Latinas and the Politics of Urban Spaces

Sharon A. Navarro is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the author most recently of Race, Gender, Sexuality, and the Politics of the American Judiciary (2018), Latinas in American Politics (2016), and Latino Urban Agency (2013).Lilliana Patricia Saldaña is an Associate Professor of Mexican American Studies (MAS) at UTSA and co-director of the UTSA MAS Teachers’ Academy. She has published in various edited volumes and in nationally recognized journals, including Latinos & Education, Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, and Association of Mexican American Educators Journal.

• Contributor BiographiesAcknowledgmentsIntroduction:Sharon A. Navarro and Lilliana Patricia SaldañaChapter 1: Semillas de Justicia: Chicana Environmentalism in ChicagoTeresa Irene GonzalesChapter 2: Brujas in the Time of Trump: Hexing the Ruling ClassNorell MartinezChapter 3: Intersectional Synthesis: A Case Study of the Colectiva Feminista en ConstrucciónFernando Tormos-Aponte and Shariana Ferrer-NunezChapter 4: Place, Space, and the Esperanza Peace and Justice CenterSara DeTurkChapter 5: The Good the Bad and the Ugly: Amigas Latinas’ Pláticas as a Site of Transformative Knowledge ProductionLourdes TorresConclusionIndex

Latinas and the Politics of Urban Spaces has a wealth of knowledge to offer the student and scholar of Latina issues in the United States today. By using intersectional and interdisciplinary approaches, Latinas and the Politics of Urban Spaces allows for a first-time truly comprehensive understanding of the lives of Latinas in urban areas. The authors’ rich application of feminist, intersectional, indigenous, and queer theories to the range of Latina experiences provides an excellent richness and depth to the study of Latinos/as in the United States in general.—Julia Marin Hellwege, University of South DakotaThis innovative collection on community organizing and social movements among Latina feminists inspires! It motivates new writing, theorizing, and organizing. The authors deepen our understanding of the multiple forms of Latina resistance by writing about Chicana environmentalism, bruja feminism, intersectional praxis, and Queer Latinas’ pláticas. When read together, these clear, on-the-ground chapters also offer frameworks for activism for those of us committed to creating more just spaces and communities.—Gilda L. Ochoa, Pomona CollegeIn Latinas and the Politics of Urban Spaces, Sharon A. Navarro and Lilliana Patricia Saldaña bring together diverse scholarly voices to share case studies of how Latinas occupy, reclaim, and transform political spaces in urban centers, through collectives, non-profits, neighborhood groups, and digital networks. We meet Latinas who draw upon intersectionality, queer epistemologies, feminist theory, and decolonial thinking in their political praxis to create social change in urban spaces, from Chicago to San Antonio to Puerto Rico, and digital spaces in-between. This volume brings needed recognition to the political work of urban Latinas and helps us all to imagine the work of building more just and emancipatory futures.—Susanne Beechey, Whitman College