In Search of Naunny’s Grave by Nick Trujillo begins by recounting the author’s experiences with his grandmother’s death and with the author explaining his first memory of his grandmother. In Search of Naunny’s Grave is an ethnography that follows the author on his journey in re-discovering his grandmother and how she fit into society through the different time periods she lived in. The book is broken down into eight sections focusing on the age, class, gender, and ethnicity themes her grandmother experienced and sometimes even passed on to other generations.
Trujillo’s book makes use of a variety of sources of information in his book, and includes both personal experiences, stories from family members that knew her, and also stories from Naunny’s personal journal throughout which combine to make a very pleasant read. He also includes stories told from Naunny’s perspective re-telling a past that could have happened. This ethnographic account is a deeply personal to both him and his family, and is reflected as such in his writing. While he does analyze the issues of race, class, and gender, age and its effect on his grandmother’s life, he also includes family stories that provide a different and sometimes cultural perspective to the issue at hand. It’s very easy to become engaged and get lost in the book, as we get to see inside Naunny’s and Trujillo’s life. Overall it is well written, and a very hard to put down book.
Perhaps the most interesting section of the book is the appendix. In the appendix, Trujillo describes the process he used in his research, detailing everything from places he visited and questions he asked to epiphanies and personal victories he came across along his journey. For his book, Trujillo used his grandmother’s address book as well as referrals from family members to track down as many people as possible to create a greater image of who his grandmother was. He states that “There is no magic number of interviewees needed to conduct such as study.” He conducted not only face to face interviews, but phone, email, and snail mail interview as well, due largely in part because there were so many people across the country to talk to. Mr. Trujillo used both critical and cultural analysis in his research. He analyzed the interviews he conducted from a cultural perspective by making a list of roles that family members regarded Naunny as having. This list was later shortened to just the recurring roles throughout her life, and he deduced from that final list the social role that family thought she played in the various stages of her life. Trujillo also conducted a critical analysis of the interviews he performed. He states that a critical analysis is particularly useful for issues “involving Gender, class, ethnicity, and age.” Within the stories and roles portrayed in the stories told by relatives he dissected the often hidden emphasis on how the relatives reinforce particular “ideological positions” of age, class, and gender in regards to Naunny.
Ethnicity is almost a controversy for his grandmother. Throughout the book Trujillo notices that his grandmother’s ethnic identity changes throughout her life; Naunny started her life having a particular identity ingrained into her, that she is Spanish-American, and continues through life adjusting by blending with white American society, but keeping with her Spanish heritage. It’s only later in life when she marries for the second time that she finally embraces her Mexican culture. She did experience oppression due to her perceived ethnicity, but didn’t seem to let it bother her very much. Trujillo essentially finds that Ethnicity isn’t necessarily something you are born into, but something you accept into your life, despite what other people around you see. His

Naunny proved that by never giving into stereotypes, and never accepting the conclusions of anyone else.
Stereotypes about age are prevalent throughout our society, and Naunny’s life was no exception. As she aged, her family’s perception of her changed as well. The book shows that we have preconceived notions of the roles of the elderly. For example, Trujillo himself notices how when he visited his grandmother during his undergraduate years, he almost always expected Naunny to take up a traditional grandmotherly caretaker role, as did all of the younger relatives. They all saw her as the sweet old grandmother who gave them money and presents, even when she could barely afford it. Naunny was influenced greatly by the perceptions of others, and sought to fulfill those roles throughout her life, whether she was aware of the influence of others or not. She, however, hardly acted her age, and kept her dirty sense of humor well into old age. While we may perceive people of a certain age differently, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they perceive themselves that way. She definitely did suffer from oppression due to her age, but like with anything in her life, she never complained about it.
Naunny was upper class in her early life, but quickly fell to being lower class when an accident left her father unable to tend to his business, and remained lower class for the rest of her life. Even though she was in the lower class of society, she never acted like it and never complained to anyone. She was always a very generous person that spent beyond her means to be able to give her relatives nice things. Trujillo’s father and uncle always had nice clothes and the latest toys while growing up. According to Trujillo’s research, no one really knew that Naunny was lower class, most of the family thought she was more than well off.
Naunny was a sensual woman throughout her life, and embraced her sexuality. As a result she became anorexic, and stayed as such even into her elderly years. In between her two marriages she retained her sexual identity whilst still providing for her two sons, not willing to let it go just because of a recent hardship. Gender roles are something that she didn’t quite fit either, being a single working class mother who worked two or more jobs to provide for her family, as well as having a little fun when time permitted.
In Search of Naunny’s Grave is an incredible and emotional read that provides insight into a woman that was able to enjoy her life despite the weight of oppression on her life. She was able to overcome a lot, and inspire many other lives that she was able to touch. And because of this story, I’ve taken a closer look at my own grandmother’s life with a more inquisitive eye.