A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousness

by Moraga, Cherrie; Rodriguez, Celia Herrera

• ISBN13: 9780822349778
• ISBN10: 0822349779
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-06-07
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousnessfeatures essays and poems by Cherr#xED;e L. Moraga, one of the most influential figures in Chicana/o, feminist, and queer, indigenous activism and scholarship. Combining moving personal stories with trenchant political and cultural critique, the writer, activist, teacher, dramatist, mother, daughter, comadre, and lesbian lover looks back on the first ten years of the twenty-first century. She considers decade-defining public events such as 9/11 and the campaign and election of Barack Obama, and she explores socioeconomic, cultural, and political phenomena closer to home, sharing her fears about raising her son amid increasing urban violence and the many forms of dehumanization faced by young men of color. Moraga describes her deepening grief as she loses her mother to Alzheimer#x19;s; pays poignant tribute to friends who passed away, including the sculptor Marsha G#xF3;mez and the poets Alfred Arteaga, Pat Parker, and Audre Lorde; and offers a heartfelt essay about her personal and political relationship with Gloria Anzald#xFA;a. Thirty years after the publication of Anzald#xFA;a and Moraga#x19;s collection This Bridge Called My Back, a landmark of women-of-color feminism, Moraga#x19;s literary and political praxis remains motivated by and intertwined with indigenous spirituality and her identity as Chicana lesbian. Yet aspects of her thinking have changed over time. A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousnessreveals key transformations in Moraga#x19;s thought; the breadth, rigor, and philosophical depth of her work; her views on contemporary debates about citizenship, immigration, and gay marriage; and her deepening involvement in transnational feminist and indigenous activism. It is a major statement from one of our most important public intellectuals.

Author Biography

Cherre L. Moraga is an award-winning playwright, poet, essayist, and activist.

Table of Contents

Drawings	p. xiii
Prologo: A Living Codex xv
Agradecimientos xix
A Xicana Lexicon	p. xxi
Existo Yo
A XicanaDyke Codex of Changing Consciousness	p. 3
From Inside the First World: On 9/11 and Women-of-Color Feminism	p. 18
An Irrevocable Promise: Staging the Story Xicana	p. 34
Warring Inside
What Is Left of Us	p. 49
MeXicana Blues	p. 51
Weapons of the Weak: On Fear and Political Resistance	p. 54
California Dreaming	p. 73
Cuento Xicano	p. 76
Indígena as Scribe: The (W)rite to Remember	p. 79
The Altar of My Undoing	p. 97
Salt of The Earth
Aguas Sagradas	p. 105
And It Is All These Things That Are Our Grief: Eulogy for Marsha Gómez	p. 107
Poetry of Heroism: A Tribute to Audre Lorde and Pat Parker	p. 111
The Salt That Cures: Remembering Gloria Anzaldua	p. 116
The Price of Beans
South Central Farmers	p. 133
The Other Face of (Im)migration: In Conversation with West Asian Feminists	p. 135
Floricanto	p. 146
Modern-Day Malinches	p. 148
What's Race Gotta Do With It? On the Election of Barack Obama	p. 151
This Benighted Nation We Name Home: On the Fortieth Anniversary of Ethnic Studies	p. 163
Still Loving in the (Still) War Years: On Keeping Queer Queer	p. 175
Epilogo: Xicana Mind, Beginner Mind	p. 193
Appendix: Sola, Pero Bien Acompañada: The Art of Celia Herrera Rodríguez	p. 201
Notes	p. 209
Bibliography	p. 229
Index	p. 237
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.