Dear Martha Cotera,

My name is Patricia Otero and I am a senior at Loyola Marymount University. I am currently taking a Chicano Studies class titled Chicanas/Latinas in the U.S. For our class project we had to choose an artist, writer, or activist in the United States to create a webpage for. I chose to research you because of the huge impact you had on the Chicano movement in Texas and for your expertise on Chicana history. This far into the semester we have read two books, Chicana Art: The Politics of Spiritual and Aesthetic Altarities by Laura E. Perez, as well as, Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldua. From these two books we have learned many new terms and concepts. From Perez’s book Chicana Art, I will explain to you the concept of Land/Place and how your work as an activist as well as your writings relates to this concept. Secondly, from Borderlands I will describe the New Mestiza Consciousness and how it relates to your work.

In the chapter Tierra, Land, Perez discusses how the earth, our homes, the place we live and our bodies are suppose to give us a sense of belonging and being at home. In other words, we are suppose to feel relaxed and at ease in this space, this belonging is “shaped by our sense of belonging socially” (Perez, 146). For many Chicanas this is difficult because we often do not feel comfortable in our surroundings and we don’t feel rooted to our home. In the United States it is difficult for Mexican-Americans to feel secure because society is constantly berating immigrants who come to America and “steal Americans’ jobs”. Anglos do not realize that for many Mexicans, the border crossed them, they didn’t cross it. Many Mexican-American families have been living in the Southwestern United States since before it was a part of the U.S. Yet they are the ones who feel out of place. This feeling is described as “territorial dispossession” by Perez. I also found it fascinating when Perez discussed how Mexican-Americans have a claim to ancestral ties to the United States because our ancestors were some of the original inhabitants of the Southwest, yet anti-Mexicanism is still prevalent throughout the U.S. Chicana/os are continually being “socially marginalized, systematically disempowered, and negatively racialized” (Perez, 147). This fact is bad for Chicanas because they begin to believe the stereotypes that society forces upon them. It causes them to have low self esteem and to believe that they are supposed to remain in the home. Perez says that Chicanas must challenge this belief that they belong in border town bordellos and in service jobs.
If you have ever read Anzaldua’s Borderlands then you know how her work can mesmerize your mind. This was my first time reading this book and I was blown away by Anzaldua’s writing and concepts. She was able to put things I have thought of , but never quite knew what to make of, into coherent sentences. The last chapter of her book is called “La conciencia de la mestiza”. In the opening of the chapter she discusses Jose Vasconcelos’ idea of cosmic race, which is a fifth race that embraces the four other races of the world. Instead of this race being inferior to the other races it is a hybrid progeny and is more malleable. Anzaldua says, “From this racial, ideological, cultural and biological crosspollinization, an ‘alien’ consciousness is presently in the making—a new mestiza consciousness, una conciencia de mujer. It is a consciousness of the borderlands” (Anzaldua, 99). The mestiza is inundated with many different cultures; she is exposed to Mexican-American culture, Anglo culture, Indian culture, and the Chicana culture. Anzaldua explains that there is a clash between the different cultures because they conflict with one another. The Chicana has to decide whether she will embrace both cultures or reject the dominant culture altogether, but its is important that she act and not react to the struggle. The new mestiza consciousness is attempting to heal what had caused the split between “the very foundation of our lives, our culture, our languages, [and] our thoughts” (Anzaldua, 102). In order to do this the mestiza must let go of the oppressive qualities of cultures, the she assumes a new way of understanding the “darkskinned, women and queers” (Anzaldua, 104). From this chapter we also learn how the concept “machismo” was an Anglo invention. The Anglo male transferred his low self esteem and sense of inferiority onto the Mexican by shaming him. Although we know why Mexican men tend to mistreat women, Anzaldua says that we need to stop accepting it and demand men acknowledge their maltreatment. This is important because we need to stop men from diminishing our worth, and we have to weed out the sexist elements of Mexican-Indian culture. This struggle is a feminist struggle and Anzaldua says it is important that women support one another so that the Indian and Black in all of us is also free of machismo beatings. It is also essential that ideas and information be shared across different cultures so that we can all truly understand one another. Without this common understanding it is possible for aspects of certain cultures to be erased, ignored, and forgotten by the dominate culture. This is why Anzaldua believes it is extremely important that all cultures come together and be willing to learn about the other. It is also crucial for the dominate culture to admit that they have suppressed and hurt Chicano culture.

How do these two concepts relate to what you have accomplished in your life?

One aspect of Anzaldua’s Borderlands is to know your history so that you can always be proud of who you are and defend yourself against certain criticisms. Professor Lopez (my professor for this class) has told us that if we know our history then we can defend our heritage and right to be here in the U.S. For many of us in the class, we expressed feelings of not knowing if we were really Chicano because we didn’t know what the real definition was. We also spoke of feeling not welcome among people who considered themselves “real Mexicans”. Some spoke of feeling belittled by Anglos society. The way that you fit into this is because you give us the history needed to understand our heritage. This is especially important for Chicanas because as you know prior to your book Diosas y Hembra, no one had taken on the task of recording Mexican-American women history. Anzaldua says that the Anglo has tried to erase our history because of the shame they feel for usurping our land and stripping us of our dignity. In American public schools we never learn about the history of Mexican-Americans in the U.S. But your book documents Chicana history so that it will not be lost, or forgotten. Your book will help not only Mexican-American women to understand their own identity and culture, but it will be a resource for other cultures as well.

Your work relates to both Land/Place and the New Mestiza Consciousness through your participation in activist associations. You were a founding member of numerous feminist actions in Texas such as: La Raza Unida, Mujeres Por La Raza Unida Caucus, the Texas Women’s Political Caucus, and the National Women’s Political Caucus. By being a founding member of these groups for women you gave other Chicanas the ability to break from the mold of being kept in the border town bordellos that Perez describes in Chicana Art. You set a new example of how women could be involved outside the designated sphere of domesticity. In relation to Land/Place your innovating Diosas y Hembras allows women to grasp a sense of belonging because you document that we do belong here because it is our ancestral homeland. It is noted that you wanted to create a Chicana feminist movement because you believed that Anglo feminists were solely preoccupied with the oppression of women, while you felt that it was necessary to address racism as well. This relates to the New Mestiza Consciousness because you were working to address oppressive qualities of the cultures that were surrounding you. Through your activism and writings you were able to give Chicanas a voice when no one else would.

Sincerely,

Patricia Otero