ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses teaching Anzaldúa in Poland in a multinational environment of the ERASMUS MUNDUS program The Joint European Master in Women’s and Gender Studies (GEMMA). In The Gloria Anzaldúa Reader (2009), AnaLouise Keating admires “the profound ways that her [Gloria’s] words resonate with so many different types of people […] including many who do not self-identify as Chicana, Latina, feminist, lesbian and/or queer” (1). Moreover, her students appreciate the personal dimension of Anzaldúa works as specifically appealing. In the many years of teaching Anzaldúa I have had similar experiences with my students who have always emphasized subjectivity that distinguishes Anzaldúa’s writing from authors who write in impersonal way. Although the latter method is considered objective and academic, still young people prefer the engaged writing, aimed at a dialogue with readers when the author is willing to “expose oneself” to authenticate and situate the stories one wants to tell and the theories one wants to spread. Such is Anzaldúa’s writing. Consequently, I focus on the pedagogical value of Anzaldúa’s work and demonstrate how a classroom can become Anzaldúa’s concept of El Mundo Zurdo, and how her philosophy/theory can be applied in the teaching process in various environments and contexts.
