A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology: Religion and Justice

Chapter 7. LATINA FEMINIST THEOLOGY: CENTRAL FEATURES

LATINA FEMINIST THEOLOGY CENTRAL FEATURES We have not one movement but many . . . Ours are individual and small group movidas, unpublicized movimientos—movements not of media stars or popular authors but of small groups or single mujeres, many of whom have not written books or spoken at national conferences . . . Now here, now there, aqu y all , we and our movimientos are firmly committed to transforming all our cultures. GLORIA ANZALDÚA We are the feminists among the people of our culture. CHERRÍE MORAGA The social movements acting today in the global space are carriers of projects and specific agendas related to millennial discriminations—of gender, of ethnicity, of sexual orientation—and to problems that are increasingly global: environment, peace, human rights, etc. In this ambivalent, contradictory space still in process of being constructed . . . globalization is a new “field of dispute” (terreno de disputa) for the world feminisms to impel new rights and new transnational, multicultural connections recreating the diversity of feminist outlooks , and nourishing a new vision of what human living could be. GINA VARGAS I am opening my contribution to this book with the words of three feminists of Latin American ancestry to clearly indicate its focus and direction .1 The growth and development of the powC H A P T E R 7 maría pilar aquino erful tradition of Latina/Chicana2 feminist theories correspond to the contemporary growth and development of a plural sociopolitical movement and of a plural sociopolitical subject, both constituted as a new sociopolitical force for the achievement of justice, equality, human rights, true democracy, and a greater quality of life for all, which together can be summarized in the term liberation. This social force irrupted across the Americas in the second half of the twentieth century and continues to generate a plural and consistent process of critical action and insight for the transformation of the current dominant paradigm of social living. The formal articulation of Latina/Chicana feminist thought is intrinsically connected with these historical movements. It did not emerge as a body of metaphysical convictions removed from real sociopolitical subjects. As noted in a 1971 conference report, from its early stages this thought asserted that liberation is not authentic if the elimination of kyriarchal3 domination is overlooked or dismissed : “We are in a struggle for the liberation of our people. In this struggle, we must recognize that there are many forms of oppression. There is class, race, and women’s oppression, which is tied into the same thing—capitalism. We cannot just separate these types of oppression and leave them separated.”4 The Latina feminist struggle of women and men against all forms of the kyriarchal hegemony has been, and continues to be, plural in its expressions and in its spaces of social insertion. Because feminist thought is constitutive of our movidas, or movements, it involves and evolves everywhere, in rural and urban areas, in the kitchen and the streets, in our minds and our communities, in schools, hospitals, and churches, entre sábanas y libros . C. Orozco simply says, “Feminism is necessary for liberation.”5 Latina feminist theology is also developing in the context of these plural sociopolitical subjects and movements for transformation. It did not come to light based on a metaphysical subject that exists only in one’s mind, but in connection with historical movements and subjects. As the cognitive space of our religious experiences for justice and liberation, this theology contributes to the aims of that sociopolitical force that is bringing about new visions of an alternative paradigm for social living. Consequently, the purpose of my chapter is threefold.6 First, arguing against the myth that feminism is a foreign concept and experience for Latinas, I present some understandings and orientations shared in common by Latina/Chicana feminism and Latina feminist 134 U.S. LATINA FEMINIST THEOLOGICAL INSIGHT theology as historical background of their evolving conversation. Second , by including indicative data to describe the current context of reality, I want to bring to light the chilling panorama confronted by Latina/Chicana feminism and Latina feminist theology, so that we engage in changing that context from our various locations and activities . Third, I seek to describe the central features of Latina feminist theology, including its major methodological characteristics, principles, and tasks. From my perspective, I suggest that this theology can and should be characterized as an intercultural activity. CENTRAL UNDERSTANDINGS AND ORIENTATIONS The Latina feminist tradition...