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  • Preface  xi
    Acknowledgments  xiii
    Introduction: Chicana Feminisms at the Crossroads: Disruptions in Dialogue  1
    1. Cartohistografia: Continente de una voz / Cartohistography: One Voices Continent / Elba Rosario Sanchez  19
    Response: Translating Herstory: A Reading of and Responses to Elba Rosario Sanchez / Renato Rosaldo  52
    2. Contested Histories: Las Hijas de Cuauhtemoc, Chicana Feminisms, and Print Culture in the Chicano Movement, 19681973 / Maylei Blackwell   59
    Response: Chicana Print Culture and Chicana Studies: A Testimony to the Development of Chicana Feminist Culture /Anna NietoGomez   90
    3. The Writing of Canicula: Breaking Boundaries, Finding Forms, Norma E. Cantu  97
    Response: Sad Moview Make Me Cry / Ruth Behar  109
    4. Literary (Re)Mappings: Autobiographical (Dis)Placements by Chicana Writers / Norma Klahn  114
    Response: (Re)Mapping mexicanidades: (Re)Locating Chicana Writings and Translation Politics / Claire Joysmith  146
    5. Chronotope of Desire: Emma Perezs Gulf Dreams / Ellie Hernandez  155
    Response: The Lessons of Chicana Lesbian Fictions and Theories / Sergio de la Mora  178
    6. Unruly Passions: Poetics, Performance, and Gender in the Ranchera Song / Olga Najera-Ramirez  184
    Response: . . . Y volver a sufrir: Nuevos acercamientos al melodrama / Jose Manuel Valenzuela Arce  211
    Translation of Response: . . . And to Suffer Again: New Approaches to Melodrama / Rebecca M. Gamez  220
    7. Talkin Sex: Chicanas and Mexicanas Theorize about Silences and Sexual Pleasures / Patricia Zavella  228
    Response: Questions of Pleasure / Michelle Fine  254
    8. Underground Feminisms: Inocencias Story / Aida Hurtado  260
    Response: Grounding Feminisms through La Vida de Inocencia / Gabriela F. Arredondo  291
    9. Domesticana: The Sensibility of Chicana Rasquachismo / Amalia Mesa-Bains   298
    Response: Invention as Critique: Neologisms in Chicana Art Theory / Jennifer Gonzalez  316
    10. Reproduction and Miscegenation on the Borderlands: Mapping the Maternal Body of Tejanas / Rosa Linda Fregoso  324
    Response: The Sterile Cuckoo Racha: Debugging Lone Star / Ann duCille  349
    11. Anzalduas Frontera: Inscribing Gynetics / Norma Alarcon   354
    Response: Inscribing Gynetics in the Bolivian Andes / Marcia Stephenson  370
    Contributors  377
    Index  383
  • Elba Rosario Sanchez

    Renato Rosaldo

    Maylei Blackwell

    Anna Nieto Gomez

    Norma E. Cantu

    Ruth Behar

    Norma Klahn

    Claire Joysmith

    Ellie Hernandez

    Sergio de la Mora

    Olga Najera-Ramirez

    Jose Manuel Valenzuela

    Rebecca E. Gamez

    Patricia Zavella

    Michelle Fine

    Aida Hurtado

    Gabriela F. Arredondo

    Amalia Mesa-Bains

    Jennifer A. Gonzalez

    Rosa-Linda Fregoso

    Ann DuCille

    Norma Alarcon

    Marcia Stephenson

  • "Chicana Feminisms opens possibilities for anyone who is interested in reading about the ways in which feministas analyze their social worlds. . . . As no others before them, these writers capture the daily lives of Mexican and Mexican-descent working-class mujeres, embedding their narratives in the tensions and contradictions of social, political, and cultural forces that constrain and shape lives."—Josephine Mendez-Negrete, San Antonio Express News

    "Thoughtful dialogues abound throughout the scholarship, poetry, and testimonials here. Not only does the book affirm the history and resiliency of feminist thought among Hispanic women, but each essay ultimately serves to remind us all of Hurtado's succinct assertion that 'to love oneself as a woman is a revolutionary act.'"—Maria Elena Buszek, Bust

    "Recommended." —S. M. Green, Choice

    "[I]mportant. . . ."—Edén Torres, Journal of American Ethnic History

    "Chicana Feminisms . . . is the most ambitious work to date on the subject. . . . It is difficult to conceive of virtually any course in Chicana/o studies in which this book, if it is not used as a main text, should not be a recommended title."—David William Foster, Latin American Research Review

    "[T]his book will be beneficial to graduate feminist and Chicana feminist theory courses in a variety of disciplines. The work demonstrates a need to continue reflectively rethinking Chicana activism, writing, and everyday lived experiences through first-person experiences, historically, and in contemporary times."—Mary Ann Villarreal, New Mexico Historical Review

    "This book provides a solid collection of Chicana feminists' recent theorizing, research, and artistic expression. The variety of essays is stimulating to read, but its greatest utility will likely be in the classroom. A solid starting point for either feminist-theory classes or border-studies classes, this collection provides multiple perspectives and meanings for 'Chicana feminism.'"—Anthony Mora, Southwestern Historical Quarterly

    “These texts are absolutely necessary because of mainstream academe’s marginalization of Chicana/Latina theory and feminisms.” —Kathryn Quinn-Sánchez, Chicana/Latina Studies

    “This is a book that would promote lively discussion in advanced undergraduate and graduate classrooms, particularly because of its applicability to various legacies of activism and scholarship by feminists of color. It is refreshing to see scholars explicitly address the multiplicity of Chicana identities, inviting difference and celebrating regional, racial, sexual, generational, and other variations of Chicanisma.”—Gaye Theresa Johnson, NWSA Journal

    “The editors of Chicana Feminisms boldly publish Spanish and English texts, a significant move during a period of intense Xenophobia in the United States as anti-Mexican, anti-bilinguilism . . . The work is thoroughly transdisciplinary in its organization. The anthology is best read front to back in order to hear the method and theory of interlingual, intradialogic tracks . . . [each] systematically engaging a process of dialogue and debate.”—Karen Mary Davalos, Feminist Studies

    Reviews

  • "Chicana Feminisms opens possibilities for anyone who is interested in reading about the ways in which feministas analyze their social worlds. . . . As no others before them, these writers capture the daily lives of Mexican and Mexican-descent working-class mujeres, embedding their narratives in the tensions and contradictions of social, political, and cultural forces that constrain and shape lives."—Josephine Mendez-Negrete, San Antonio Express News

    "Thoughtful dialogues abound throughout the scholarship, poetry, and testimonials here. Not only does the book affirm the history and resiliency of feminist thought among Hispanic women, but each essay ultimately serves to remind us all of Hurtado's succinct assertion that 'to love oneself as a woman is a revolutionary act.'"—Maria Elena Buszek, Bust

    "Recommended." —S. M. Green, Choice

    "[I]mportant. . . ."—Edén Torres, Journal of American Ethnic History

    "Chicana Feminisms . . . is the most ambitious work to date on the subject. . . . It is difficult to conceive of virtually any course in Chicana/o studies in which this book, if it is not used as a main text, should not be a recommended title."—David William Foster, Latin American Research Review

    "[T]his book will be beneficial to graduate feminist and Chicana feminist theory courses in a variety of disciplines. The work demonstrates a need to continue reflectively rethinking Chicana activism, writing, and everyday lived experiences through first-person experiences, historically, and in contemporary times."—Mary Ann Villarreal, New Mexico Historical Review

    "This book provides a solid collection of Chicana feminists' recent theorizing, research, and artistic expression. The variety of essays is stimulating to read, but its greatest utility will likely be in the classroom. A solid starting point for either feminist-theory classes or border-studies classes, this collection provides multiple perspectives and meanings for 'Chicana feminism.'"—Anthony Mora, Southwestern Historical Quarterly

    “These texts are absolutely necessary because of mainstream academe’s marginalization of Chicana/Latina theory and feminisms.” —Kathryn Quinn-Sánchez, Chicana/Latina Studies

    “This is a book that would promote lively discussion in advanced undergraduate and graduate classrooms, particularly because of its applicability to various legacies of activism and scholarship by feminists of color. It is refreshing to see scholars explicitly address the multiplicity of Chicana identities, inviting difference and celebrating regional, racial, sexual, generational, and other variations of Chicanisma.”—Gaye Theresa Johnson, NWSA Journal

    “The editors of Chicana Feminisms boldly publish Spanish and English texts, a significant move during a period of intense Xenophobia in the United States as anti-Mexican, anti-bilinguilism . . . The work is thoroughly transdisciplinary in its organization. The anthology is best read front to back in order to hear the method and theory of interlingual, intradialogic tracks . . . [each] systematically engaging a process of dialogue and debate.”—Karen Mary Davalos, Feminist Studies

  • “This remarkable collection of essays registers the efforts of Chicanas, against all odds, to document, imagine, and understand the complexity of their histories and experiences. Particularly impressive are the open-ended discussions between academics, artists, and writers. The essays brilliantly support the editors’ claim that the Chicanas have invented new forms and have intervened decisively in the debates on gender and ethnicity. Chicana Feminisms will be an essential reference for many years to come.”—Jean Franco, author of Critical Passions: Selected Essays

    "Chicana Feminisms comes alive with theoretical and emotional responses from some of the most exciting thinkers in Chicana feminist social thought. This book is a truly momentous achievement. It will stand the test of time." —Laura I. Rendón, author of Educating a New Majority: Transforming America’s Educational System for Diversity

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  • Description

    Chicana Feminisms presents new essays on Chicana feminist thought by scholars, creative writers, and artists. This volume moves the field of Chicana feminist theory forward by examining feminist creative expression, the politics of representation, and the realities of Chicana life. Drawing on anthropology, folklore, history, literature, and psychology, the distinguished contributors combine scholarly analysis, personal observations, interviews, letters, visual art, and poetry. The collection is structured as a series of dynamic dialogues: each of the main pieces is followed by an essay responding to or elaborating on its claims. The broad range of perspectives included here highlights the diversity of Chicana experience, particularly the ways it is made more complex by differences in class, age, sexual orientation, language, and region. Together the essayists enact the contentious, passionate conversations that define Chicana feminisms.

    The contributors contemplate a number of facets of Chicana experience: life on the Mexico-U.S. border, bilingualism, the problems posed by a culture of repressive sexuality, the ranchera song, and domesticana artistic production. They also look at Chicana feminism in the 1960s and 1970s, the history of Chicanas in the larger Chicano movement, autobiographical writing, and the interplay between gender and ethnicity in the movie Lone Star. Some of the essays are expansive; others—such as Norma Cantú’s discussion of the writing of her fictionalized memoir Canícula—are intimate. All are committed to the transformative powers of critical inquiry and feminist theory.

    Contributors. Norma Alarcón, Gabriela F. Arredondo, Ruth Behar, Maylei Blackwell, Norma E. Cantú, Sergio de la Mora, Ann duCille, Michelle Fine, Rosa Linda Fregoso, Rebecca M. Gámez, Jennifer González, Ellie Hernández, Aída Hurtado, Claire Joysmith, Norma Klahn, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Olga Nájera-Ramírez, Anna Nieto Gomez, Renato Rosaldo, Elba Rosario Sánchez, Marcia Stephenson, Jose Manuel Valenzuela, Patricia Zavella

    About The Author(s)

    Gabriela F. Arredondo is Assistant Professor of Latin American and Latina/o Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

    Aída Hurtado is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and author of Voicing Chicana Feminisms: Young Women Speak Out on Sexuality and Identity.

    Norma Klahn is Professor of Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz and coeditor of Las Nuevas Fronteras del Siglo XXI/New Frontiers of the 21st Century.

    Olga Nájera-Ramírez is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and coeditor of Chicana Traditions: Continuity and Change.

    Patricia Zavella is Professor of Latin American and Latina/o Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz and coauthor of Telling to Live: Latina Feminist Testimonios, published by Duke University Press.
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