Because Words Are Not Enough: Latina Re-Visionings of Transnational Collaborations Using Health Promotion for Gender Justice and Social Change

This essay suggests that U.S. Latina immigrants working in feminist health promotion can make a distinctive contribution to transnational and transversal approaches to feminist activism while remaining associated with global third-world feminisms through nation of origin connections. The author, a Cuban American who served as coordinating editor of Nuestros Cuerpos, Nuestras Vidas (NCNV), the Spanish cultural adaptation of Our Bodies, Ourselves (OBOS), uses concepts from border-crossing and U.S. third-world feminisms to demonstrate how including U.S. Latina perspectives helped re-vision the text's relationship to transnational feminist movements. She describes the ways U.S. Latina and Latin American/Caribbean feminisms share approaches to grassroots organizing, but have different "cultures of politics," linking individual women, activist organizations, and global movements for gender justice and social change. She highlights the meaningful role of Puerto Rican and Caribbean feminisms as transnational travelers and pivotal guides for expanding our understanding of effective strategies linking local and global, as well as North and South. She concludes with strategies for expanding collaborations between U.S. Latinas and Latin American/Caribbean feminists, highlighting opportunities for scholar/activists working for reproductive justice as part of broader movements for social change.