Gloria Anzaldúa Reader

Gloria AnzaldÚa (1942–2004) was a visionary writer whose work was recognized with many honors, including the Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award, a Lambda literary award, the National Endowment for the Arts Fiction Award, and the Bode-Pearson Prize for Outstanding Contributions to American Studies. Her book Borderlands/La frontera was selected as one of the 100 Best Books of the Century by Hungry Mind Review and the Utne Reader. AnaLouise Keating, Professor of Women’s Studies at Texas Woman’s University, is the author of Women Reading, Women Writing: Self-Invention in Paula Gunn Allen, Gloria AnzaldÚa, and Audre Lorde; editor of AnzaldÚa’s Interviews/Entrevistas and EntreMundos/AmongWorlds: New Perspectives on Gloria AnzaldÚa; and co-editor, with AnzaldÚa, of this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation.AnaLouise Keating, Professor of Women’s Studies at Texas Woman’s University, is the author of Women Reading, Women Writing: Self-Invention in Paula Gunn Allen, Gloria AnzaldÚa, and Audre Lorde; editor of AnzaldÚa’s Interviews/Entrevistas and EntreMundos/AmongWorlds: New Perspectives on Gloria AnzaldÚa; and co-editor, with AnzaldÚa, of this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation.

• Acknowledgments ixIntroduction: Reading Gloria Anzaldúa, Reading Ourselves . . . Complex Intimacies, Intricate Connections 1Part One. "Early" Writings TIHUEQUE 19To Delia, Who Failed on Principles 20Reincarnation 21The Occupant 22I Want To Be Shocked Shitless 23The New Speakers 24Speaking in Tongues: A Letter to Third World Women Writers 26The coming of el mundo surdo 36La Prieta 38El paisano is a bird of good omen 51Dream of the Double-Faced Woman 70Foreword to the Second Edition (of This Bridge Called My Back) 72Sexuality, Spirituality, and the Body: An Interview with Linda Smuckler 74Part Two. "Middle" Writings Enemy of the State 97Del Otro Lado 99Encountering the Medusa 101Creativity and Switching in Modes of Consciousness 103En Rapport, In Opposition: Cobrando cuentas a las nuestras 111The Presence 119Metaphors in the Tradition of the Shaman 121Haciendo caras, una entrada 124Bridge, Drawbridge, Sandbar, or Island: Lesbians-of-Color Hacienda Alianzas 140Ghost Trap/Trampa de espanto 157To(o) Queer the Writer—Loca, escritora y chicana 163Border Arte: Nepantla, El Lugar de la Frontera 176On the Process of Writing Borderlands / La Frontera 187La vulva is una herida abierta / The vulva is an open wound 198The New Mestiza Nation: A Multicultural Movement 203Part Three. Gallery of Images 217Part Four. "Later" Writings Foreword to Cassell's Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol, and Spirit 229How to 232Memoir—My Calling; or, Notes for "How Prieta Came to Write" 235When I write I hover 238Transforming American Studies: 2001 Bode-Pearson Prize Acceptance Speech 239Yemayá 242(Un)natural bridges, (Un)safe spaces 243Healing wounds 249Reading LP 250A Short Q&A between LP and Her Author (GEA) 274Like a spider in her web 276Bearing Witness: Their Eyes Anticipate the Healing 277The Postmodern Llorona 280Speaking across the Divide 282Llorona Coyolxauhqui 295Disability & Identity: An E-mail Exchange & a Few Additional Thoughts 298Let us be the healing of the wound: The Coyolxauhqui imperative—la sombra y el sueño 303Appendix 1: Glossary 319Appendix 2: Timeline: Some Highlights from Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa's Life 325Bibliography 337Index 351

“The Reader does a good job of offering a wide range of AnzaldÚa’s writings, from her most famous and well-loved essays that appeared in the seminal Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza to never-before-published poems, experimental fiction, interviews, e-mail communications, and unfinished pieces. AnzaldÚa was a notorious perfectionist, sometimes revising essays and stories until an editor had to yank them from her hands. Still, this selection would’ve made AnzaldÚa proud.” - Liliana Valenzuela, Texas Observer “Compiled and edited by AnaLouise Keating, AnzaldÚa’s long-time co-editor on decolonizing book projects such as this bridge we call home, The AnzaldÚa Reader provides an in-depth view of the wide scope of AnzaldÚa’sinterests and the developing nature of key concepts throughout her writing career. And it is this developing life project of AnzaldÚa, the queer mestiza writer-poet-healer-activist, that provides the narrative structure for the Reader.” - George Hartley, Southwestern American Literature “This stunning anthology offers the best of Anzaldua, a versatile author, self-described as a queer mestiza Chicana feminist poet-philosopher. Her prolific poetry, theory, ‘autohistoria,’ short stories, and drawings are compiled in this thought-provoking volume.” - WATERwheel “The Gloria AnzaldÚa Reader is the first and most comprehensive collection of AnzaldÚa’s works. Keating has woven them carefully and artfully together into a tapestry sparkling with AnzaldÚa’s insights, such as her theories of new tribalism, left-handed world, la mestiza consciousness, and spiritual activism.” - Xiumei Pu, Feminist Formations “AnaLouise Keating’s compilation of Gloria AnzaldÚa’s ‘early,’ ‘middle,’ and ‘later’ writings provides a service to scholars; additionally, it is a joy to read Gloria’s voice seeped in ‘shaman aesthetics’ that impel and move us to radical action. Undoubtedly, AnzaldÚa’s impact on various levels-including academic fields such as border studies, women’s studies, and American studies-is long-lasting and profound.”- Norma E. CantÚ, University of Texas at San Antonio, founder of the Society for the Study of Gloria AnzaldÚa “Gloria AnzaldÚa was a courageous participant in late-twentieth-century decolonial movements. Throughout this reader she insists that academic knowledge must take into account the spirit-body-emotions-mind matrix. Such an accounting would transform academic knowledge, she believed, and make way for emancipatory modes of knowing and for brave, new subjects of history. The Gloria AnzaldÚa Reader samples the bold lifework of a woman whose aims were to relieve suffering and to envision a decolonizing social affinity capable of uniting humanity in love.”-Chela Sandoval, author of Methodology of the Oppressed “Keating collects poems, essays, prose and commentaries by AnzaldÚa, revealing the public figure the pathbreaking queer Chicana writer as well as a sensual and deeply spiritual iconoclast. AnzaldÚa’s voice emerges defiant, mercenary, passionate and unapologetic. . . . . The book is punctuated by AnzaldÚa’s simple drawings, exercises in deconstruction and reconstruction of identity. Her writings capturing her relentless fight to avoid being stereotyped and to empower women of color within and without academia are rich and various, exploring everything from gender, memory and oppression to sex in the afterlife.” (Publishers Weekly) “The Gloria AnzaldÚa Reader is the first and most comprehensive collection of AnzaldÚa’s works. Keating has woven them carefully and artfully together into a tapestry sparkling with AnzaldÚa’s insights, such as her theories of new tribalism, left-handed world, la mestiza consciousness, and spiritual activism.” - Xiumei Pu (Feminist Formations) “Compiled and edited by AnaLouise Keating, AnzaldÚa’s long-time co-editor on decolonizing book projects such as this bridge we call home, The AnzaldÚa Reader provides an in-depth view of the wide scope of AnzaldÚa’s interests and the developing nature of key concepts throughout her writing career. And it is this developing life project of AnzaldÚa, the queer mestiza writer-poet-healer-activist, that provides the narrative structure for the Reader.” - George Hartley (Southwestern American Literature) “The Reader does a good job of offering a wide range of AnzaldÚa’s writings, from her most famous and well-loved essays that appeared in the seminal Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza to never-before-published poems, experimental fiction, interviews, e-mail communications, and unfinished pieces. AnzaldÚa was a notorious perfectionist, sometimes revising essays and stories until an editor had to yank them from her hands. Still, this selection would’ve made AnzaldÚa proud.” - Liliana Valenzuela (Texas Observer) “This stunning anthology offers the best of Anzaldua, a versatile author, self-described as a queer mestiza Chicana feminist poet-philosopher. Her prolific poetry, theory, ‘autohistoria,’ short stories, and drawings are compiled in this thought-provoking volume.” (WATER)