Tag: Feminist theory

Xicana Codex (2)

Reading assignment for Monday April 16, 2012. Your reply (under Comments) is due before class. Your response should demonstrate you’ve done and thought about both of the readings. Be sure to check and make sure your response posts.

Cherríe Moraga, A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousness (79-162)

Based on your readings this semester on textual communities and print culture, what does Moraga’s writing reveal about the construction of communal texts, anthologies and performances? How much ownership do we have of our writing? How much debt to others? What do you think of Moraga’s decision not to contribute to This Bridge We Call Home?

On a more personal level, do you think Moraga is right about how she and Anzaldúa could have resolved their differences? Do you agree with her reading of Anzaldúa’s writing as having more to do with vision of the ideal than the more concrete politics of process?

Borderland / La Frontera (2)

Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands (1-91)

Reading assignment for Friday, March 9. Your reply (under Comments) is due before class. Remember, you don’t need to answer all or even any of the questions, but your response should demonstrate you’ve done and thought about the readings. Be sure to check and make sure your response posts.

Based on your reading of Borderlands and your study of Chicana feminism in this class, how would you define and construct a mestiza consciousness? What are the advantages of such a construction? What are the pitfalls?

How would you connect the theory in Borderlands to the presentation on Wednesday? How is Anzaldúa constructing the idea of the Chicana feminist self?

Reading: Maylei Blackwell, ¡Chicana Power! (2)

Reading Assignment: Your reply (under Comments) is due before class on Wednesday, January 25. Remember, you don’t need to answer all or even any of the questions, but your response should demonstrate you’ve done and thought about the readings.

Maylei Blackwell, “Spinning the Record: Historical Writing and Righting,” ¡Chicana Power! 14 – 42.

Maylei Blackwell writes about the histories of Chicana feminism as constructed by both Chicano histories and Anglo feminism.  Are either of these histories ones you had encountered before? Where and when did you hear (prior to this course) about Chicana feminism?  When did you think it emerged?

What are the Chicano histories of Chicana feminism? According to Blackwell, how has it been historicized within Chicano scholarship? Are these histories you had heard before?  What does Blackwell mean by “vendida logic”?

What is Blackwell referring to when she discusses “East Coast regionalism”? What effect does this have on Chicana feminist history?  What are some of the problems Blackwell identifies with the way women’s history has constructed / depicted feminism in the 1960s and 1970s?  Whose history gets written? How can we read an alternate history?

Blackwell compares her methods of historiography to the styles and techniques of a DJ — how does she see that working? Does the metaphor make sense to you or does compare things that aren’t comparable?  Discuss some of the “gender insurgencies” Blackwell highlights.