Women Writing Resistance: Essays on Latin America and the Caribbean

by Jennifer Browdy, Elizabeth Martínez (Preface by)

Eighteen women, including Jamaica Kincaid, Rigoberta Menchú, Cherríe Moraga, Marjorie Agosin, Margaret Randall, Gloria Anzaldúa, Michelle Cliff, Edwidge Danticat, and Julia Alvarez, are featured in this powerful anthology on art, feminism, and activism in Latin America and the Caribbean. Women Writing Resistance highlights Latin American and Caribbean women writers who, with increasing urgency, are writing in the service of social justice and against the entrenched patriarchal, racist, and exploitative regimes that have ruled their countries. Many of the women in this collection have been thrust out into the Latino-Caribbean diaspora by violent forces that make differences in language and culture seem less significant than connections based on resistance to inequality and oppression. It is these connections that Women Writing Resistance highlights, presenting "conversations" on the potential of writing to confront injustice. This mixed-genre anthology, a resource for activists and readers of Latin American and Caribbean women’s literature, demonstrates and enacts how women can collaborate across class, race and nationality, and illustrates the value of this solidarity in the ongoing struggles for human rights and social justice in the Americas. Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez earned her Ph.D. in comparative literature from New York University, specializing in contemporary Caribbean, Latin American, and ethnic North American autobiographies by women. She teaches literature and gender studies courses at Simon’s Rock College of Bard, and is also a faculty member at the University at Albany, SUNY.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Essays, Latinx, Poetry, Anthologies, Gender

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so beyond proud to be a Latina, a Mexican woman. This book has made me reflect on my roots and how far people of the Latino community have come, and how we still need to fight for change. These essays portrayed the hardships, the marginalization, and the oppression so many women have endured. But, each of these writers have resisted and have been resilient. In today's political climate, this book is still so relevant and inspirational for future generations. Continue to break down barriers. Complacency in a White world is dangerous. No pares, sigue sigue.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting collection of essays and poetry, republished. Some are from the 80s, some more recent, but all are fantastic. It is divided into three sections: Re-envisioning History, The Politics of Language and Identity, and Strategies of Resistance.

[Svetlana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great collection with thought-provoking pieces and a great blend of prose & poetry.

[Tameeka · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amazing essay collection curated to include Latin American, Caribbean, and American women writers. It gives just enough of a taste for a newbie to research these historical facts more. This book is also a reminder of the devastation these women faced and the strength of their perseverance.

[Mana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful and inspirational. Absolutely worth a read, especially if you are Latinx, especially if you are a woman, and also if you are neither.

[Eugene Kernes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overview:
This book is a collection of writing and art, from various perspectives and regions, seeking to understand injustice. To resolve injustice, injustice has to be made overt. What the authors do, is make injustice salient, observable. Enabling everyone to understand what injustice means in practice. The lived experiences. After making injustice overt and recognizable, can actions be taken to rectify the injustices. Many started to write, or do artistic work, to give voice to their suffering. Writing to avenge silence. Writing to make sense of the world. From writing and art, the individuals obtain what the world does not give. It takes more than blaming everything on others to rectify the situation. It takes activism. Taking responsibility for the situation, and then trying to improve upon it. Traumatic experiences can be very different, but victims tend to be scapegoats for projected fears. Culture is a dynamic process in which peoples are not passive bystanders, but active participates in the evolving social experience.

Caveats?
There are a lot of traumatic experiences within the book, making it emotionally difficult to read continuously. Each chapter is a different author, a different voice. Creating a lack of flow.

[Angelica LeMinh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm pretty sure that I got here through A Different Booklist, and I am great-full as ever, for the direction. Or also perhaps, it could've been a library search on Edwige Danticat.

I read Rigoberta Menchu, Cherie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua so many years ago in a first-year women's studies class so in a lot of ways it's nice to revisit them, and see a more recent body of work around the bridge called their backs, but it's also a bit sad to see that at least in this volume, there has been a lack of what's happened since.

But academia is still a v. white world, and there has been a lot of great intersectional work, for example, Myriam Gurba, and I love Menchu's frank review on NGOs and the environment.

"...Identity is not just nostalgia for eating tamales. It is holistic, and comprises all the integral aspects of a culture." (7)

"...sigue el tren
por todas las memorias
que cruzaron el puente
entre tu pasado y mi presente..." (65, The Dream of Nunca Mas, Emma Sepulveda)

I will be sitting with that beauty for a minute. Gracias, las mujeres que escriban.

[Valérie Montour · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it so slow that I almost got into a reading slump !!! But it wasn't because of the book itself, but because of school. This book is just - so empowering and touching. The words chosen are moving and so beautiful. So many talented women! So many countries are explored too! I learned SO MUCH in this book and I think everyone should read it at least once. I'll definitely do a reread in a few years! One of the best essay I have read! 9/10

[Eduvigues Cruz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poetry in this is my absolute favorite in the whole world. I love the different authors. I love the words used. I love the themes. I love everything about every single poem. They are powerful. Made me stop in my tracks. I enjoyed the short stories as well, but the poems really made this book for me.

[Meli Perez]

Beautiful message made about the latin and Caribbean experience. Although not completely finished, I ended up tabbing several essays and being introduced to incredibly gifted black, latin and queer writers that have masterfully encapsulated the Caribbean experience in a white world.

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection weaving narrative and academic essays into a compelling story of resistance by women for generations in defense of land, culture and autonomy over one’s body.

[Zuri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good collection of essays, and my faves were by: Gloria Anzaldúa, Jamaica Kincaid, Rigoberta Menchú, Edwidge Danticat, and Alicia Partnoy.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Giving this one a 5 not because I loved every essay, but because there were a few that I found exceptional, especially Jamaica Kincaid's essay on tourists to Antigua.

[Lindsay Eanet · Rating 4 out of 5]

My roommate said this was one of the few academic texts he kept from college and encouraged me to read it. Great, quick-reading introductory collection of Latin American and Caribbean women writers, some who I already knew and loved including Jamaica Kincaid, Rigoberta Menchu and Julia Alvarez, and some that were new. Worth reading if you're interested in any of the core subjects or seeing how people write and reclaim their own histories.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like any collection, there were a few essays that didn't quite fit with the rest. Overall though, I loved this collection. It put together several of the most influential contemporary latina, chicana and Carribean writers and thinkers in a powerful way. They write on politics, family, language, womanhood and a lot more. I'd highly recommend this to anyone interested in women's activism in Latin America.

[Misia Denea · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the heels of " This bridge called my back"
I connected to the women who wrote about their experiences, fast forward to the 90's and early 00's.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

great collection. skipped over the more academic essays for the poetry and personal experience.

i was particularly interested in the concept of testimonial writing - still pondering.

[Lindsey Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the few texts I read for class in college that I have kept and reread. The voices here really resonated with me, and I think of these women often. I'm so glad I read this book.

[Nik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part 2, "The Politics of Language and Identity," merits particular attention.

[Albert]

They have not sent the book to me yet. They are resisting...