Perlawanan diskursif terhadap mimpi Amerika dalam novel American Dirt karya Jeanine Cummins Discursive resistance toward American dream in “American Dirt” novel by Jeanine Cummins
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Abstract
This research aims to examine the discursive discourse on the American dream in the novel American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. This novel tells the life of Lydia and her son, Luca as immigrants in the United States. This study uses a qualitative descriptive method supported by Stuart Hall’s represnetation theory and belonging theory. The narrative of Mexican immigrants built by Cummins illustrates the ideals of achieving the American dream for a better life in the existing characters. However, the life that is dreamed of does not go completely as it should. Lydia and Luca are trying to achieve their ideal goals as new citizens. However, minority construction is still a hindrance. With the theory of representation and belonging, the depiction of Lydia and Luca’s lives is a process that immigrants should face. The rejection of the majority by the minority is an ongoing negotiation process and is not easy to achieve. Lydia and Luca are representations of Mexican immigrants who still have to negotiate the search for identity in a new community in the United States.
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Kasih, E. N. E. W., Indriyanto, K., Surtinawati, S., & Nabila, M. (2025). Perlawanan diskursif terhadap mimpi Amerika dalam novel American Dirt karya Jeanine Cummins. Diglosia: Jurnal Kajian Bahasa, Sastra, Dan Pengajarannya, 8(2), 539-550. https://doi.org/10.30872/diglosia.v8i2.1248
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Kang, J. (2024). (Un)settling the Black-White binary: Korean American and immigrant youth navigating racial discourse in school curriculum. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 56(6), 758–781. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2024.2404055
Karma Putra, I. M. (2022). Analisis “Push and Pull” faktor yang mempengaruhi keputusan untuk bermigrasi ke Kota Denpasar. E-Jurnal EP, 1339–1368.
Kasih, E. N. E. W. (2018a). Formulating Western fiction in Garrett Touch of Texas. Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies, 2(2), 142–155. https://doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol2no2.10
Kasih, E. N. E. W. (2018b). Redefining hybridity of Chicano literature in Jimenez’s fictions. The Center for Asia and Diaspora, 8(2), 293–319. https://doi.org/10.15519/dcc.2018.06.8.2.293
Kasih, E. N. E. W., Amelia, D., & Fitratullah, M. (2021). Unraveling students’ attitude of using blog for online learning in literature class. In Proceedings of URICET 2021 - Universitas Riau International Conference on Education Technology 2021 (pp. 419–424). https://doi.org/10.1109/URICET53378.2021.9865946
Kasih, E. N. E. W., Adi, I. R., & Saktiningrum, N. (2019). Border as post space in Reyna Grande’s The distance between us. In Proceedings of the 3rd English Language and Literature International Conference (ELLiC) (pp. 261–269). https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.27-4-2019.2285322
Kasiyarno. (2014). American Dream: The America hegemonic culture and its implication to the world. Humaniora, 26(1), 13–21. https://journal.ugm.ac.id/jurnal-humaniora/article/view/4652
Lammert, C. (2021). Dream a little American Dream with me: Income inequality and social mobility in the United States. American Studies, 66(1), 111–115. https://doi.org/10.33675/AMST/2021/1/19
Maggo, R. (2023). The impact of Mexican immigration to the United States. International Journal of Novel Research and Development, 8(5), 498–509. https://www.ijnrd.org/papers/IJNRD2305862.pdf
Mays, V. M., Becerra, R., & Cochran, S. D. (2023). The American Dream: Is immigration associated with life satisfaction for Latinos of Mexican descent? Healthcare (Switzerland), 11(18), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11182495
Ochoa, F. D. (2020). Is the American Dream truly for everyone? The stereotypes shaping immigrants’ reality. Bridging Cultures, 5(011), 31–48. https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/bitstream/123456789/10998/1/american-dream-truly-everyone.pdf
Panuco-Mercado, G. (2020). Melodrama and italicized language in an era of #MeToo: A 2020 review of Jeanine Cummins’s American Dirt. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, 21(Fall), 216–219. https://doi.org/10.1353/gia.2020.0007
Portes, A., & Rumbaut, R. G. (2014). Immigrant America: A portrait (4th ed.). University of California Press.
Rumbaut, R. G., & Massey, D. S. (2013). Immigration & language diversity in the United States. Daedalus, 142(3), 141–154. https://doi.org/10.1162/DAED_a_00224
Sargent, L. T. (2020). African Americans and utopia: Visions of a better life. Utopian Studies, 31(1), 25–96. https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.31.1.0025
Shintawati, C. P. A., & Suharman, Y. (2023). Push-pull factors of migration amidst domestic resistance of the Visegrad Group countries. Islamic World and Politics, 7(2), 162–177. https://doi.org/10.18196/jiwp.v7i2.56
Smith, R. M. (2011). Living in a promiseland?: Mexican immigration and American obligations. Perspectives on Politics, 9(3), 545–557. https://doi.org/10.1017/S153759271100274X
Ullah, A. K. M. A., Hasan, N. H., Mohamad, S. M., & Chattoraj, D. (2021). Privileged migrants & their sense of belonging: Insider or outsider? Asian Journal of Social Science, 49(3), 161–169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajss.2021.03.004
Wendra, I. W., & Tantri, A. A. S. (2021). Representasi mewujudkan ideologi Pancasila dan prinsip Ajeg Bali pada tulisan opini terbitan surat kabar Bali Post (Sebagai alternatif pemilihan materi pembelajaran menulis opini berbasis teks). Diglosia: Jurnal Kajian Bahasa, Sastra, Dan Pengajarannya, 4(4), 461–472. https://doi.org/10.30872/diglosia.v4i4.272
Yovela, S., Priyatna, A., & Prabasmoro, T. (2024). Ambivalent identity as abject in Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and China Men. Diglosia: Jurnal Kajian Bahasa, Sastra, Dan Pengajarannya, 7(3), 373–384. https://doi.org/10.30872/diglosia.v7i3.971
Alama, E. T. (2023). The concept and models of representation. Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, 11(9), 27–34. https://doi.org/10.37745/gjahss.2013/vol11n92734
Alba, R. (2006). Mexican Americans and the American Dream. Perspectives on Politics, 4(2), 289–296. https://doi.org/10.2307/3688267
Allegro, L. (2010). Latino migrations to the U.S. Heartland: Illegality, state controls, and implications for transborder labor rights. Latin American Perspectives, 37(1), 172–184. https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X09351708
Archer, J. (2016). The resilience of myth: The politics of the American Dream. Traditional Dwelling and Settlements Review, 25(2), 7–21. https://iaste.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2014/08/25.2-TDSR-ARCHER.pdf
Arendt, H. (2006). On revolution. Penguin Publishing Group.
Ariningrum, P., & Haryanti, Y. (2021). Representasi nilai perjuangan keluarga dalam mencapai American Dream pada film drama Minari. Jurnal Pembelajaran Sastra, 3(2), 95–111. https://doi.org/10.51543/hiskimalang.v3i02
Blackmore, E. (2015). Changing frames: Engaging multiple identities in cultural conflicts. European Scientific Journal, 1(May), 403–417. https://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/view/5573
Casarrubias, A. M. M., Santellano, K., & Estrada, E. (2024). Cautious optimism: Latinx young adults’ perspectives on the American Dream. American Behavioral Scientist, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642241284269
Cohen, D. (2015). Line in the sand: A history of the Western U.S.–Mexico border. American Nineteenth Century History, 16(1), 105–108. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664658.2014.940758
Cuelenaere, E., Willems, G., & Joye, S. (2019). Remaking identities and stereotypes: How film remakes transform and reinforce nationality, disability, and gender. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 22(5–6), 613–629. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549418821850
Cummins, J. (2019). American Dirt. Henry Holt and Company.
Dahir, N. (2025). Who is Black on the block? Black immigrants and changing Black neighborhoods. RSF, 11(1), 110–131. https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2025.11.1.06
Dusi, P., Messetti, G., & Falcón, I. G. (2015). Belonging: Growing up between two worlds. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 171, 560–568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.161
Epstein, G. S., & Cohen, O. H. (2015). Ethnic identity: A theoretical framework. IZA Journal of Migration, 4(9), 2–11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40176-015-0033-z
Feliciano, C., & Rumbaut, R. G. (2018). Varieties of ethnic self-identities: Children of immigrants in middle adulthood. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 4(5), 26–46. https://doi.org/10.7758/rsf.2018.4.5.02
Ghiotto, M. F., & Wijanarka, H. (2016). American dreams represented through the color in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Journal of Language and Literature, 16(1), 55–62. https://doi.org/10.24071/joll.2016.160107
Gholami, M. (2020). Social criticism and the American Dream: An analysis of James Truslow Adams’ The epic of America (1931). International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation (IJLLT), 3(11), 55–67. https://al-kindipublisher.com/index.php/ijllt/article/view/8021
Hamad, R. (2024). Immigrants to the United States contribute to society: Here are 3 ways to support their transition. Health Affairs Scholar, 2(3), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxae019
High, M. (2015). The reality of the American Dream. Xavier Journal of Undergraduate Research, 3(2), 1–13. https://www.exhibit.xavier.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1024&context=xjur
Hou, Z. (2017). The American Dream revisited: A corpus-driven study. International Journal of English Linguistics, 7(3), 182. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v7n3p182
Jiménez, T. R., & Jimenez, T. R. (2007). Weighing the costs and benefits of Mexican immigration: The Mexican-American perspectives. Social Science Quarterly, 88(3), 599–618. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2007.00474.x
Kang, J. (2024). (Un)settling the Black-White binary: Korean American and immigrant youth navigating racial discourse in school curriculum. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 56(6), 758–781. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2024.2404055
Karma Putra, I. M. (2022). Analisis “Push and Pull” faktor yang mempengaruhi keputusan untuk bermigrasi ke Kota Denpasar. E-Jurnal EP, 1339–1368.
Kasih, E. N. E. W. (2018a). Formulating Western fiction in Garrett Touch of Texas. Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies, 2(2), 142–155. https://doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol2no2.10
Kasih, E. N. E. W. (2018b). Redefining hybridity of Chicano literature in Jimenez’s fictions. The Center for Asia and Diaspora, 8(2), 293–319. https://doi.org/10.15519/dcc.2018.06.8.2.293
Kasih, E. N. E. W., Amelia, D., & Fitratullah, M. (2021). Unraveling students’ attitude of using blog for online learning in literature class. In Proceedings of URICET 2021 - Universitas Riau International Conference on Education Technology 2021 (pp. 419–424). https://doi.org/10.1109/URICET53378.2021.9865946
Kasih, E. N. E. W., Adi, I. R., & Saktiningrum, N. (2019). Border as post space in Reyna Grande’s The distance between us. In Proceedings of the 3rd English Language and Literature International Conference (ELLiC) (pp. 261–269). https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.27-4-2019.2285322
Kasiyarno. (2014). American Dream: The America hegemonic culture and its implication to the world. Humaniora, 26(1), 13–21. https://journal.ugm.ac.id/jurnal-humaniora/article/view/4652
Lammert, C. (2021). Dream a little American Dream with me: Income inequality and social mobility in the United States. American Studies, 66(1), 111–115. https://doi.org/10.33675/AMST/2021/1/19
Maggo, R. (2023). The impact of Mexican immigration to the United States. International Journal of Novel Research and Development, 8(5), 498–509. https://www.ijnrd.org/papers/IJNRD2305862.pdf
Mays, V. M., Becerra, R., & Cochran, S. D. (2023). The American Dream: Is immigration associated with life satisfaction for Latinos of Mexican descent? Healthcare (Switzerland), 11(18), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11182495
Ochoa, F. D. (2020). Is the American Dream truly for everyone? The stereotypes shaping immigrants’ reality. Bridging Cultures, 5(011), 31–48. https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/bitstream/123456789/10998/1/american-dream-truly-everyone.pdf
Panuco-Mercado, G. (2020). Melodrama and italicized language in an era of #MeToo: A 2020 review of Jeanine Cummins’s American Dirt. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, 21(Fall), 216–219. https://doi.org/10.1353/gia.2020.0007
Portes, A., & Rumbaut, R. G. (2014). Immigrant America: A portrait (4th ed.). University of California Press.
Rumbaut, R. G., & Massey, D. S. (2013). Immigration & language diversity in the United States. Daedalus, 142(3), 141–154. https://doi.org/10.1162/DAED_a_00224
Sargent, L. T. (2020). African Americans and utopia: Visions of a better life. Utopian Studies, 31(1), 25–96. https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.31.1.0025
Shintawati, C. P. A., & Suharman, Y. (2023). Push-pull factors of migration amidst domestic resistance of the Visegrad Group countries. Islamic World and Politics, 7(2), 162–177. https://doi.org/10.18196/jiwp.v7i2.56
Smith, R. M. (2011). Living in a promiseland?: Mexican immigration and American obligations. Perspectives on Politics, 9(3), 545–557. https://doi.org/10.1017/S153759271100274X
Ullah, A. K. M. A., Hasan, N. H., Mohamad, S. M., & Chattoraj, D. (2021). Privileged migrants & their sense of belonging: Insider or outsider? Asian Journal of Social Science, 49(3), 161–169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajss.2021.03.004
Wendra, I. W., & Tantri, A. A. S. (2021). Representasi mewujudkan ideologi Pancasila dan prinsip Ajeg Bali pada tulisan opini terbitan surat kabar Bali Post (Sebagai alternatif pemilihan materi pembelajaran menulis opini berbasis teks). Diglosia: Jurnal Kajian Bahasa, Sastra, Dan Pengajarannya, 4(4), 461–472. https://doi.org/10.30872/diglosia.v4i4.272
Yovela, S., Priyatna, A., & Prabasmoro, T. (2024). Ambivalent identity as abject in Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and China Men. Diglosia: Jurnal Kajian Bahasa, Sastra, Dan Pengajarannya, 7(3), 373–384. https://doi.org/10.30872/diglosia.v7i3.971