Gloria Anzaldúa as philosopher

The early years (1962-1987)

Bibliographic Data

ID4079868
AuthorsMichael Alessandri (0000-0002-0905-1846, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume15
Issue7
Publication date2020-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhilosophy Compass (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1747-9991 • E-ISSN: 1747-9991
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/phc3.12687
OpenAlexW3042177375
LanguageES
Citations received2
References cited21

It's time that philosophers read Gloria Anzaldúa as a philosopher. Scholars have been hinting at it for some time, but in describing her they still tend to choose the terms "theorist," "feminist," and "thinker" instead of "philosopher." Anzaldúa fits into all of these categories, but from her notes, we know that Anzaldúa also thought of herself as a philosopher. In 2002, for instance, she called herself a "feminist-visionary-spiritual-activist-poet-philosopher fiction writer." This essay argues that we should grant Anzaldúa's wish to be considered a philosopher in addition to the other appellations, and focuses on works that she read and wrote in the first half of her scholarly career, including the publication ofBorderlands/La Fronterain 1987. The evidence for the claim that Anzaldúa thought of herself as a philosopher is mostly archival, but some of it also appears in her published works. Once philosophers explicitly begin to recognize Anzaldúa as a philosopher, comparisons between her and other already recognized philosophers will become fuller and bear more fruit

Art · Epistemology · Literature · Wish · Latin American and Latino Studies · Philosophy · Poetry Analysis and Criticism

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