Women Writers Influenced By Chicana Feminism
Some Historical Context…
Throughout the sixties and seventies, Mexican-Americans who called themselves Chicano or Chicana developed a social movement dedicated to securing equal rights and achieving Mexican empowerment. Commonly known as El Movimiento or The Chicano Movement, these efforts centered largely in California, Texas, and on college campuses. College students developed organizations with the goals of reducing police violence against Chicanos, ending the Vietnam war draft, securing voting rights, protection for immigrant workers, and gaining access to education and educational support. Although both Chicanos and Chicanas participated in these organizations, many of these student groups were lead by men.
Chicana Feminism emerged when Chicanas began to view their lack of recognition as a sign of gender inequality within the movement. Women started to view their new identity as a result of the inequality they experienced alongside Chicano men. Although women experienced sexism within the Chicano Movement their own distinct culture experiences prevented them from fully identifying with the larger liberal feminist movement.
How is Chicana Feminist Writing Unique?
“Writers such as Anzaldúa, Ana Castillo, Sandra Cisneros, Cherrie Moraga, Terri de la Peña, and Emma Pérez have persisted in demonstrating the deep relationship between racial-ethnic identities and disciplinary ideologies of sexuality and gender” — Katherine Sugg (2013)
Gloria E. Anzaldúa (1942 — 2004) Queer Chicana, Writer, Poet, Cultural, and Feminist Theorist
Gloria Anzaldúa was a strong and determined Chicana. She is no longer with us, but her courage and corazón can still be felt in various spaces and communities. Anzaldúa was aware of many kinds of borders such as between nations, cultures, classes, genders, and languages. Many of her essays and poems explore her personal experiences as a mestiza, and as a woman living both literally and figuratively on the border of two different countries that she calls home. She also chose to use to use a mixture of English and Spanish slang as a way to decolonize literature. Unlike other academic scholarship put into words, Anzaldúa’s voice is vibrant in how she captures us with her ability to resist sexist, classist and racist thought. Anzaldúa uses the concept of nepantla (in-between-ness) that provides readers the framework to understand issues of oppression related to women of color.
Her intellectual expression of language in her essay “How To Tame a Wild Tongue,” from Borderlands represents the struggles Chicana women deal with as a result of dominant stereotypes. Her work continues to speak to women of color, women who identify within the Latinx/Chicanx community, scholars of ethnic and cultural studies, feminists, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and anyone who feels oppressed by Anglo domination.
Cherrie Moraga (1952 — Current), Lesbian Chicana Feminist Writer, Theorist and Poet
Moraga is another female writer whose life continues to be influenced by Chicana feminism. In the video above, she talks about how she never felt connected to the white women writers we learn about in school. She grew up in a bi racial family. Her mother was Chicana and her father was Anglo. In multiple academic sources, Moraga speaks about always feeling closer to her Chicana mother and Mexican heritage, but never fit in with the brown or white community because she felt in between cultures, similar to Anzaldúa. She was an English major during the time of The Civil Rights Movement, the Gay and Lesbian Movement, and The Chicano Movement. The political climate and the age of finding her identity as a lesbian Chicana motivated her to write about experiences other women could relate to because they have been demonized to express their true selves in patriarchal society.
Moraga began publishing her writing during the 1980’s. She is still one of few Chicana Lesbian Feminists of our time. Moraga sets the stage for future generations to tap into their intersectional identities because doing so helps us understand each other in larger social contexts. It also allows us to set the stage for younger generations of activists and minority writers who have been historically marginalized and whose voices have been silenced. Below is a poem taken from the book The Bridge Called My Back which Moraga helped edit with Gloria Anzaldúa. It is a collection of essays and poems from women of color. This literature represents intersectional and Chicana feminism in many ways because it was the first feminist anthology leaving us wanting to learn more about their diversity struggles. Though it is more than two decades old, the essays and poetry are still inspirational and relevant.
I am a welder.
Not an alchemist.
I am interested in the blend
of common elements to make
a common thing.No magic here.
Only the heat of my desire to fuse
what I already know
exists. Is possible.We plead to each other,
we all come from the same rock
we all come from the same rock
ignoring the fact that we bend
at different temperatures
that each of us is malleable
up to a point.Yes, fusion is possible
but only if things get hot enough –
all else is temporary adhesion,
patching up.It is the intimacy of steel melting
into steel, the fire of your individual
passion to take hold of ourselves
that makes sculpture of your lives,
builds buildings.And I am not talking about skyscrapers,
merely structures that can support us
of trembling.for too long a time
the heat of my heavy hands
has been smoldering
in the pockets of other
people’s business-
they need oxygen to make fire.I am now
coming up for air
Yes, I am
picking up the torch.I am the welder.
I understand the capacity of heat
to change the shape of things.
I am suited to work
within the realm of sparks
out of control.I am the welder.
I am taking the power
into my own hands.
