NYU Press
Chapter Title: Feminisms
Chapter Author(s): María Eugenia Cotera
Book Title: Keywords for Latina/o Studies
Book Editor(s): Deborah R. Vargas, Nancy Raquel Mirabal and Lawrence La FountainStokes
Published by: NYU Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1pwtbpj.22
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Latina/o Studies
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Judith Ortiz Cofer (Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance
Taylor (Imaginary Parents: A Family Autobiography)—all el-
18
egantly represent Latina/o families from a kaleidoscopic
Feminisms
perspective. A number of films and videos—from narra-
María Eugenia Cotera
of a Puerto Rican Childhood), and Sandra and Sheila Ortiz
tive shorts to documentaries, and from feature-length to
experimental productions—highlight the complexities
of family dynamics in Latina/o cultural contexts. León
Ichaso’s El Súper (1979), Harry Gamboa Jr.’s Baby Kake
Latina feminism offers an intersectional approach
(1984), Darnell Martin’s I Like It Like That (1994), Gregory
to understanding and combating the relations of
Nava’s My Family (1995), Laura Simón’s Fear and Learning
domination and subordination that structurally
at Hoover Elementary (1997), Aaron Matthews’s My Ameri-
disenfranchise Latina/o communities, broadly
can Girls: A Dominican Story (2001), Patricia Riggen’s Under
conceived. Like the Latinas who developed its primary
the Same Moon (2007), Gloria La Morte and Paola Men-
conceptualizations, theories, and practices, Latina
doza’s Entre Nos (2009), and Fro Rojas’s Tio Papi (2013)
feminism has been shaped as much by experiences
illustrate how a focus on the family necessarily encom-
of colonization and U.S. imperialism and of diaspora
passes deep concerns with immigration, gender, citizen-
and border-crossing, as it has been by day-to-day lived
ship, sexuality, blackness, and economic disenfranchise-
experiences of heterosexism, racism, and classism
ment particular to transnational and translocal Latina/o
in the United States. Indeed, contemporary Latina
communities whose origins stem from the United States,
feminists—from academics to community organizers—
Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.
have charted a genealogy of praxis that reaches beyond
Some scholars have expressed frustration with con-
national borders and deep into history, recuperating
stantly equating Latina/o issues with family issues, in-
a set of feminist practices that articulate the complex
sisting that the seemingly inextricable bond Latinas/os
intersections of identity and subjectivity.
share with the family is an exaggeration bordering on
Figures like La Malinche / Malintzin Tenepal (Hernán
stereotyping. There is no denying that the family per-
Cortés’s translator in the Conquest of Mexico) and Sor
sists across decades as a symbol and principle to which
Juana Inés de la Cruz (a seventeenth-century Mexican
Latinas/os have turned for support or necessary reinven-
nun and author of “Hombres necios,” a poem that ex-
tion. Yet the crucial function of the family for Latinas/os
poses the contradictions of colonial patriarchy) offer
cannot be understated. And despite calls by white queer
key articulations in this feminist genealogy, as do the
theorists to forget the family (a call that evidences an un-
writings of women like Sara Estela Ramírez (a Mexican
familiarity with or disregard of a decades-long history of
revolutionary feminist, who organized on both sides
writing emphasizing the vital meanings of familial ties
of the U.S.-Mexico border) and Puerto Rican anarchist
for queers of color), the family will persist as a means to
feminist Luisa Capetillo (an advocate of gender and
subvert racism, homophobia, sexism, and class discrep-
class equality who worked as a labor organizer in Puerto
ancies, while always running the risk of reproducing
Rico, New York, and Florida), both of whom produced
those very inequalities in its uncritical adaptations.
numerous tracts that proposed a political imaginary at
64
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the intersection of gender, race, and class. More recent
and the Bay Area activist circles (Angela Davis, the Third
figures, like Emma Tenayuca (leader of the 1930s Pecan
World Women’s Alliance, among others). As Argentine-
Sheller’s strike in San Antonio, Texas) and Luisa Moreno
born socialist feminist Mirta Vidal observed: “Raza
(a Guatemalan feminist and labor organizer, who be-
women suffer a triple form of oppression: as members
came a key advocate for the “Spanish Speaking” in the
of an oppressed nationality, as workers, and as women”
1930s and 1940s) anticipate the strategies and tactics
(1971, 3–11). Vidal noted that this “triple oppression” sug-
that postwar Latinas would later adopt to articulate their
gested an important distinction between the “problems
experience of gender, race, and class subordination and
of the Chicana and those of other women,” one that
combat the power structures of capitalism, imperialism,
called for a new perspective on revolutionary struggle.
white supremacy, and heteropatriarchy.
This notion of a “triple oppression” has developed over
A key conceptual linkage point in this genealogy is
time into a somewhat more diffuse and nuanced formu-
found in the meanings of community. Because Latina
lation of intersectional feminism, an oppositional praxis
feminists (like other women of color feminists) under-
that unpacks the structural effects of multiple and com-
stand feminism in relationship to other struggles for lib-
pounding oppressions and explores how new feminist
eration and decolonization, their approach to “women’s
epistemologies and new political imaginaries are pro-
liberation” necessarily moves beyond gender, just as their
duced in the interstices of those multiple oppressions.
commitment to end racism and colonialism moves be-
Over the 1970s and 1980s Latinas developed their par-
yond race and nation. This distinguishing factor shaped
ticular understanding of intersectionality in response to
the relationships that Latina feminists developed within
their social condition as members of a broader Latina/o
the social movements that came into prominence after
community that had experienced five hundred years of
the passage of the Civil Rights Act (1965) and in the wake
colonialism, U.S. imperialism, state violence, and labor
of the Vietnam War. Latinas participated widely in the
exploitation. Pointing out that this collective experience
women’s liberation movement, the Chicano movement,
of oppression had particular (compounding) effects on
the Young Lords Party, and other movements in the
women and sexual minorities—just as the arc of patri-
1960s and 1970s. While they often led key organizing ini-
archal oppression expressed itself differentially across
tiatives and projects within movement spaces, their par-
the lines of class and race—these early articulations of
ticipation was frequently complicated by the tendency of
the race/class/sex nexus signal a “third space” critique
identity-based movements to frame their praxis around
of dominant oppositional ideologies. In this sense, the
a singular or monocausal vision of oppression, as Audre
historical emergence of late twentieth-century Latina
Lorde (2007) and others have observed. Partly in response
feminist praxis can be seen not only as a continuation
to these limitations, and partly as a result of their need to
of a much longer feminist tradition in Mexico, Latin
find a political language that could address the particular
America, and the Caribbean, but also as a response to the
ways in which the oppressions of class, race, gender, and
masculinist symbolic order of dominant nationalisms
imperialism impacted their lives, Latinas began to con-
(which sought to incorporate women as “helpmeets” of
ceptualize an oppositional praxis at the crossroads of race,
revolution) and dominant forms of white, hegemonic
class, and sex—one that resonated with the theories of
feminism, which too often relegated Latinas to the mar-
third-world and black feminism developing in New York
gins or treated them as second-order tokens.
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65
66
One can see this critique clearly delineated in the
/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza, an assemblage of poetry,
challenges to hegemonic feminisms and nationalisms
essays, and critical anthropology, embodied the bor-
of Chicana feminists like Martha P. Cotera and Anna
derlands space in its very form even as it offered an ex-
Nieto Gómez, the rejection of patriarchal nationalisms
ample of theorizing from the intersections. Articulating
(and heterosexism) by women in the Young Lords Party
“a new mestiza consciousness” at the crossroads of mul-
of New York, and the critique of a reductive reproduc-
tiple oppressions, Anzaldúa pointed out how reductive
tive rights discourse in the “Pro-Choice” movement
conceptualizations of oppression often lead to reaction-
by Puerto Rican and Chicana welfare rights advocates,
ary thinking. “It is not enough to stand on the opposite
all of which highlighted a profound “disidentification”
river bank, shouting questions, challenging patriarchal,
with singular frames for understanding oppression,
white conventions,” she argued, because this “counter-
and especially with the political practices and agen-
stance” ultimately locked one into a binary vision of
das that such frames supported (Alarcón 1990). These
“oppressor” and “oppressed,” reducing both to a “com-
critical rearticulations of the nature of oppression as
mon denominator of violence” and erasing the differ-
intersectional—coupled with their calls for greater at-
ences and heterogeneities that shape experiences of op-
tention to “difference” within collective movements—
pression (1987, 78). Instead, Anzaldúa proposed a path
opened the way for an overlapping generation of Latina
of conocimiento to a “new consciousness” that could
feminist writers and theorists to take up the insights of
heal the split “between the two mortal combatants” and
intersectional praxis in their critical theory, personal es-
thus enable the “new mestiza” to “see through serpent
says, and creative work. This intergenerational shift was
and eagle eyes” at once (1987, 100–01).
to have a deep (though still largely underexamined) im-
Anzaldúa’s “new mestiza consciousness” proposed
pact on the nature of feminist theorizing more broadly.
both an understanding of identity as multiple and
Looming particularly large in this 1980s and 1990s
shifting and a radical revisioning of the “oppressor and
critical constellation are creative nonfiction writers like
oppressed” binary that Latinas adopted in their theo-
Gloria Anzaldúa, Aurora Levins Morales, and Cherríe
rizations of feminism beyond the race/sex/class nexus.
Moraga, who explored the subjective nexus of race, class,
Puerto Rican writer Aurora Levins Morales (2001) illu-
gender, and sexuality in both their creative and their
minates this consciousness in her own historical au-
critical work. A child of the “borderlands,” Anzaldúa
toethnography, Remedios: Stories of Earth and Iron from
(1987) theorized from her particular location as a Mexi-
the Histories of Puertorriqueñas. A recuperative geneal-
cana/Chicana, queer, poet/critic. Drawing theoretical
ogy of Puerto Rican women, Remedios draws from the
insights from her experience of growing up working
multiple histories and knowledges (Indigenous, Afri-
class and racially marked on the U.S.-Mexico border,
can, European, and beyond) that have shaped identity
as well as her experience within Chicana/o, feminist,
in the Caribbean to reconstruct a feminist subjectiv-
and queer movements, Anzaldúa articulated a feminist
ity at the crossroads and thereby “heal the split” en-
voice from the borders of multiple activist imaginaries.
acted by centuries of colonialism, imperialism, and
Moving that voice from margin to center was her activa-
heteropatriarchy.
tion of the “borderlands” as both a concrete place and
Aurora Levins Morales and her mother, Rosario
a theoretical space. Her foundational work, Borderlands
Morales, were key contributors to the foundational
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feminist anthology This Bridge Called My Back (Moraga
“oppressor within.” Most importantly, it envisioned a
and Anzaldúa 1981), which brought the writing of (pri-
model of feminist theory that could not only describe
marily queer) Latinas, black, Asian American, and Native
but also substantively transform the lives of Latinas and
American women into dialogue to articulate the “unex-
other women of color. As Anzaldúa would later argue
plored affinities inside difference” that could “attract,
in “Haciendo Teorías,” a part of her introduction to Mak-
combine and relate new constituencies into a coalition
ing Face, Making Soul, our task as feminist theorists is to
of resistance” (Sandoval 1998, 362). As co-editor of that
“de-academize theory and . . . connect the community
volume and in her later publications, Cherríe Moraga
to the academy” by envisioning “new kinds of theories
echoed and concretized Anzaldúa’s interventions in her
with new theorizing methods” that could cross bor-
“theory in the flesh,” a mode of critical feminist analy-
ders, blur boundaries, and “rewrite history using race,
sis that excavated the commonality of oppression while
class, gender and ethnicity as categories of analysis”
remaining attentive to the complexities of our particu-
(Anzaldúa 1990, xxv). Other Chicana/Latina contribu-
lar social locations within systems of domination and
tors to This Bridge Called My Back developed their own
subordination. In Loving in the War Years, her own com-
“theories in the flesh,” which centered on their particu-
pendium of essays, critical theory, and poetry, Moraga
lar experiences as Latinas. In their essays for the anthol-
observed that “no authentic, non-hierarchical connec-
ogy and in their later writing, research, and organizing,
tion among oppressed groups can take place” without a
contributors like Cuban American lesbian feminist
“grappling with the source of our own oppression, with-
Mirtha Quintanales, Puerto Rican feminist writer Ro-
out naming the enemy within ourselves and outside of
sario Morales, and her daughter, Aurora Levins Morales,
us” (1983b, 52–53). That she made this observation from
explored the ways in which multiple and intersecting
the standpoint of her personal experience as a biracial,
experiences of oppression had shaped the identities
working-class, queer woman does not undermine the
and histories of Latinas of Caribbean origin. In center-
theoretical relevance of her intervention. On the con-
ing “difference” as a point of coalition, and calling at-
trary, Moraga’s “theory in the flesh” challenged the bor-
tention to the multiple and shifting nature of identity (a
ders between “experience” and “theory” and demanded
conception of identity that was nevertheless grounded
a critical reframing of the boundaries that delimit and
in lived experience), the Latinas who contributed to
hierarchize feminist knowledge practices. Moraga’s “the-
This Bridge Called My Back and the feminist of color an-
ory in the flesh” proposed a theoretical process through
thologies that followed it proposed a revolutionary op-
which “the physical realities of our lives— our skin
positional optic that shifted the axis of contemporary
color, the land or concrete we grew up on, our sexual
feminist theory, one that Latina feminists still deploy in
longings—all fuse to create a politic born out of neces-
their theoretical, creative, and activist work.
sity” (Moraga and Anzaldúa 1981, 23).
Notwithstanding the profound implications of this
Like Anzaldúa’s concientización, Moraga’s “theory
important revisioning of the practices and aims of femi-
in the flesh” was, at its heart, a deeply political praxis
nist theory, the theoretical insights of This Bridge Called
that highlighted the relevance of personal experience
My Back—particularly the centrality of “difference” to
to the development of theories of resistance and, con-
its comparative optic and its praxis of “theory in the
versely, the importance of theory for understanding the
flesh”—have been consistently misapprehended and
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67
even rendered illegible by mainstream feminist theory.
the villain in the declension narrative of the women’s
19
movement, the attention to “difference” that Chicanas,
Film
Latinas, and other women of color saw as the necessary
Sergio de la Mora
Misread as a call for cultural pluralism, or still worse, as
center for any coalitional praxis presented a serious
epistemic challenge to dominant modes of thinking
about identity, oppression, and political struggle— a
challenge that goes far beyond the additive model of
Latina/o film names the cinematic histories, practices,
“diversity of women” promoted in (neo)liberal modes
and institutions of U.S. Latinas/os. Stemming in
of multiculturalism. Indeed, as Norma Alarcón, Chela
particular from the 1960s civil rights movement,
Sandoval, and others have observed, this attention to
Chicana/o and Puerto Rican activists demanded access
difference among, difference within, and difference as
to the means of production to ensure self-representation,
a site of alliance suggests an epistemological orienta-
correct negative and damaging images in the media,
tion that refuses to maintain a static understanding of
and replace these with positive, empowering, and
“woman,” “nation,” or “other,” even as it challenges us
more authentic representations (Noriega 1992, 2000;
to revision revolutionary struggle and the very logics
L. Jiménez 1996). Media activists and artists saw the
through which we imagine oppositional praxis.
urgency of struggling against the ways the media
Likewise “theory in the flesh,” which highlights the
stereotyped Latinas/os, arguing that access to the means
dialectical entanglement of experience and theory and
of representation was critical for full political and
foregrounds feminist theory’s potential as praxis, has
cultural citizenship. As leading scholars Chon Noriega
been consistently misread through the lens of “identity
and Ana M. López state, Latina/o media “no longer
politics.” Such reductive readings actively erase the long
marks the site of simple oppositional practice vis-à-vis
history of Latina disidentification with the logics of
Hollywood, but must be seen through the filter of a
identitarian political movements and suggest a reading
number of competing disciplines, traditions, histories”
of “experience” as necessarily unmediated by “theory.”
(Noriega and López 1996, ix). This is the “matrix of
“Theory in the flesh” demands that we examine how
differential histories” (xiii) through which they argue
theories “matter” both personally and politically, and
that we remain attentive to the ways in which the hid-
Latina/o films should be read.
The history of Latinas/os in front and behind the
den theories of identity that subtend relations of domi-
screen has been traced back to the earliest U.S. cinema
nation and subordination structure not only our lived
(Reyes and Rubie 1994; Ríos-Bustamante and Bravo
experience as women of color, but also our understand-
2005). Using the lens of stereotypes, the documentary
ing of those experiences, and even our gestures toward
The Bronze Screen: 100 Years of the Latino Image in Film
alliance. Drawing from our lived experience to decon-
(Dominguez, de los Santos, and Racho 2002) constructs
struct those hidden theories of identity and to craft “a
a genealogy of the transformation and stasis of said ste-
politic born out of necessity” remains a central praxis of
reotypes. Scholars such as Charles Ramírez Berg (2002)
Latina feminisms today.
have also taken up the role played in Hollywood’s racial
68
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