Borderlands / La Frontera (3)

Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands (1-91)

Reading assignment for Monday, March 12. 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.

Read Borderlands / La Frontera, Chapters 5 and 7

How does language shape the self? If you have more than one language, consider the question of whether you think differently in one language versus another. Do you communicate differently in one language over another?

Anzaldúa defines what Chicano Spanish means to her. What intersections make up the different languages you speak? How does language move you between one sphere and another, home, friends, public, private? What elements make you identify a space as “home” or “family”?

Define the mestiza consciousness. How is it specific to Anzaldúa? How can it be used universally? How does Anzaldúa define machismo? How is that definition the same as those we’ve read earlier in the class? How is it the same?

How does Anzaldúa connect her theory of consciousness with white culture? What is her position with regard to the intersections of different groups? How does this consciousness related to space / land?