Fleshing the Spirit: Spirituality and Activism in Chicana, Latina, and Indigenous Women’s Lives

Spiritual Roots of Chicana Feminist Borderland Pedagogies: A Spiritual Journey with Tonantzin/Guadalupe

43 Spiritual Roots of Chicana Feminist Borderland Pedagogies A Spiritual Journey with Tonantzin/ Guadalupe C. Alejandra Elenes Living on borders and in margins, keeping intact one’s shifting and multiple identity and integrity is like trying to swim in a new element, an “alien” element. —Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza Spiritual activism begins with the personal yet moves outward, acknowledging our radical interconnectedness. This is spirituality for social change, spirituality that recognizes the many differences among us yet insists on our commonalities and uses these commonalities as catalysts for transformation. —AnaLouise Keating, “Charting Pathways, Making Thresholds . . . A Warning, An Introduction” Spirituality, for me, is the way I understand my position in the world in relation to larger existential questions about the meaning of life and death. Through spirituality one is connected with the world, with one’s ancestors and descendants, and one’s contemporary relations. My spirituality has evolved throughout my adulthood and childhood experiences, after years of seeking “something” that I am now able to name as a quest for spirituality. It is through my relationship with and interrogation of Tonantzin/Guadalupe that I have come to understand that my activism, my work toward social justice, my academic career, and my family life have meaning because they are related to feminist spirituality. My relationship with Tonantzin/Guadalupe has changed 44 · C. Alejandra Elenes over the years. I was raised Catholic, and as I grew up, I eventually rejected the strict sexual and patriarchal rules of the Catholic Church. My first understanding of the Virgin of Guadalupe was based on the Church’s patriarchal definitions. In recent years, as a result of my research on Guadalupe, I have come to understand her as a feminist figure. In this chapter, I address how my spiritual journey inspires my scholarship, which in turn is also inspired by my spiritual understanding of the world. I examine the relationship between Chicana feminist pedagogies and epistemologies vis-à-vis my spiritual journey. I also show how my life history informs my epistemological outlook and the reasons for having chosen to develop and apply borderland theories to my scholarship on Chicana feminist pedagogies and epistemologies. I will focus first on Chicana feminists’ interpretations of Tonantzin/Guadalupe. Then, I narrate my spiritual journey. Finally, I will connect how La Virgen de Guadalupe and my spirituality inform my analysis of Chicana feminist pedagogical praxis. Tonantzin/Guadalupe and Chicana Feminist Spiritualities For many women of Mexican descent, La Virgen de Guadalupe is an important expression of their spirituality. This understanding of spirituality goes beyond organized religion and the traditional dogma of the Catholic Church. Chicana feminist theologian Lara Medina (2004) proposes that “spirituality emphasizes the multiple ways people relate to the world around them, to their source of life of their Creator, and to themselves” (124). Spirituality, then, means more than one’s relation with a God or a Creator, because it is tied with struggles for social justice and gender equality. Spirituality is a way of understanding someone’s (or a community’s) position in the world by trying to make sense of unfair economic conditions and gender inequality, and to do something about it. This is precisely why Gloria Anzaldúa (2000) believed that for oppressed people, spirituality is a weapon of protection. It is a guiding source for understanding one’s position in the world and giving meaning to one’s life in relation to one’s community. As Medina describes it, “For women struggling not only to survive but also to prosper spiritually, culturally, and economically, the manner in which they engage in this struggle becomes key to understanding their spirituality” (2004, 124–25). Indeed, while some women find themselves struggling to survive, many of them invoke their spirituality to engage in social change. In this sense, spirituality is linked to a person’s core; as Jeanette Rodríguez points out, “Spirituality contains our deepest beliefs and thoughts” (2002, 114). Spirituality can Chicana Feminist Borderland Pedagogies · 45 also be understood in terms of how a person relates to the totality of life (De Luna 2002). One of the ways in which many Chicanas reclaim their Indigenous roots and spirituality is through their worship of the Virgen de Guadalupe.1 This is part of a “spiritual mestizaje” that combines Catholic imagery and Indigenous practices (Delgadillo 2011). The spirituality associated with La Virgen de Guadalupe understands that Guadalupe and various Nahua female...