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genderterrorist 's review for:
Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza
by Gloria E. Anzaldúa
The worst part about reading this book is knowing that Gloria Anzaldua died way too soon, far before her time, and that she had so much more to say, and that eventually you get to the end where there is no more to say. That's the hard part.
As a white person unfamiliar with xicanx/chicanx studies, I stumbled through a lot of this, re-reading lines, picking out what few words in Spanish I can understand -- fortunately, for several of the Spanish poems, there is an English translation (I know, I know, I need to learn Spanish. Forgive me, Duolingo). The pieces are not just pieces of poetry, but pieces of Anzaldua herself, who has offered up various parts of her identity and presented them to us at the crossroads, in the borderlands, for us to see and to take in every way we can.
In one of the final poems of the book; "to live in the borderlands means you", she writes:
"To survive the Borderlands
you must live sin fronteras
be a crossroads"
Here we see her stumbling (not in the same way as me) through her own identities, reclaiming her lost heritage and ancestral roots torn from her by the horrors of colonialism. She talks of Tejas, the land formerly belonging to Mexico, stolen by the united states which became what we now know as Texas, she talks of Coatlicue, Tlazōlteōtl, and her parents and grandparents.
She then combines this with criticisms of patriarchy, toxic masculinity, and homophobia that she and other Chicanx women have dealt with for centuries; she not only challenges machismo, but unravels its now-toxic presence to reveal its earlier origin, before colonialism, when it meant a strong man who could provide for his family.
Many references are made to her tearing her own body open, or her body being torn in many places, and that is what she does -- it is painful, not just for her, but for the reader and it is painful for many different reasons depending on what kind of reader you are. Regardless, you will not be able to go away from this book no longer ignoring Chicanx culture and life, and its revitalization over the last 50 years.
From "La conciencia de la mestiza/Towards a New Consciousness":
"The land was Mexican once
was Indian always
and is.
And will be again."
Gloria Anzaldua, presente!
As a white person unfamiliar with xicanx/chicanx studies, I stumbled through a lot of this, re-reading lines, picking out what few words in Spanish I can understand -- fortunately, for several of the Spanish poems, there is an English translation (I know, I know, I need to learn Spanish. Forgive me, Duolingo). The pieces are not just pieces of poetry, but pieces of Anzaldua herself, who has offered up various parts of her identity and presented them to us at the crossroads, in the borderlands, for us to see and to take in every way we can.
In one of the final poems of the book; "to live in the borderlands means you", she writes:
"To survive the Borderlands
you must live sin fronteras
be a crossroads"
Here we see her stumbling (not in the same way as me) through her own identities, reclaiming her lost heritage and ancestral roots torn from her by the horrors of colonialism. She talks of Tejas, the land formerly belonging to Mexico, stolen by the united states which became what we now know as Texas, she talks of Coatlicue, Tlazōlteōtl, and her parents and grandparents.
She then combines this with criticisms of patriarchy, toxic masculinity, and homophobia that she and other Chicanx women have dealt with for centuries; she not only challenges machismo, but unravels its now-toxic presence to reveal its earlier origin, before colonialism, when it meant a strong man who could provide for his family.
Many references are made to her tearing her own body open, or her body being torn in many places, and that is what she does -- it is painful, not just for her, but for the reader and it is painful for many different reasons depending on what kind of reader you are. Regardless, you will not be able to go away from this book no longer ignoring Chicanx culture and life, and its revitalization over the last 50 years.
From "La conciencia de la mestiza/Towards a New Consciousness":
"The land was Mexican once
was Indian always
and is.
And will be again."
Gloria Anzaldua, presente!