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A review by a_novel_femme
Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria E. Anzaldúa
5.0
i have read, am reading, and will continue to read this text as part of preparing for my masters exam in literature. specifically, i am looking at the borderland that anzaldua speaks of as a place of passing (racial, sexual, class) for individuals, and what it means to constantly exist in that space, without a homeland to move toward or away from.
anzalduas prose and poetry are both symbolic and dense; parts of the book are written in spanish, and my understanding of the language is embarrassingly bad. her analysis of mestiza consciousness coupled with the invocation to feminism are rich, as is her attempt to explain the frustrations of speaking a language that also exists in the borderland, a mixture of spanish and english and other languages, and the ensuing condescension from others who speak so-called "pure" languages.
i highly suggest reading her in conjunction with frantz fanon and trinh t. min-ha; it seems a random mix of theorists, but there is much they have to say about the power of language and the formation of cultural identities.
anzalduas prose and poetry are both symbolic and dense; parts of the book are written in spanish, and my understanding of the language is embarrassingly bad. her analysis of mestiza consciousness coupled with the invocation to feminism are rich, as is her attempt to explain the frustrations of speaking a language that also exists in the borderland, a mixture of spanish and english and other languages, and the ensuing condescension from others who speak so-called "pure" languages.
i highly suggest reading her in conjunction with frantz fanon and trinh t. min-ha; it seems a random mix of theorists, but there is much they have to say about the power of language and the formation of cultural identities.