Bridging: How Gloria Anzaldúa's Life and Work Transformed Our Own

Con profunda gratitud

This book has been a collective effort spanning more than half a decade, and we have many people and organizations to thank. First and foremost , of course, we thank Gloria Anzaldúa, who has been such a source of guidance, inspiration, and brilliance to us both. We are deeply grateful to every one of the contributors of this collection. Thank you, fellow writers, for your personal and intellectual vulnerability, for “risking the personal” so thoroughly! Thank you for your outpouring of hard work and love while staying engaged from beginning to end of this (long!) process. We appreciate your prompt replies and diligent work in response to our requests for revision and your great patience as we brought this book into the world. We’re grateful to all the people who have helped to preserve Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa’s words and work. We especially thank Hilda Anzaldúa, Kit Quan, and Irene Reti for their firm commitment to making the Anzaldúa archives a reality. We express our sincere gratitude to Ann Hartness, former head librarian of the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection; Margo Gutiérrez, interim head librarian at the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection; Christian Kelleher, archivist at the Benson Collection; and José Limón, director of the Center for Mexican American Studies, for their various roles in the acquisition of the archive of Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa, now housed at the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin. We also thank Christian Kelleher for his ongoing support of archival research on Anzaldúa and for his assistance with our queries as we prepared this book. Thank you, Christian; your support has been priceless. Our special admiration, respect, and gratitude go to Norma E. Cantú and Sonia Con profunda gratitud xii Bridging Saldívar-Hull at the University of Texas at San Antonio for being hardworking maestras actively creating vibrant intellectual and spiritual communities and families committed to nurturing the priceless contributions of Gloria Anzaldúa and creating future generations of Anzaldúan scholars. The University of Texas Press has been the ideal home for this book. Our sincere gratitude goes to Theresa May, assistant director and editorin -chief, for her encouragement and support of this project. We are also grateful to Sarah Hudgens for her support, kindness, and help in the manuscript preparation process. We thank Lynne Chapman, manuscript editor, for her assistance in moving our manuscript through the publication process, and we thank Tana Silva for her superb copyediting skills. We’re extremely grateful to the external reviewers of this manuscript, Edith Morris-Vasquez and Layli Phillips Maparyan, whose excitement for this project re-energized us and whose comments inspired us in useful and valuable ways to re-envision the introduction. We know that reading manuscripts can be a time-consuming job, and we very much appreciate the care you took with Bridging. We would like to express our gratitude to Dr. Domino Perez, Acting Director, and Natasha Saldaña, Academic Advisor, of the Center for Mexican American Studies for their kindness and support as we worked on the book cover. We are also grateful to Annie Valva for allowing us to use her photograph on the cover. The idea for this book has its source in the two-day tribute for Gloria E. Anzaldúa that took place in Austin in October 2004. With special cariño, respect, and gratitude we acknowledge all the people (students, professors, community-based activists, and artists, among other professionals ) who through their affiliation with the University of Texas at Austin and ALLGO (Austin Latina/Latino Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Organization) actively participated in organizing the event. Thanks to each of you for the inspiration and the original flame giving life to the idea of exploring ways to build and expand on Gloria Anzaldúa’s influential scholarship. Together, we, AnaLouise Keating and Gloria González-López, wish to acknowledge each other for mutual creativity, inspiration, and support in the process of giving birth to this book. Each of us contributed equally to the development of this collection. The order of authorship in this book and the introduction is intended to acknowledge Keating’s place in the intellectual genealogy of Anzaldúan studies. AnaLouise Keating Co-editing a book is a big responsibility; in some ways, it’s even more difficult than simply editing a book on...