Toward a Latina Feminism of the Americas: Repression and Resistance in Chicana and Mexicana Literature (Chicana Matters) - Softcover

Sandoval, Anna Marie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0292721668 ISBN 13: 9780292721661

Publisher: University of Texas Press, 2009

Synopsis

Weaving strands of Chicana and Mexicana subjectivities, Toward a Latina Feminism of the Americas explores political and theoretical agendas, particularly those that undermine the patriarchy, across a diverse range of Latina authors. Within this range, calls for a coalition are clear, but questions surrounding the process of these revolutionary dialogues provide important lines of inquiry. Examining the works of authors such as Sandra Cisneros, Laura Esquivel, Carmen Boullosa, and Helena Marķa Viramontes, Anna Sandoval considers resistance to traditional cultural symbols and contemporary efforts to counteract negative representations of womanhood in literature and society.

Offering a new perspective on the oppositional nature of Latina writers, Sandoval emphasizes the ways in which national literatures have privileged male authors, whose viewpoint is generally distinct from that of women―a point of departure rarely acknowledged in postcolonial theory. Applying her observations to the disciplinary, historical, and spatial facets of literary production, Sandoval interrogates the boundaries of the Latina experience. Building on the dialogues begun with such works as Sonia Saldivar-Hull's Feminism on the Border and Ellen McCracken's New Latina Narrative, this is a concise yet ambitious comparative approach to the historical and cultural connections (as well as disparities) found in Chicana and Mexicana literature.

About this title

About the Author:

Anna Marie Sandoval is Associate Professor of Chicano and Latino Studies at California State University, Long Beach.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0292721668
• ISBN 13: 9780292721661
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 149