to the contested histo ry of this chim erical body. II While miscegenat ion law in the United States, best understood as a crime of " blood ," as in the criminalizatio n of marr iage between white women and black men , concerned itself wit h even a single drop of black blood , the racial politics involved in the colonization of the ru ericas was far less precise.Il Thus, even in the wake of technological revolution s like the Hum an Geno me Project , Latino/ a bod ies may pose the ultima te " ironic polit ical myth." Assimi lated , evasive, unshakably linked , we are Cho loborg . Ken Gonzales-Day is an artis t and writer living in Los Angeles. Recent exhibitions of his work include America Foto/arina at the Museo de las Artes in Guadalajara. Mexico; Beyond Boundaries: Contemporary Phorography in California. at the Ansel Adams Center for Pho tography in San Francisco : and Made in California 1900-2 000. at the Lo s Angeles County Museum of Art. Solo exhibitions include Suzanne Vielmetter. Los Angeles Pro jects . and Deep River. Los Angeles. 26 S P RIN G 2 0 01 Salomon Huerta. Untitled Head, 2000. Oil on pan el. I IYo x 12 in. (29.8 x 30.5 em). Co ur t esy of Patricia Faure Gallery, Los Angeles. Salo mon Hu erta. Untilled Head, 1998, Oi l on canvas on panel. 12 x 14 in. (30.5 x 35.6 em ), Courtesy of Pa tricia Faure Gall e ry, Los Angeles. I I. The te rm cholo is mostly used in the weste rn sta tes. as an extension of youth culture. It is not intended to replace the term Lorino. but simply to suggest a global/local co ntext. 12. See Eva Saks. "Representing Miscegenation Law." Raritan 8. no. 2 (Fall 1988): 42. Like discourses of relig iou s conversior the new techn ologies tends to relegau for the damned. I accepted my ev icti c back, so I'm more or less im mune to ob noxious no netheless. The discourse of the new technol world" metaphor first put into circula reminded his big-eyed dau ghter that ' the objects of it. But to hear the melo one mig ht conclude that before the in the wo rld was atechn ological. Art hisu posterous proposition , but few bother " inevttabiluy" o f t Peggy Phel a n already ceded the I Heave n Can W ait But it 's wort h the repetition of \\ we do not. Concer one can trace the ways in wh ich , for e geometry of the vanishing point , the c acrylic , and the persistence of the grid techn ologies of Western paint ing. Vine Pipilotti Rist . Piclcelporno, I992.Videotape, 12 m in. Court esy of Luhring August ine , New York . Photo th e ar t ist. mi ght be dismissed as nostalgia for a 10 we embrace the ideology of post-able a' of knowledg e, before we mass,lge the C' fetish, and before we reduce the Web t, 2 7 a rt journal 

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Choloborg: The Disappearance of the Latino Body

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