ABSTRACT

Latina Outsiders Remaking Latina Identity is an exploration of Latinas on the periphery of both Latina culture and mainstream culture in the United States. Whether they are deliberately rejected or whether they choose to reject sexist, classist, or racist practices within their cultures, the subjects of these articles, essays, short fiction, poems, testimonios, and visual art demonstrate the value of their experience. Ultimately, the outsider experience influences what the larger culture adopts, demonstrating that a different perspective is key to remaking Latina identity. Outside perspectives include those of queer, indigenous, Afro-Latina, activist, and differently-abled individuals.

By challenging stereotypes and revealing the diverse range of narratives that make up the Latina experience, Latina Outsiders Remaking Latina Identity will expand and deepen notions of the Latina identity for students and researchers of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies.

chapter |10 pages

Introduction

part I|65 pages

Ideology and class

chapter 1|16 pages

Punks and hipsters

Latina outsiders remaking Latina identity

chapter 2|10 pages

“The child is bewitched”

Syncretism and self-making in Cristina García's Dreaming in Cuban

chapter 5|3 pages

Just for standing out

chapter 6|4 pages

Activism is not a phase

Testimonio of a radical Xicana PhD

chapter 7|11 pages

Playing Chola

The discourse of subjects and subject-selves

chapter 8|2 pages

Caravan

chapter 9|11 pages

Ruidosas to the front

Alice Bag and the construction of Violence Girl

part II|50 pages

Gender/Sexuality

chapter 10|9 pages

Loving Latinas

When questioning sexuality means questioning Latinidad

chapter 11|7 pages

Returning to the Bronx

Gender, the outsider perspective, and Utopia in Juliet Takes a Breath

chapter 12|2 pages

Separación

chapter 13|2 pages

Catcalls to my brain

chapter 15|4 pages

Permission

chapter 17|5 pages

Parts of an autobiography

part III|48 pages

Race/Ethnicity

chapter 19|11 pages

Dear Barbara T. y Gloria E.

Found autoethnographic letters to Blacktina nepantla acrobats

chapter 20|11 pages

Haciendo Caras

The alter-native illuminations of Laura Varela and Vaago Weiland's Enlight-Tent

chapter 21|12 pages

Living on the threshold

A Latina English professor

chapter 24|2 pages

In-laws, outlaws

chapter 25|6 pages

Yo soy Boricua Feminista, Pa'que Tu Lo Sepas!

Notes from a Diasporican on performing outsider identity

part IV|20 pages

Disability

chapter 26|7 pages

Latina liberation

A conversation of soul, sacred well-being and community

chapter 27|1 pages

Pa' que sepan

Vanessa “Bashi” Alviso

chapter 29|3 pages

Poison and monsters

chapter 30|2 pages

Stroke

chapter 31|2 pages

You either see me or you don't

part V|29 pages

Loneliness, solitude, and the unspeakable

chapter 33|2 pages

Sounding la Raza Cósmica

chapter 35|3 pages

Dropping dimes

chapter 36|4 pages

Good enough

chapter 37|2 pages

Tracing Elaine Summer's dance and performance lineage

Performance notes

chapter 38|3 pages

Belonging, chaos, blood, and tissues

Assumptions about Latina writers in academia

chapter 39|3 pages

Write like a girl

chapter |6 pages

Conclusion