Sunday, January 8, 2012

Mestiza

Gloria Anzaldua - "La Concienza de la Mestiza"
Reflection

Definition of Mestiza - A woman of racially mixed ancestry. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mestiza

          In Anzaldua's work I found that she was trying to explain the conscious conflict between being a woman of mixed races, and  lifestyles. She is a lesbian woman of Mexican, Native American decent living in America as an American. She has a hard time deciding were her loyalties lie and if they should lie anywhere as it is. As a woman of Portuguese decent, I grew up with Portuguese as my first language, even though I was born in America. I can understand where she is coming from to a point. It was difficult for me to learn how to read and write in Kindergarten because of my heritage. My parents are American citizens, who speak perfect English, but while they were at work all day, i was home with my primarily Portuguese speaking grandmother. She has always brought me up to believe in her morals, customs, and ways of life. These however are very different from the average American culture. This is where a mestiza would be confused. She wouldn't know which culture to side with, and a split between cultures would tear her apart. Your culture is a huge part of who you are as a person, and if you have a split between your cultures, than you as a person are split. She also explains how her Mexican culture may not agree with her being a lesbian and her American culture may not agree with her feminism. But as a lesbian woman, her women around the world will take her in as a culture. She is a women and sister to all. I can agree with this, no one is ever really alone. I believe that no matter who you are, and what you believe, there are always people out there who believe as you do, and will take you in as a friend no matter what the situation. This is just what I believe Anzaldua was trying to get at. You will always struggle with where your loyalties lye as a mestiza, but no matter where your true culture is, someone will always be there to take you in to their own culture because they believe as you do.

In class tomorrow I would like to discuss something that Anzaldua brought up. She said if we could mend the splits we have between white and colored, or men and women, we could stop the violence, rape, and war of this world. Is this a true thought? Do you really believe that mending the spits in our society could end the turmoil in our world?

2 comments:

  1. I read your post and it confirmed what I got out of the reading! So thanks it helped out alot!

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  2. I know exactly what you mean! I grew up the same way. Your post made this article easier to be seen in a different perspective

    ReplyDelete