Rakhnyanskyi V. The Model of Ethnic Identity Formation in the Chicano Literature: Richard Rodriguez’s Variant

The thesis is the first in Ukrainian literary studies to analyze the models of ethnic identity elaborated in the autobiographical works by Richard Rodriguez, the outstanding contemporary Mexican-American writer («Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez», «Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father», «Brown: The Last Discovery of America», «Darling»). Richard Rodriguez introduced much controversy into the Mexican-American Literature by calling into question the categories of ethnicity, identity, race, class. Autobiographical fiction by Rodriguez portrays his extremely tense relationship to his heritage and pitfalls awaiting one at the crossroads of cultural practices. For a long time the writer has been kept out of Chicano canon and considered to be an «outsider» because he had declared he was not a minority, but an advocate for assimilation of immigrants into the mainstream American society. Rodriguez prioritizes individual autonomy over group identity. As Mexican-Americans take over the title of the largest ethnocultural group of the USA, the questions of identity, assimilation, diversity raised by the writer get increasingly relevant.