Research Paper on "Anzaldua: Analysis"

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[EXCERPT] . . . .

That third element is a new consciousness -- a mestiza consciousness -- and though it is a source of intense pain, its energy comes from continual creative motion that keeps breaking down the unitary aspect of each new paradigm." (102)

No Country Yet Belonging to All Countries

According to Anzaldua, she as a mestiza has no country and has been cast out by her homeland but because she is "every woman's sister or potential lover" all countries are her. She holds that since she is a lesbian she has been disowned by her own people and due to being a feminist has no culture since as a feminist and lesbian she represents a challenge of the "collective cultural/religious male-derived beliefs of Indo Hispanics and Anglos." (103)

Creation of a New Culture

However, she writes that since she is active in the creation of a new culture that she is "cultured." (103) The new culture is characterized by "a new value system with images and symbols that connect us to each other and to the planet." (103) She compares herself to an ear of corn and specifically to a female seed-bearing organ starting that the "mestiza is tenacious, tightly wrapped in the husks of her culture. Like kernels she clings to the cob with thick stalks and strong brace roots, she holds tight to the earth. She will survive the crossroads." (104)

Anzaldua states that homosexuals who are colored "have more knowledge of other cultures, have always been at the forefront (although sometimes in the closet) of all liberation struggles in this country; have suffered more injustices and have survive them despite all odds." (107) She describe how men are "even mor

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e than women…fettered to gender roles. Women at least have the guts to break out of bondage. Only gay men have had the courage to expose themselves to the woman inside and to challenge current masculinity." (108)

Feghali (2011)

The work of Feghali (2011) states that Anzaldua's formulation of the new mestiza finds its roots in Jose Vasconcelos? theory of "a cosmic race" and attempts to move beyond this theory to bring the new mestiza to light. To do this, Anzaldua adopts Vasconcelos? formulation and molds a creation story for the new mestiza." This formulation is reported as follows:

" At the confluence of two or more genetic streams, with chromosomes constantly "crossing over, this mixture of races, rather than resulting in an inferior being, provides hybrid progeny, a mutable, more malleable species with a rich gene pool. From this racial, ideological, cultural, and biological cross-pollination, an "alien? consciousness is presently in the making -- a new mestiza consciousness (99)

Henriquez-Betancor (2012)

The work Maria Henriquez-Betancor (2012) states that in her work, Anzaldua "verbalizes several Chicana realities, including that of her Indigenous ancestors, her mother's Mexican heritage, and the undocumented status of women in the U.S. In addition, she traces the linguistic frustrations experienced by Chicana academics. The Chicana/o realities she represents are the result both of various encounters in her own life as well as the experiences of others that she has gathered into herself. Anzaldua voices a theoretical Chicana/o positionality in her paradigm of the "new mestiza" who "has a plural personality and who Anzaldua and 'the new mestiza': A Chicana dives into collective identity and operates in a pluralistic mode." (39)

Summary and Conclusion

This work set out to analyze the writings of Anzaldua on her experiences as a lesbian, feminist and multi-cultured individual. This has been accomplished through analysis guided by review of other similar analyses.

References

Henriquez-Betancor, M. (2012) The Value of Language. Language Value. December 2012, Volume 4, Number 2 pp. 38-55 http://www.e-revistes.uji.es/languagevalue Copyright © 2012, ISSN 1989-7103. Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CFoQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.languagevalue.uji.es%2Findex.php%2Flanguagevalue%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F73%2F65&ei=T8nQVNKxIpD-yQSoqYKAAw&usg=AFQjCNFggXXMrN-tDuTbzPcEaCCZRWOLQg&sig2=iIr2wqWW97m5CalL8GhsHg&bvm=bv.85076809,d.aWw

Feghali, Z. (2011) Re-articulating the New Mestiza. Journal of International Women's Studies. Vol. 12, Art. 6. Bridgewater State University. Retrieved from: http://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1107&context=jiws READ MORE

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