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Tsunami: Women’s Voices from Mexico
Merging waves of feminist thought from established and emerging Mexican women writers, Tsunami arrives with seismic, groundbreaking force.
Featuring personal essay, manifesto, creative nonfiction, and poetry, Tsunami gathers the multiplicity of voices being raised in Mexico today against patriarchy and its buried structures. Tackling gender violence, community building, #MeToo, Indigenous rights, and more, these writings rock the core of what we know feminism to be, dismantling its Eurocentric roots and directing its critical thrust towards current affairs in Mexico today. Asserting plurality as a political priority, Tsunami includes trans voices, Indigenous voices, Afro-Latinx voices, voices from within and outside academic institutions, and voices spanning generations. Tsunami is the combined force and critique of the three feminist waves, the marea verde ("green wave") of protests that have swept through Latin America in recent years, and the tides turned by insurgent feminisms at the margins of public discourse.
Contributors include Marina Azahua, Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil, Dahlia de la Cerda, Lia García, Margo Glantz, Jimena González, Fernanda Latani M. Bravo, Valeria Luiselli, Ytzel Maya, Brenda Navarro, Jumko Ogata, Daniela Rea, Cristina Rivera Garza, Diana J. Torres, Sara Uribe, and the Zapatista Army for National Liberation.
Featuring personal essay, manifesto, creative nonfiction, and poetry, Tsunami gathers the multiplicity of voices being raised in Mexico today against patriarchy and its buried structures. Tackling gender violence, community building, #MeToo, Indigenous rights, and more, these writings rock the core of what we know feminism to be, dismantling its Eurocentric roots and directing its critical thrust towards current affairs in Mexico today. Asserting plurality as a political priority, Tsunami includes trans voices, Indigenous voices, Afro-Latinx voices, voices from within and outside academic institutions, and voices spanning generations. Tsunami is the combined force and critique of the three feminist waves, the marea verde ("green wave") of protests that have swept through Latin America in recent years, and the tides turned by insurgent feminisms at the margins of public discourse.
Contributors include Marina Azahua, Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil, Dahlia de la Cerda, Lia García, Margo Glantz, Jimena González, Fernanda Latani M. Bravo, Valeria Luiselli, Ytzel Maya, Brenda Navarro, Jumko Ogata, Daniela Rea, Cristina Rivera Garza, Diana J. Torres, Sara Uribe, and the Zapatista Army for National Liberation.
312 pages, Paperback
Published February 11, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 1, 2026
There isn’t a Mexican girl or woman who would be oblivious to the fact that her gender poses a massive risk to her very existence. 10 girls and women are murdered every day in Mexico, and this is one of the highest rates of gender-based violence globally. But essays and poems by 16 Mexican female writers - plus a letter from the Zapatista women from Chiapas - in “Tsunami: Women’s Voices from Mexico” aren’t only about femicides.
It’s the first time I read such a consistently excellent and diverse anthology of texts on such a wide range of topics and approaches related to women’s experiences. Yes, many authors addressed violence, also against transgender women (by Alexandra R. de Ruiz and Lis García), however texts on the concepts of being Indigenous (by Yásnaya Elena A. Gil) or Afro-Mexican-Japanese (by Jumko Ogata-Aguilar), on the exploitation of natural resources and connecting it with the rejection of the author’s copper IUD (by Valeria Luiselli), on motherhood and mother-daughter relationship (by Fernanda Latani M. Bravo and Daniela Rea) and many others were equally powerful, extremely eloquent and poignant.
What is particularly striking is that I saw no repetition of thought. Even if there are similarities in observation, every author comes from a different viewpoint and weaves her thread in her own unique way. I was most blown away by the long essay by Dahlia de la Cerda who starts with the critique of Virginia Woolf’s narrow idea of a room of one’s own and expands her views exponentially to cover the whole spectrum of feminism. Her text is the single best text on feminism I’ve read in my life - it’s so good it deserves to be published as a separate book.
The letter of the Zapatista women to sisters around the world shows how much women in other parts of the world can learn from their Mexican compañeras. In the Western world feminist agendas are still very narrow, they rarely encompass ecofeminism and intersectionality in all its aspects, as well as the critique of capitalist, colonial and racist structures. There is a lot to learn and “Tsunami” is an eloquent, deeply moving, at times provocative and truly groundbreaking book. 10 stars out of 5.
It’s the first time I read such a consistently excellent and diverse anthology of texts on such a wide range of topics and approaches related to women’s experiences. Yes, many authors addressed violence, also against transgender women (by Alexandra R. de Ruiz and Lis García), however texts on the concepts of being Indigenous (by Yásnaya Elena A. Gil) or Afro-Mexican-Japanese (by Jumko Ogata-Aguilar), on the exploitation of natural resources and connecting it with the rejection of the author’s copper IUD (by Valeria Luiselli), on motherhood and mother-daughter relationship (by Fernanda Latani M. Bravo and Daniela Rea) and many others were equally powerful, extremely eloquent and poignant.
What is particularly striking is that I saw no repetition of thought. Even if there are similarities in observation, every author comes from a different viewpoint and weaves her thread in her own unique way. I was most blown away by the long essay by Dahlia de la Cerda who starts with the critique of Virginia Woolf’s narrow idea of a room of one’s own and expands her views exponentially to cover the whole spectrum of feminism. Her text is the single best text on feminism I’ve read in my life - it’s so good it deserves to be published as a separate book.
The letter of the Zapatista women to sisters around the world shows how much women in other parts of the world can learn from their Mexican compañeras. In the Western world feminist agendas are still very narrow, they rarely encompass ecofeminism and intersectionality in all its aspects, as well as the critique of capitalist, colonial and racist structures. There is a lot to learn and “Tsunami” is an eloquent, deeply moving, at times provocative and truly groundbreaking book. 10 stars out of 5.
March 26, 2026
what a gift it is to have a collection of writing like this!!!!!! to not only have such a radicalizing and prolific collection of writing by women, but from women who are mexican! from both past and current generations! who are mothers! who are trans women! who are brave enough to share their stories of abuse/violence! who are bringing to light important ideas when it comes to how white feminism has overlooked women of color for decades! i feel so lucky to have this on my shelf alone with some of my favorite authors!
April 14, 2025
Sometimes a book is “good” because it’s an entry point—a portal—into knowledge, something that expands your mind on a subject, that shows you how much you don’t know and how you can find out more. In other words, or TL;DR: I can’t tell you how much this collection moved me, made me think, opened my eyes. It’s on my list of revolutionary and radicalising reads.
In a world made newly chaotic by the last US presidential election and its consequent fallout (the attempted erasure of the achievements of Black people, trans folk, and women, the deportation without due process of people of colour, and… I guess we’ll see worse); also the rise of far right forces; once again, silenced voices must fight to be heard. *Tsunami* falls into the bullhorn category. Collecting essays and other pieces in translation from marginalised people—women, trans folk, Indigenous, and Afro-Latinx—in Mexico, *Tsunami* represents, in the main, [third- and fourth-wave feminism](https://theconversation.com/what-are-...).
Plurality and intersectionality are at the centre of the collection. One of the flaws of previous waves of feminism was how limiting they were—like the race-based issues and the absence of women from the so-called Third World in the first and second waves, corrected to some extent in the third. Here, importantly, we hear from women and trans folk in the Global South—in Mexico to be specific. Mexico is one of the femicide capitals of the world; why is that? The writers in this collection are crystal clear about the many of the dangers that women face from patriarchy and anti-Indigenous sentiment.
The importance of this collection is not just to hear about the situation in Mexico, or even to extrapolate and apply lessons from these experiences in your own setting; it it also to see that feminism must be a single movement worldwide; that the patriarchy can only be defeated if people all ver the world stand together. It’s about understanding local situations, yes, but also seeing and seeking common ground. It’s about how we can and should collaborate and be in solidarity with one another. My favourite piece is from the women of the EZLN (the Zapatista women) because this point is made clearly: aware of how they are othered, these women point out how their fight is the fight of women everywhere.
An excellent read, highly recommended. Thank you to The Feminist Press and Edelweiss for early DRC access.
In a world made newly chaotic by the last US presidential election and its consequent fallout (the attempted erasure of the achievements of Black people, trans folk, and women, the deportation without due process of people of colour, and… I guess we’ll see worse); also the rise of far right forces; once again, silenced voices must fight to be heard. *Tsunami* falls into the bullhorn category. Collecting essays and other pieces in translation from marginalised people—women, trans folk, Indigenous, and Afro-Latinx—in Mexico, *Tsunami* represents, in the main, [third- and fourth-wave feminism](https://theconversation.com/what-are-...).
Plurality and intersectionality are at the centre of the collection. One of the flaws of previous waves of feminism was how limiting they were—like the race-based issues and the absence of women from the so-called Third World in the first and second waves, corrected to some extent in the third. Here, importantly, we hear from women and trans folk in the Global South—in Mexico to be specific. Mexico is one of the femicide capitals of the world; why is that? The writers in this collection are crystal clear about the many of the dangers that women face from patriarchy and anti-Indigenous sentiment.
The importance of this collection is not just to hear about the situation in Mexico, or even to extrapolate and apply lessons from these experiences in your own setting; it it also to see that feminism must be a single movement worldwide; that the patriarchy can only be defeated if people all ver the world stand together. It’s about understanding local situations, yes, but also seeing and seeking common ground. It’s about how we can and should collaborate and be in solidarity with one another. My favourite piece is from the women of the EZLN (the Zapatista women) because this point is made clearly: aware of how they are othered, these women point out how their fight is the fight of women everywhere.
An excellent read, highly recommended. Thank you to The Feminist Press and Edelweiss for early DRC access.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews