About Mojada

A Medea in Los Angeles

The word mojada translates as “wetback,” a slur for Mexican immigrants. It’s a provocative term meant to remind the play’s audiences about the history of reactive policy in the U.S. and its imprint on our thinking about immigrants and immigration. While Mexican migrants were initially welcomed to the U.S. to work as farmhands under the bracero program during World War II, after the war the climate shifted. Farmers faced pressures to stop treating workers as slave labor or to halt altogether the practice of hiring immigrant labor. In the 1950s, in response to rising xenophobia and political tensions among farmers and both the U.S. and Mexican governments, the INS started Operation Wetback—anyone who looked Mexican could be deported. Luis Alfaro’s use of the term mojada works to convey the level of anxiety Medea feels as she negotiates the distance between how others see her and how she sees herself. Using the tradition of Greek tragedy, Alfaro invites us to draw our own conclusions about the histories of trauma that shape this cultural moment.

The region of Michoacán

Michoacán, Mexico

In the play, Medea is from Michoacán, Mexico. The region of Michoacán is besieged by a web of violence comprised of corrupt officials, military, street gangs and drug cartels. The region grows over 50 percent of the avocados consumed in the United States, a billion-dollar industry largely run by drug cartels who use plantations to launder money and maintain social and economic control. Emigrating to the U.S. is viewed by many locals as the only viable hope for building a lasting future for one’s family and children. Shaped by the Mayan phrase “In Lak’ech,” “you are my other me,” Medea and Jason represent a quest not merely to survive but to positively impact the world.

El Guaco, "the Laughing Falcon," the bird of Morelia, Michoacán

"In Lak'ech" by Luis Valdez in Pensamiento Serpentino

Migrating from Michoacán to the United States is perilous. The activity of the drug cartels intersects with human trafficking; paying a coyote (smuggler) costs thousands, but the amount is reduced if the border-crosser serves as a drug mule. Migrants have to trust that coyotes will keep their promises, and travel long distances in cramped, windowless trucks filled with exhaust fumes, deprived of food, water and rest. Children and youths who cross alone in search of their parents risk kidnapping, assault, sex trafficking and death. According to Amnesty International, over 60 percent of women who cross into the United States are raped during their journey. “That’s a terrible cost to pay for fleeing desperate circumstances to obtain a better life for your children,” says Luis Alfaro.

Boyle Heights, California

Boyle Heights is a notable and historic Chicano/Mexican-American community in Los Angeles, California, located east of the Los Angeles River. The neighborhood is known for its Chicano cultural emblems and landmarks like Mariachi Plaza and annual Dia de los Muertos celebrations. In the mid 19th century, Boyle Heights was a small settlement of relocated Tongva refugees from the village of Yaanga. After Los Angeles was seized by invading American forces during the Mexican-American War, the settlement was razed and the Indigenous peoples forcibly dispersed. Later, the area was named Boyle Heights after Andrew Boyle, who purchased a large portion of land in the area. As the neighborhood grew, Boyle Heights became a racially and ethnically diverse center of Jewish, Mexican, and Japanese immigrant life through the 1920s-1960s.

Eventually, discriminatory redlining (denying home loans) and the construction of freeways through the community caused many families to leave the area. Today, Boyle Heights is 95% Hispanic and Latino, according to the 2011 census. The community in Boyle Heights is still at odds with developers and government officials, and frequently protests the gentrification of their neighborhood by the influx of new businesses. Gentrification has become a prominent issue for Mexican-American immigrant communities in the U.S., to the point that TV shows - including Vida and Gentefied, both set in Boyle Heights - frequently depict the impact of and resistance to gentrification.

The Mariachi Plaza kiosko, a gift from the Mexican state of Jalisco

Phoenix, Arizona

Arizona is situated at the borderland between the United States and Mexico and hosts nine major U.S.-Mexico border crossings into the Mexican state of Sonora. As such, Arizona is one of the major sites of immigration, both authorized and unauthorized, and featured in many discussions about Mexican migration into the U.S. The Arizona-Sonora border is a site of militarized violence performed by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection against Mexican individuals and families seeking entry into the U.S. In the interior of the U.S., these migrants face a number of harsh realities that stem from xenophobia and racism.

Arizona hosts a large number of immigrants from Mexico, both single travelers and families. According to the American Immigration Council, one in eight Arizona residents is an immigrant, while one in six is a native-born U.S. citizen with at least one immigrant parent. Nearly 1 million immigrants comprise 13% of the Arizona population, and 275,000 undocumented immigrants comprise 28 percent of the immigrant population and 4 percent of the total state population. 55% of the immigrants in Arizona are from Mexico. These immigrants comprise 17% of the labor force of Arizona, and immigrants in Arizona have contributed billions of dollars in federal and state taxes.

Children on the Mexican side of the fence look into Nogales, Arizona (July 2018, John Moore)

A portion of the border in Tijuana, Mexico extends into the Pacific ocean (September 2016, John Moore)

Phoenix has a large Mexican-American population and is is no shortage of cultural landmarks and events for its Latino/a communities. However, the diversity of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area shifts depending on location. In Mesa, where this performance of Mojada was rehearsed, 27.4% of the population is Latino, with a median household income of $43,000 and 9% of the population living below the poverty line. In Scottsdale, where Taliesin West (this performance venue) is located, only 10% of residents are Latino, and more than 40% of households make at least $100,000/year. These disparities are caused by a number of factors, including redlining and gentrification as explained above, but also legislative and otherwise politically-motivated reasons. In any case, a goal of presenting Mojada in Scottsdale is to broaden the conversation surrounding Latino/a people and issues in a largely white community.

Issues in the Play

Mojada does not seek to encompass the entirety of Chicano identity, or even express the opinions and experiences of every Mexican immigrant in Boyle Heights. Rather, it puts on display several facets of and issues within this community, allowing audiences to interpret them and relate them to one's own life as one sees fit. Below is a non-exhaustive list of these themes.

Tradition (old world) vs. assimilation (new world) - When a Mexican immigrant arrives in the U.S., there is a certain expectation to become "like an American," even within predominantly immigrant or Chicano/a communities. To what extent should immigrants try to adopt the U.S.-American culture and norms, including the English language?
Authorized vs. unauthorized immigration - American culture reinforces an anti-immigration ideology, especially when it comes to those that emigrate without the required legal paperwork. Within Chicano/a communities, those with papers might look down on those without, and there is an opportunity for "betrayal" or "exposing" a neighbor to the government for lacking the proper authorizations.
Modes of immigration & classism: Similarly, the mode by which one emigrates is judged by American culture and tied to the American moral system as it relates to class and political power. An immigrant who arrived via airplane with a student visa is treated differently than a farmworker who arrived via car or by foot.
Colorism: One's skin color is immutable, and yet determines so much about one's status in the United States. Society tells us that the closer one is to whiteness, the more normal and acceptable one is, and therefore more deserving of privilege and access. Dark skin or other visible racialized features (curly/kinky hair, a wide nose, etc.) makes you less intelligent and less capable.
Trauma and children: Mexicans and Mexican-Americans have experienced a great deal of trauma over centuries as a result of colonization, white supremacy, and capitalism. The act of immigrating is in itself an incredibly traumatic event, and the life one experiences after immigration has its own array of trauma. These traumas are passed down, worsened, healed, and generally complicated by childbirth and raising one's child in a constantly changing country.

Understanding the Immigrant Experience: Interactive Exercises

Art is one of the greatest engines for nurturing empathy and compassion between people we know and people we don't. Many films, television shows, books, comics, plays, performances, and other mediums have addressed immigration in the United States. Below are a few interactive online experiences topical to the themes present in Mojada. Desktop viewing is encouraged.

Watch El Coyote, an animated short film about immigration by Javier Barboza

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