Gloria Anzaldúa's Mexican Genealogy

From Pelados and Pachucos to New Mestizas

Bibliographic Data

ID5770566
AuthorsMichael Alessandri (0000-0002-0905-1846, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, corresponding author), Alexander V Stehn (0000-0002-1911-816X, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume4
Issue1
Pages12-12
Publication date2020-01-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGenealogy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2313-5778 • E-ISSN: 2313-5778
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/genealogy4010012
OpenAlexW3001838128
LanguageES
Citations received2
References cited11

This essay examines Gloria Anzaldúa's critical appropriation of two Mexican philosophers in the writing of Borderlands/La Frontera: Samuel Ramos and Octavio Paz. We argue that although neither of these authors is cited in her seminal work, Anzaldúa had them both in mind through the writing process and that their ideas are present in the text itself. Through a genealogical reading of Borderlands/La Frontera, and aided by archival research, we demonstrate how Anzaldúa's philosophical vision of the "new mestiza" is a critical continuation of the broader tradition known as la filosofía de lo mexicano, which flourished during a golden age of Mexican philosophy (1910-1960). Our aim is to open new directions in Latinx and Latin American philosophy by presenting Anzaldúa's Borderlands/La Frontera as a profound scholarly encounter with two classic works of Mexican philosophy, Ramos' Profile of Man and Culture in Mexico and Paz's The Labyrinth of Solitude

Appropriation · Dialectic · Solitude · Cultural and Social Studies in Latin America · Latin American and Latino Studies · Latin American Literature Studies

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