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Preface
- University of Texas Press
- Chapter
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preface I myself invent time by first conjuring up the voices and spirits of the women living under brutal repressive regimes . . . [b]ecause I want to do justice to their voices. To tell these women, in my own gentle way, that I will fight for them, that they provide me with my own source of humanity. helena maría viramontes I, like Helena María Viramontes, wish to give voice to the women who, for whatever reasons, cannot tell their stories. I realize that it is a privilege (although it should be a right) in what I define as my communities to have access to language and the written word. This realization carries with it many responsibilities and many gifts. So it is not only for myself that I have committed to do cultural work as a scholar and educator. While working on this project, I have often thought of my sister Rebecca as my audience. She is not formally trained in literature nor is she an academic. She is, however, a woman who shares many similarities with the important women I write about. I also wish to make historically marginalized theory accessible to undergraduates, including my own students. I see this work as belonging to those whom I define as my community and as a welcome to those who have a desire to engage in a dialogue about Chicana and Mexicana literature.1 The challenge of connecting the community and the acad- x toward a latina feminism of the americas emy is constant and has been taken on by many of us women of color. We are constantly straddling borders, moving between the elitism of the academy and the familiarity of the communities where we were raised. My own narrative speaks of this space—a space where my passion for my subject has been fueled, and where heartache and hope coexist. My passion comes not just from a respect for and scholarly interest in the field of Chicana studies, but from my lived experience as a Chicana. Discussing literary themes of rape, incest, domestic violence, colonization, orphanhood, sexuality, and poverty of women and children is always painful, because literature mirrors society; sometimes it is the conscience of society . Never have I wondered whether these are important issues to discuss. But when self-doubt set in during the research for this book, I questioned whether my voice could in any way make a difference in the recognition of these issues. Because the literature by Chicanas and Mexicanas is a transformational literature for me, this work has been more than just an academic exercise. Although I read some Chicano texts on my own as a teenager, it was not until my undergraduate years that I was formally introduced to this body of literature . The first Chicano studies course I took at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), in 1985, was “Chicano Theater,” with Dr. Yolanda Broyles-González. I was a junior and, not surprisingly, this was the first course to validate my experience as a Chicana from a working-class background. After that course, I enrolled in Chicano studies courses every quarter. I was fortunate to have had the support of two professors in the English Department and strong encouragement from the then-few Chicano studies faculty and staff at the university to continue my scholarly pursuits in a graduate program in literature.1 My experience at UCSB helped prepare me in many different ways for my graduate career at the University of California , Santa Cruz—including the biases I would encounter, especially the questioning of my specialization as a legitimate area of study. I was relieved to learn on the day of my graduate program orientation that, in my class of twelve entering [44.221.43.88] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 11:03 GMT) preface xi women, five were women of color also invested in honoring and bringing to the forefront formerly silenced voices. I was fortunate to have as part of my cohort Gloria Anzaldúa, who was a source of inspiration for me and for other women in the program. Already an accomplished scholar and writer, her contributions in class were significant. As a woman who had experienced her own struggles in the academic realm, she also taught me strategies for survival and had an early influence on my thinking. Her telling of her “autohistoria” gave me both the courage to tell my story and the form in which to tell it. Study abroad in...