Essays on Latinx and Caribbean identity and on globalization by renowned women writers, including Julia Alvarez, Edwidge Danticat, and Jamaica Kincaid

Product Code: 6709
ISBN: 9780807088197
Format: Paperback / softback
Pages: 240
Published Date: 10/10/2017
Availability:In stock
N/A
Price: $18.00

Whether forced into the Latinx-Caribbean diaspora by global forces or as a consequence of resisting authoritarian governments “at home,” the sixteen acclaimed writer-activists in Women Writing Resistance: Essays on Latin America and the Caribbean are connected by their struggles against injustice.

Originally published by South End Press in 2003, Women Writing Resistance gathers voices of writers from the Anglophone and Francophone Caribbean, Chicanas negotiating the US-Mexico border, Puertorriqueñas grappling with their hybrid American political identities, and Indigenous women fighting for sovereignty and cultural rights.

Through poetry and essay, these contributors—from Gloria Anzaldúa, the mother of Chicana queer theory, and Rigoberta Menchú, the first Indigenous person to win a Nobel Peace Prize for social justice work, to Michelle Cliff, a searing and poignant chronicler of colonialism and racism—lead a new wave of resistance against neoliberalism, patriarchy, state terrorism, and white supremacy.


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Acknowledgments
Preface by Elizabeth Martinez
Introduction by Jennifer Browdy

Part One: Re-Envisioning History
1 Revision (Aurora Levins Morales)
2 We Are Ugly, but We Are Here (Edwidge Danticat)
3 The Silent Witness (Raquel Partnoy)
4 And What Would It Be Like? (Michelle Cliff)
5 Everthing I Kept: Reflections of an “Anthropoeta” (Ruth Behar)
6 The Dream of Nunca Más: Healing the Wounds (Emma Sepúlveda)
Part Two: The Politics of Language and Identity
7 Language as an Instrument of Domination (Rosario Castellanos)
8 Speaking in Tongues: A Letter to Third World Women Wrtiers (Gloria Anzaldúa)
9 Las aeious (Ruth Irupé Sanabria)
10 Art in América con Acento (Cherríe Moraga)
11 The Myth of the Latin Woman (Judith Ortiz Cofer)
12 The Quincentenary Conference and the Earth Summit, 1992 (Rigoberta Menchú)
Part Three: Strategies of Resistance
13 A Massacre in Mexico (Elena Poniatowska)
14 A Small Place (Jamaica Kincaid)
15 One Precious Moment (Margaret Randall)
16 On Being Shorter: How Our Testimonial Texts Defy the Academy (Alicia Partnoy)
17 Death in the Desert: The Women of Ciudad Juárez
18: I Came To Help: Resistance Writ Small (Julia Alvarez)

Selected Bibliography
Permissions
About the Editor and Contributors
Index

“Some of the finest women writers of Latin America and the Caribbean give us history retold, language and identity refigured, and resistance writ large and loud. . . . The sheer force of word and spirit gathered within these pages helps us vision the world we should work for.” —Elizabeth Alexander, author of The Light of the World

“Bless these voices, these powerhouses of the Americas, my teachers, my heroes. May this book travel near and far and inspire others to resist. Thank you for restoring courage in an era of fear, purpose in a season of confusion, and, in these times of censorship, an obligation to speak.” —Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street

“Jennifer Browdy’s collection positions Latin American and Latina writers and activists as a powerful resource for those who seek paths to a more just future. The collected authors’ wisdom, wit, and modes of resistance challenge readers to set aside stereotypes and contend with nuanced realities. Timely, compelling, and nuanced, this anthology invites us to discover what resistance has meant to women and to steward that gift through meaningful action in our own lives.” —Ashley Perez, author of Out of Darkness

“Women Writing Resistance was prescient when it first came out in 2003 and it’s still a big, bold inspiration now. These women will set your soul on fire.” —Achy Obejas, author of The Tower of Antilles

“This timely collection of essays and poetry evocatively ties together sociopolitical engagement, reflective self-assessment, and the urgency of caring for the environment. Through their shared stories of resistance, exile, survival, and meaningful connections, the women collaborators, who span the hemisphere of the Americas, join to create a strong network of solidarity. With a nod toward the value of lived experiences, a turn toward the ‘simple’ and the small as a source of strength, and a keen understanding that listening to the stories of others requires an open heart and mind, the works read less like a provocation and more like the moment after public engagement, when time allows for reflections about the current stakes for all, the time to express compassion and recognition, as well as anger and frustration. The works included stand out for the ways in which these multifaceted thinkers write about unexpected topics: the anthropologist who writes about poetry, the indigenous woman who thinks about the environment on a global scale, the Latina student who can code-switch between colloquial Spanish and scholarly English, the Chilean author who remembers the Vietnam War and considers the attacks of September 11. Women Writing Resistance is a powerful reminder of how much we can learn from listening to each other’s stories and how the personal and the universal are undeniably interconnected. These are stories that compel, that inspire—stories that need to be heard to envision a more inclusive future.” —Nicole Caso, director of Spanish Studies Program, Bard College

“When Women Writing Resistance....was first released in 2003, it amplified the voices of Caribbean and Latinx women who, in our society, have historically been pushed to the edge of relative invisibility. The collection armed women committed to challenging the binary Black-and-white American narrative pervasive in society with tools of resistance while, at once, celebrating our fluidity. Today, Women Writing Resistance....has been reborn in a crucial time in herstory, as belonging, identity, and what it means to be American have once again taken center stage. The essays in this book are—especially in this current sociocultural landscape—particularly empowering to read and process, a unique gift from New World children who, as our spiritual and literary ancestor Gloria Anzaldua stated, are versed in ‘speaking in tongues.’” —Raquel Cepeda, filmmaker and author of Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

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