ABSTRACT

This chapter is about how Latina writers and professors are pushed to teach classes that might not actually have anything to do with their interests, such as ESL. It also explores how Latina professionals negotiate identity when people equate being a writer with the ability to teach, or equating being a Latina with the ability to teach English to non-native speakers, for example. This concept ties in with the assumptions made about Latina realities that are published, or not published, and how some Latina realities are silenced because of discomfort with painful situations we’d rather not face. This dynamic forces Latinas into an outsider position.