Description
Born in Bakersfield, California on July 18,
1970, and raised in Michoacán, Mexico, he is the son and grandson
of migrant farmworkers, both parents now deceased. His extended family
migrated back to California in 1980 and returned to Mexico in 1992.
González remained alone in the U.S. to complete his education.
Details of his troubled childhood in Michoacán and his difficult
adolescence as an immigrant in California are the basis for his coming
of age memoir Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa. During his
college years he also performed with various Baile Folklorico and
Flamenco dance troupes. He earned a B.A. in Humanities and Social
Sciences Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of California,
Riverside [1], and graduate degrees from the University of California,
Davis, and Arizona State University in Tempe. His former teachers
include the Chicano poets Gary Soto, Francisco X. Alarcón, Lorna
Dee Cervantes, Pat Mora and Alberto Ríos, and the African
American writers Clarence Major and Jewell Parker Rhodes. This
collection consists of correspondence, books, syllabi, newspaper
clippings, manuscripts, and the personal papers of the writer, scholar,
and professor Rigoberto Gonzalez. Researchers who would like to indicate
errors of fact or omissions in this finding aid can contact the research
center at www.chicano.ucla.edu
Background
Born in Bakersfield, California on July 18, 1970, and raised in
Michoacán, Mexico, he is the son and grandson of migrant
farmworkers, both parents now deceased. His extended family migrated
back to California in 1980 and returned to Mexico in 1992.
González remained alone in the U.S. to complete his education.
Details of his troubled childhood in Michoacán and his difficult
adolescence as an immigrant in California are the basis for his coming
of age memoir Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa.
During his college years he also performed with various Baile Folklorico
and Flamenco dance troupes. He earned a B.A. in Humanities and Social
Sciences Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of California,
Riverside, and graduate degrees from the University of California,
Davis, and Arizona State University in Tempe. His former teachers
include the Chicano poets Gary Soto, Francisco X. Alarcón, Lorna
Dee Cervantes, Pat Mora and Alberto Ríos, and the African
American writers Clarence Major and Jewell Parker Rhodes.