By the 1980s, Chicana[1]
writers became a powerful force that has influenced the mainstream literary
canon of the United States and inspired women all over the world. Chicanas
mainly deal with issues such as domestic violence, patriarchal society and
fixed traditional role models, no access to education, sexual harassment and
rape, poverty, discrimination and oppression, occupation of the motherland,
migration, etc. These topics are not only relevant within their own communities
and the American society, they build connections across borders. With their
literature they break the silence and encourage women's voices to be heard as well as respected by
everybody.
Chicanas are women with a Mexican ancestry who are born or raised in the United
States of America. The term “Chicanas” especially emphasizes that they are women
with a political awareness. Consequently, Chicanas use their writings as a tool
for self-determination and political resistance. They find strategies to free
themselves from the shackles of the past and suppressing myths. Within this
process, they overcome metaphorical borders to create a hybrid identity and
teach others about how to be a new kind of human being.
The border as a key theme in
Chicana writings is related to the transition in the discipline of American Studies
- from a static and unified American identity definition to a viewpoint that
allows multiple positions to emerge and therefore includes minority literature
into the discourse. Thus, the border has become a contact zone, where
previously separated groups encounter, and produce a new hybrid culture. The
border between Mexico and the United States underlies two different concepts:
Native Mexicans, who are the original inhabitants of the Southwest, view the
border territory as their ancestral homeland, whereas for new immigrants from
Mexico, the border is a line they cross when migrating up north to escape
poverty.
Even though the United States
won the Mexican-American War and took over parts of Mexico with the Treaty of
Guadalupe in 1848, the Southwest is even nowadays culturally closer to Mexico.
As many Mexicans became exiles in their own home, the reconstruction of
American history has become a major concern of Chicanos. Due to mobility and
the proximity to Mexico, Mexican Americans keep strong cultural ties to their
native land and preserve their values as well as Spanish language. It has not
been easy for Chicanos to adapt to the melting pot myth because their heritage
straddles two countries and therefore consists of two traditions. On the one
hand, this can be seen as “enriching for the bicultural individual,” but on the
other hand, this can also be a painful state of being.[2] Often Chicanos do not fully fit in here,
neither over there. Consequently, they are caught “within and between worlds” –
an unknown land and labyrinth where many people might get lost.[3]
Chicana writers suggest a way
out of this labyrinth by crossing several metaphorical and psychological
borders in the process of constructing an individual dynamic identity. Their
literature is a form of resistance not only towards racism of the dominant
American society, but also towards sexism within the oppressed Chicano
community. Furthermore, these writers practice feminism on the border and,
thus, move beyond national borders and ethnic identities because they unite
with other women of color. Their movements not only show solidarity towards
Third World women in the United States, but also towards oppressed women in
other countries of the world.
As an example, Gloria
Anzaldúa was one of the first ones to give account of her own autobiographical
experience at the intersection of cultures and the contradictions of life on
the borders. Her book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza[4] is a theoretical and poetical study in which the border not only
presents a theme, it has also produced new narrative forms such as hybrid
genres. Anzaldúa mixes prose and poetry, autobiography and essay, myth and
history, as well as English and Spanish, thus, creating her own literature,
culture and language. Her book further deals with her struggle of the national
border as a real geographical place and the multiple racial and sexual borders
that are related to it. Furthermore, she
reinterprets Mexican social myths, such as la Virgen de Guadalupe, la Malinche
and la Llorana in order to overcome male/female duality and bring about social
change. Through writing, Anzaldúa makes meaning out of her experience
and transforms her state of psychic unrest of living in the Borderlands into a
New Mestiza Consciousness – a consciousness that entails a political, feminist
and social awareness.
Among other literature, the
short stories “Woman Hollering Creek” by Sandra Cisneros[5] and “The Cariboo Cafe” by Helena María
Viramontes[6] build on Anzaldúa’s
theories. Both of them reinterpret the legend of la Llorana and transform her
from a powerless and suffering weeping woman into a strong and powerful figure
that is able to fight against social injustice. This shows that Chicana writers
draw their strength and inspiration from their pre-Columbian Aztec history by
reinterpreting Mexican mythological figures. Cisneros analyzes border crossings
from the perspective of a Mexican female immigrant who marries a Mexican
American and moves to Texas. Viramontes’s strategy is to expose the political
power of the United States and to extend her story into the lives of women and
children in Central America as well as into the life of illegal immigrants in
the United States.
Both Viramontes and Cisneros
exercise social criticism that is still relevant today. Even though traditional
values in Mexican society have been changing in the last years and many women
work, domestic violence still seems to be prevalent in society. As mass media
still produces the traditional submissive female role model, especially in
famous telenovelas, many Mexican women as well as Chicanas are not able to
change the dominant discourse and therefore submit to their expected role. This
is why it is important to create an awareness that understands physical abuse
as a moral degradation and educate women regarding this topic. Furthermore,
migration from Third World to First World countries in the hope of a better
life, material wealth and escape from repressive regimes, is also a critical
topic nowadays. Because of limited education and knowledge, many people get
disappointed since they continue a life in poverty at the margins of society,
although they are in a rich country. Consequently, the struggle for social
justice will continue and there will be more literature that serves as
political intervention and the education of people.
Furthermore, globalization
takes the experience of immigrants beyond the border between the United States
and Mexico as the collision of cultures becomes a reality everywhere in the
world.[7] In the preface of The
Borderlands/La Frontera, Anzaldúa hints at the international perspective
of Chicana theories when she writes, “The psychological borderlands, the sexual
borderlands and the spiritual borderlands are not particular to the Southwest.”
As the New Mestiza Consciousness allows connections across nation, race,
culture, class and gender, many people can relate to this theoretical model.
The history of Chicanos
proves that a flexible identity was essential to survive times of conquest,
colonialism and domination as well as discrimination in the main society.
However, this skill becomes relevant for every world citizen today because the
concept of a geographical home territory within a homogenous culture is in
times of globalization, mobility and hybridization untenable. Chicanas give an
example of an intercultural approach that promotes harmony within diversity,
equal opportunities despite differences, and integration due to the notion of
cultural hybridity. Instead of shutting out what is unfamiliar, individuals can
learn from theories that constitute the Mexican American Borderlands as an
alternative third space where communication between cultures and negotiations
of identities create new meanings.
Honoring the differences of
human beings instead of judging them due to their race, skin color or
nationality might cross borders and create a bridge among peoples and
worldviews. Chicanas are activists who take their fate in their own hands
rather than waiting for things to happen. They have learned strategies of how
to feel happy and not torn apart by all the different identities they inhabit
and the issues they face. Instead, they influence others and inspire them to
create a better future. Finally, Chicanas enjoy being the creator of something
new and feel “honored to travel within and between worlds, like dancing light –
asking others to follow, to lay down their swords and allow transcendental
qualities of humanity help them find both peace and justice.”[8]
Nicole
Staiger
(1420
words)
[1] There
is a distinction of gender in the Spanish language. Thus, Chicana is the
feminine and Chicano the masculine form. The word Chicano also refers to both
genders.
[2] Mermann-Jozwiak,
Elisabeth. Postmodern Vernaculars: Chicana Literature and Postmodern Rhetoric.
New York: Peter Lang, 2005. 15-16.
[3] Alvarez,
Julia. "Gloria Anzaldúa, Que En Paz Descanse (Introduction to the Third
Edition." Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Ed. Gloria Anzaldúa.
Third Edition ed. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 2007. n.p.
[4] Anzaldúa,
Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera: The ?ew Mestiza. 3rd ed. San Francisco: Aunt
Lute Books, 2007.
[5] Cisneros,
Sandra. "Woman Hollering Creek." Woman Hollering Creek and Other
Stories. New York: Vintage, 1991. 43-56.
[6] Viramontes, Helena María.
"The Cariboo Cafe." The Moths and Other Stories. 2nd ed. Houston:
Arte Público Press, 1995. 65-79.
[7]
Alvarez, Julia. "Gloria Anzaldúa, Que En Paz Descanse (Introduction to
the Third Edition." Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Ed. Gloria
Anzaldúa. Third Edition ed. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 2007. n.p.
[8] Martínez,
Renée M. "Del Puente Al Arco Iris: Transformando De Guerrera a Mujer De
La Paz - From Bridge to Rainbow: Transforming from Warrior to Woman of
Peace." This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation. Eds.
Gloria Anzaldúa and AnaLouise Keating. New York and London: Routledge, 2002.
42-50.
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