Photograph of a woman walking on the street with her bags in hand San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. This neighborhood was photographed during Cross' family trip to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico in 2020.

Photograph of the interior of a restaurant in San Miguel de Allende during a pre-pandemic family trip to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico in 2020.

A) Magna charro cape of black wool blend. Side shoulder panels with mariachi inspired, hand cut and sewn silver leather fretwork details. Patch pockets with matching triangular leather fretwork details in bottom corner. V-shaped neckline. Lined in synthetic black satin. Designer label: Carla Fernández B) Chuj trousers of black linen/viscose blend. Styled as a long rectangular panel which passes between the legs and ties at the waist with long straps extending from the ends of the waistband. Designer label: Carla Fernández

In this dissertation, I examine the Sonoran Desert trilogy by Kathleen Alcalá through the lens of post-oppositional theory as developed by AnaLouise Keating. Moving beyond the use of post-oppositional theory to analyze non-fiction works, I apply this theory instead to the fiction of Kathleen Alcalá—whose work appears in such anthologies as The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature. Alcalá, though well published, is underrepresented in contemporary literary criticism, as can be seen by the only eight entries under her name in the MLA International Bibliography. Therefore, I have chosen her most significant fiction work, her trilogy about the Sonoran Desert, as the perfect text upon which to map post-oppositional theory. Through analysis of her three novels, I show that her work is an ideal example of post-oppositionality in action and that her characters act as post-oppositional revolutionaries and prophets within the pages of the text. The first chapter outlines the parameters of the project. In Chapter 2, I argue that post-oppositionality can be seen in Alcalá through gender bending, looking at the characters of Membrillo and Manzana, Corey, and Rosalinda. In Chapter 3, I argue that the characters of Estela, La Señorita, and Magdalena are enacting post-oppositionality through their transcendence of …