Final Exam
OVERVIEW
The theorists included within this essay will provide insight and theories that will dive into the post-colonialist theme of accumulated critiques of objectivity. Through theoretical critiques of objectivity, there is an underlying representation of a specific interest that is promoted with utilitarian purpose for molding the surrounding sociological environment into the desired construction. As the theorists point out the objectivity that is present within what is being learned, there is a promotion of deconstruction and reconstruction of what we know to be “knowledge” and “truth” in order to restore what they see as the proper means to which information should be introduced to an individual. Throughout social theory, theorists accompany their research with these critiques as a means to break down the patriarchally-built border put around what knowledge is being promoted within the same patriarchal colonial systems of society. This objectivism has
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She calls for a movement out of the habitual formations that have developed within the surrounding culture. As she describes her experiences not only through being Chicana and Indian, but also feminist and lesbian, she builds up an example of what Lorde and Bourdieu have explained within their own concepts. As she refers to the mestizos, it becomes a reference for a combination of genetic traits that comes from different races (Anzaldúa 1987). In the reference to the New Mestiza, Anzaldúa is calling upon all different combinations of individuals to create a new aspect of knowledge. One that demolishes what is known, and instead introduces the new generation of what it looks like to be a part of a bigger picture. Objectivity prevents the allowance of an individual to be able to look past the history of their beliefs and open the door to a new outlook on a post-colonialist
The third chapter is quite a different spin from what I read in the previous chapters from author's Gloria. E. Anzaldua's book entitled Light In The Dark/Luz En Lo Oscuro. Chapter three is quite interesting. In this particular chapter on page 48, she reveals her identity as a jotitita (queer Chicana). Anzaldua goes to further states that this "mexicatjena-to enter a museum and look at indigenous objects that were once used by my ancestors"(48 Anzaldua). What is interesting to me is the she ponders on whether or not she finds her historical Indian identity at the museum. In addition, she also questions whether her identity could be found along the ancient artifacts and their as she puts it their mestizaje. I really
"I am a positive person, I never think of the glass as half empty. I just keep pushing forward" Rosie Perez the proud woman who declared this quote is a person who overcame many obstacles and difficulties to bring success in her life, despite her many hardships and traumatizing past.
When asked to write about an important activist who has demonstrated protest, I immediately drifted towards a Hispanic and/or feminist activist. Various names came across my mind initially such as Cesar Chavez and Joan Baez but as a later discussion in class concluded, there are numerous others who are rarely highlighted for their activism and struggles, which lead to me researching more. In my research I came across Dolores Huerta, an American labor leader and civil rights activist, who I felt was an underdog and brushed over activist in the Hispanic community.
Post-colonialism is a discourse draped in history. In one point in time or another, European colonialism dominated most non-European lands since the end of the Renaissance. Naturally, colonialists depicted the cultures of non-Europeans incorrectly and inferior. Traditionally, the canon has misappropriated and misrepresented these cultures, but also the Western academia has yet to teach us the valuable and basic lessons that allow true representations to develop. Partly in response, Post-colonialism arose. Though this term is a broad one, Post-colonialists generally agree on certain key principles. They understand that colonialism exploits the dominated people or country in one way or another, evoking inequalities. Examples of past inequalities include “genocide, economic exploitation, cultural decimation and political exclusion…” (Loomba 9-10). They abhor traditional colonialism but also believe that every people, through the context of their own cultures, have something to contribute to our understanding of human nature (Loomba 1-20). This is the theme that Lewis prescribes in his, self described, “satirical fantasy”, Out of the Silent Planet (Of Other 77).
Anzaldua grew up in the United States but spoke mostly Spanish, however, her essay discusses how the elements of language began to define her identity and culture. She was living in an English speaking environment, but was not White. She describes the difficulty of straddling the delicate changing language of Chicano Spanish. Chicano Spanish can even differ from state to state; these variations as well as and the whole Chicano language, is considered a lesser form of Spanish, which is where Anzaldua has a problem. The language a person speaks is a part...
Gloria Anzaldúa writes of a Utopic frame of mind, the borderlands created in and lived in by the new mestiza. She describes the preexisting natures of the Anglos, Mexicanos, and Chicanos as seen around the southwest U.S. / Mexican border, indicative of the nations at large. She also probes the borders of language, sexuality, psychology and spirituality. Anzaldúa presents this information in various identifiable ways including the autobiography, historical/informative essay, and poetry. What is unique to Anzaldúa is her ability to weave a ‘perfect’ kind of compromised state of mind that melds together the preexisting cultures while simultaneously formulating a fusion of genres that stretches previously constructed borders, proving both problematic and a step in the right extremely ideal direction.
She successfully describes the “New Mestiza” by first analyzing herself, her dialect, and the U.S. country, and then discusses how there are psychologic boundaries on Chicanos through the symbolism she uses when she talks about physical borderlands. She claims the original inhabitants of what is now the U.S., were in fact the ancient Indian ancestors of Chicanos and Anglos were the ones who illegally migrated to the lands long before they started making assumptions that Chicanos were aliens of the country. She then descriptively states how the Mexican-American War had resulted in Americans taking their land and turned them from domestic owners to foreigners overnight: Anzaldúa (1987,1999) declares, “In 1846, the U.S. incited Mexico to war. U.S. troops invaded and occupied Mexico, forcing her to give up almost half of her nation, what is now Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and California” (p. 29). Consequently, in the nineteenth century, powerful landowners partnered with U.S. colonizing companies dispossessed millions of Indians from their land, many leaving to Mexico for terrorism that Anglos
First, Anzaldua writes about her experience as a multilingual Chicana, who faced harsh criticism from not only Anglos but also other Spanish speakers (Chicanos and non-Chicanos); an experience that
At the beginning of the essay, Anzaldúa recounts a time when she was at the dentist. He told her, “We’re going to have to control your tongue” (33). Although he was referring to her physical tongue, Anzaldúa uses this example as a metaphor for language. The dentist, who is trying to cap her tooth, symbolizes the U.S. who is similarly seeking to restrict the rights of minority groups. Nevertheless, the tongue is preventing the dentist from doing his job. Likewise, there are several minority groups who refuse to abide to the laws of dominant cultures and are fighting back. Anzaldúa also touches on a personal story that happened at school. When she was younger, she was sent to the corner because apparently, she spoke back to her Anglo teacher. The author argues that she was unfairly scolded because she was only telling her teacher how to pronounce her name. Her teacher warned her, “If you want to be American, speak American. If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong.” This short story provides an understanding of what Anzaldúa’s life was like. It demonstrates how even at a young age, she was continually pressured because of where comes
This led to a lowered self-esteem by the suppression of her language and culture by both Spanish and English speakers. Anzaldua tells her audience how she had to argue with her advisors while getting a Ph.D to focus on Chicano literature. This feeling of alienation is a stark contrast to Anzaldua’s pride in her small linguistic community when she first read a Chicano novel and felt they “really existed as a people” (379). This type of cultural and linguistic suppression obviously left Anzaldua unsure about her cultural identity and how she should and could interact with people of her own ethnicity. Not only was her self-esteem severely damaged but Anzaldua came to question her cultural
Anzaldua’s Mestiza Consciousness can be seen through “racial, ideological, cultural and biological cross-pollinization,” she calls it “an “alien” consciousness…a new mestiza consciousness…a consciousness of the borderlands” (quoted in Bizzell and Herzberg 1597). This consciousness, according to Anzaldua, is born out of the areas (or ‘borders’) through which a person diverges from a perceived norm, and experiences adversity. The Mestiza Consciousness aims to embrace these aspects of our identities, which are shaped by the ‘twin skins’ of language and ethnicity, that are reflected in how we perceive and process the world; “she communicates…documents the struggle. She reinterprets history and, using new symbols, she shapes new myths. She adopts new perspectives.” (quoted in Bizzell and Herzberg 1600). However, this quote from Anzaldua’s Borderlands/La Frontera parallels, and most clearly displays, how the Sundance Film Associations luncheon is the Mestiza Consciousness in action, is “cradled in one culture, sandwiched between two cultures, straddling all three cultures and their value systems…a struggle of borders, an inner war” (quoted in Bizzell and Herzberg
The contrast between the Mexican world versus the Anglo world has led Anzaldua to a new form of self and consciousness in which she calls the “New Mestiza” (one that recognizes and understands her duality of race). Anzaldua lives in a constant place of duality where she is on the opposite end of a border that is home to those that are considered “the queer, the troublesome, the mongrel and the mulato” (25). It is the inevitable and grueling clash of two very distinct cultures that produces the fear of the “unknown”; ultimately resulting in alienation and social hierarchy. Anzaldua, as an undocumented woman, is at the bottom of the hierarchy. Not only is she a woman that is openly queer, she is also carrying the burden of being “undocumented”. Women of the borderlands are forced to carry two degrading labels: their gender that makes them seem nothing more than a body and their “legal” status in this world. Many of these women only have two options due to their lack of English speaking abilities: either leave their homeland – or submit themselves to the constant objectification and oppression. According to Anzaldua, Mestizo culture was created by men because many of its traditions encourage women to become “subservient to males” (39). Although Coatlicue is a powerful Aztec figure, in a male-dominated society, she was still seen
She has no past to be proud of, no icons to identify with, no representation in media. Her culture and heritage wasn’t demonized; It was never recognized to begin with. On page 415 she says, “In childhood we are taught that our language is wrong. Repeated attacks on our native tongue diminish our sense of self.” From childhood, Chicanos are taught their language, their defining trait, is wrong and so, by extension, are they. Anzaldúa recognizes this, allowing her to subjectively look at and comprehend her predicament. She steps back and understands that the only reason she is so discontented with her race is because both whites and Latinos are discontent with it and therefore Chicanos came to feel the same
In this paper we are going to discuss the life, work and teachings of Saint Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Catholic Church. St. Teresa was an important figure in the Church for her reforms of the Carmelite Order. Teresa’s reforms caused a fracture of the Order and formed the Order of Discalced Carmelites, which believes in the old ways of the Carmelite Order. St. Teresa is also well known for her three books.
Shaw himself wrote that Candida `is a counterpoint to Ibsen's Doll's House, showing that in the real typical doll's house it is the man who is the doll'.Ibsen in A Doll's House(1879)had shown how men treated their wives as inferior creatures, or dolls,and at the end of the play his heroin rebels and leaves her her husband .In Candida Shaw powerfully and effectively reverses Ibsen's idea.