{{Short description|American poet}} alt=|thumb|Maya Chinchilla at Studio Grand 2015 thumb|photo at SOMARTS 2009 '''Maya Chinchilla''' is a Bay Area-based American poet best known as one of the founders of EpiCentroAmerica and for writing ''The Cha Cha files: A Chapina Poética.'' She is of mixed American, German, and Guatemalan heritages.<ref>{{Citation|last=Rodríguez|first=Ana Patricia|chapter=Literatures of Central Americans in the United States|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780203097199|doi=10.4324/9780203097199.ch42|title=The Routledge Companion to Latino/A Literature|year=2011}}</ref> She was a lecturer at University of California, Santa Cruz where she developed courses on Central Americans in Diaspora and Creative Writing.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MxZ4DAAAQBAJ&q=%22The+Cha+Cha+files%3A+A+Chapina+Po%C3%A9tica%22&pg=PA131|title=The Cambridge Companion to Latina/o American Literature|last=González|first=John Morán|date=2016-06-13|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781316571569|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://lals.ucsc.edu/faculty/singleton.php?&singleton=true&cruz_id=mchinchi|title=Maya M Chinchilla|website=lals.ucsc.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-03-08|archive-date=2017-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308140817/http://lals.ucsc.edu/faculty/singleton.php?&singleton=true&cruz_id=mchinchi|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite journal|title=EpiCentro: The Emergence of a New Central American-American Literature|journal=Comparative Literature|volume=64|issue=3|pages=300–315|doi=10.1215/00104124-1672961|year=2012|last1=Arias|first1=A.}}</ref> Chinchilla is also a lecturer at the University of California Davis in the department of Chicano Studies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://directory.ucdavis.edu/search/directory_results.shtml?filter=Maya%20Chinchilla|title=University of California, Davis {{!}} UC Davis|website=directory.ucdavis.edu|access-date=2018-09-26|archive-date=2018-09-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927005608/http://directory.ucdavis.edu/search/directory_results.shtml?filter=Maya%20Chinchilla|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Background and education== Maya Chinchilla was born in Long Beach, California to an immigrant family with Guatemalan roots.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Cha Cha Files: A Chapina Poética|last=Chinchilla|first=Maya|publisher=Kórima Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0988967380|location=San Francisco, CA|pages=cv}}</ref> Her mother, sociologist Dr. Norma Chinchilla and her father founded the Guatemala Information Center (GIC).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Seeking Community in a Global City: Guatemalans and Salvadorans in Los Angeles|last1=Chinchilla|first1=Norma|last2=Hamilton|first2=Nora|publisher=Temple University Press|year=2001|isbn=1566398681|pages=131}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://library.osu.edu/site/mujerestalk/2013/05/13/chapina-2-0-reflections-of-a-central-american-solidarity-baby/|title=Chapina 2.0: Reflections of A Central American Solidarity Baby|last=Chinchilla|first=Maya|date=May 13, 2013|website=Mujeres Talk}}{{Dead link|date=February 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref> Chinchilla's family such as her mother grew up noting the invisibility that many non-Mexican Latinos face in the United States, and how many end up trying to "pass" as Mexican in order to receive benefits.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Esparza |first=Araceli |date=2024-03-01 |title=US Central American relational identity formation in Maya Chinchilla’s and Leticia Hernández-Linares’s poetics |url=https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-024-00447-5 |journal=Latino Studies |language=en |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=73–96 |doi=10.1057/s41276-024-00447-5 |issn=1476-3443}}</ref> Chinchilla received a Bachelor of Arts from University of California Santa Cruz, a Masters in Broadcasting and Electronic Communications Arts from San Francisco State University, and a Masters of Fine Arts in English and Creative Writing from Mills College.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=https://ciis.academia.edu/MayaChinchilla/CurriculumVitae |title=Curriculum Vitae |last=Maya |first=Chinchilla |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170309003703/http://ciis.academia.edu/MayaChinchilla/CurriculumVitae |archive-date=2017-03-09 |url-status=live |access-date=2017-03-08 }}</ref>
==Work==
=== Scholarly work and critical reception === The literary collective, EpiCentroAmerica or ''epicentros'', emerged in the 1990s as a space to give Central American American youth to explore their identity.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AP7QCteb0o0C&q=epicentroamerica&pg=PA972|title=Immigrants in American History: Arrival, Adaptation, and Integration|last=Barkan|first=Elliott Robert|date=2013-01-01|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781598842197|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mK147fnLIrAC&q=epicentroamerica&pg=PA192|title=Art in the Lives of Immigrant Communities in the United States|last1=DiMaggio|first1=Paul|last2=Fernandez-Kelly|first2=Patricia|date=2010-10-13|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=9780813550411|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://epicentroamerica.blogspot.com/|title=Welcome to EpicentroAmerica: "An Anthology of U.S. Central American Poetry and Art"|date=March 16, 2010|website=Welcome to EpicentroAmerica: Central American Diasporic Culture, Art and Rumblings.}}</ref> It has been described as fundamental to the movement to reimagine Central American and Central American American identity in the literary arts in the early 21st century.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://clacsnyublog.com/2015/08/30/sharing-tears-with-maya-chapina-maya-chinchilla/|title=Sharing Tears With Maya Chinchilla|last=willyr89|date=2015-08-31|website=CLACS @ NYU|access-date=2017-03-12|archive-date=2017-03-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313044159/https://clacsnyublog.com/2015/08/30/sharing-tears-with-maya-chapina-maya-chinchilla/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Cárdenas|first=Maritza|date=2013-01-01|title=From Epicentros to Fault Lines: Rewriting Central America from the Diaspora|journal=Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature|language=en|volume=37|issue=2|doi=10.4148/2334-4415.1808|issn=2334-4415|doi-access=free}}</ref> An associated 2007 anthology, ''Desde el EpiCentro'', which was edited by Chinchilla and Karina Oliva-Alvarado, has been described as critical in troubling traditional understandings of Latino identity.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Arias|first=Arturo|date=2012-06-20|title=EpiCentro: The Emergence of a New Central American-American Literature|journal=Comparative Literature|language=en|volume=64|issue=3|pages=300–315|doi=10.1215/00104124-1672961|issn=0010-4124}}</ref> Chinchilla is able to create a conceptual theory of queerness by asking and expanding on dominant beliefs on what, who, and where is Central America.<ref name=":3" />
She has had multiple publications in various journals and anthologies, including ''Mujeres de Maíz, Sinister Wisdom, Americas y Latinas: A Stanford Journal of Latin American Studies, Cipactli Journal, The Lunada Literary Anthology''<ref name=":0" /> The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the U.S. Some of Chinchilla's research interests are Latin American/Latino Studies, Gender and sexuality, Latinx discourse and cultural production, creative writing and performance, Central American Studies, Latino/as in the media, Film production and Aesthetics, Media and Communications.<ref name=":1" />
Chinchilla has directed two short documentaries, "The Last Word" and "Made in Brazil" both of which screened at different festivals in 2006. When she was a graduate student at San Francisco State University, she also won the STAND award in 2006 from the Film Arts Foundation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfsu.edu/~news/2006/fall/112.htm|title=SF State News|website=www.sfsu.edu|access-date=2018-09-26}}</ref>
===''The Cha Cha Files'' (2014)=== ''The Cha Cha Files'' is a collection of poems that brings to light the Diaspora of the Central American in the United States. The book is a queer text that uses erotic language and writing, while using autobiographical references to emphasize the struggles of the Central American Woman. In addition she discusses gender performance while articulating and reclaiming her mestiza and indigenous roots.<ref name=":0" />
Through her work in the Cha Cha Files, Chinchilla uses her poetry to delve into the complexities having an intersection of identity between having Guatemalan identity and living in the United States, especially as a queer person.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Neyra Tercero |first=Delia |date=2024 |title=Women’s Voices and Silences in the Contemporary Literature of Central America and its U.S. Diaspora |url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/women-s-voices-silences-contemporary-literature/docview/3111012135/se-2 |access-date=17 April 2026 |website=ProQuest}}</ref> Within the 4 parts of her collection of poems, she uses various literary tactics to discuss an "in-between" space of home and identity between these intersections.<ref name=":4" /> As Chinchilla describes such as status as a "Central-American American," she further looks at connections and similarities between North and Central America through themes like gender and queer identity while still acknowledging power imbalances between the continents.<ref>{{Cite web |last=García-Avello |first=Macarena |date=29 June 2021 |title=“Resisting Borders: Transnational Cartographies in US Latinx Studies.” |url=https://doi.org/10.6018/ijes |website=International Journal of English Studies}}</ref> She attempts to break down barriers between what is described as the "borderlands" by playing with language and linguistics in her writing between Spanish accents and spelling.<ref name=":2" />
She articulates a wide range of conflicting emotions through her writing as she grapples with her own status, such as challenging readers about stereotypes, and longing for her home and heritage.<ref name=":4" /> She writes to demonstrate the struggles of the modern-day immigrant in the United States through vulnerability and fostering community.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Deckman |first=Joshua |date=2021 |title=Soft Politics: Latinx Solidarity (Baby) in Maya Chinchilla’s The Cha Cha Files: A Chapina Poética (2014) |url=https://unipub.uni-graz.at/amlit/periodical/titleinfo/6612841 |journal=AmLit |language=en |volume=1 |pages=4259 |doi=10.25364/27.1:2021.1.4}}</ref> Her poems also emphasize the hardships of dealing with the conflict and violence that occurs both in Guatemala, but also in the US towards migrants.<ref name=":4" />
=== Other literary works === ''Church at Night'' was written by Maya Chinchilla after the Orlando nightclub shooting. In 2018, the poem was published in ''A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies.''<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Chinchilla|first=Maya|date=2018-01-01|title=Church at Night|journal=GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies|volume=24|issue=1|pages=3–8|doi=10.1215/10642684-4254387|s2cid=148576338|issn=1064-2684}}</ref>
''Femme on Purpose'' appears in The Jota Anthology.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ucdavis.academia.edu/MayaChinchilla/CurriculumVitae|title=Maya Chinchilla {{!}} University of California, Davis - Academia.edu|website=ucdavis.academia.edu|access-date=2019-03-02}}</ref>
In her poem "Central Americanamerican" she "diffracts the construction of Central American identity beyond a geographic notion and along the multiple coordinates of migrations, generations, heritages, languages, ethnicities, races, sexualities, cultures, and discourses magnified in the Central American diasporas."<ref>{{Book| "Literatures of Central Americans in the United States", Ana Patricia Rodriguez, in The Routledge Companion to Latino/a Literature (2012)</ref>
Besides her literary work, Maya Chinchilla directed various video projects including "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsaqW4eqZUs Solidarity Baby]," "The Last Word".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://mayachapina.com/video/|title=Video|date=2009-04-13|work=Chinchilla Like Tortilla|access-date=2017-03-08|language=en-US|archive-date=2017-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308220043/https://mayachapina.com/video/|url-status=dead}}</ref> [https://mayachinchilla.com/2021/04/21/central-american-unicorns-in-space/ Central American Unicorns in Space] and is the host of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qza2Xtk06PU&list=PLX0FtgHu4xzjSqssu0Jxro7w7k087V64J Live and Queer.]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{cite web|url=https://ciis.academia.edu/MayaChinchilla/CurriculumVitae |title=Maya Chinchilla | California Institute of Integral Studies - Academia.edu |website=Ciis.academia.edu |date=1970-01-01 |access-date=2017-03-15}} *{{cite web |url=https://mayachinchilla.com |title=Chinchilla Like Tortilla | cha-cha-chapina poetics |website=Mayachinchilla.com |access-date=2017-03-15}} *{{cite web|url=https://mayachinchilla.com/about/|title=About Me | Chinchilla Like Tortilla|website=Mayachapina.com|date=13 March 2009 |access-date=2017-03-15}} *{{cite web|url=http://korimapress.com/cha-cha-files/4585686399 |title=Cha Cha Files - Kórima Press |website=Korimapress.com |date=2014-06-04 |access-date=2017-03-15}} *{{cite web |url=http://lals.ucsc.edu/faculty/singleton.php?&singleton=true&cruz_id=mchinchi |title=Maya M Chinchilla |website=Lals.ucsc.edu |date=2017-02-13 |access-date=2017-03-15 |archive-date=2017-03-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308140817/http://lals.ucsc.edu/faculty/singleton.php?&singleton=true&cruz_id=mchinchi |url-status=dead }} *"Chapina 2.0: Reflections of A Central American Solidarity Baby" Mujeres Talk 2013 https://library.osu.edu/site/mujerestalk/2013/05/13/chapina-2-0-reflections-of-a-central-american-solidarity-baby/{{Dead link|date=February 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinchilla, Maya}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:21st-century American poets Category:American people of Guatemalan descent Category:Mills College alumni Category:Poets from California Category:San Francisco State University alumni Category:University of California, Santa Cruz alumni Category:Writers from Long Beach, California Category:21st-century American women poets