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The Gloria Anzaldúa Reader
Born in the Río Grande Valley of south Texas, independent scholar and creative writer Gloria Anzaldúa was an internationally acclaimed cultural theorist. As the author of Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Anzaldúa played a major role in shaping contemporary Chicano/a and lesbian/queer theories and identities. As an editor of three anthologies, including the groundbreaking This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, she played an equally vital role in developing an inclusionary, multicultural feminist movement. A versatile author, Anzaldúa published poetry, theoretical essays, short stories, autobiographical narratives, interviews, and children’s books. Her work, which has been included in more than 100 anthologies to date, has helped to transform academic fields including American, Chicano/a, composition, ethnic, literary, and women’s studies.
This reader—which provides a representative sample of the poetry, prose, fiction, and experimental autobiographical writing that Anzaldúa produced during her thirty-year career—demonstrates the breadth and philosophical depth of her work. While the reader contains much of Anzaldúa’s published writing (including several pieces now out of print), more than half the material has never before been published. This newly available work offers fresh insights into crucial aspects of Anzaldúa’s life and career, including her upbringing, education, teaching experiences, writing practice and aesthetics, lifelong health struggles, and interest in visual art, as well as her theories of disability, multiculturalism, pedagogy, and spiritual activism. The pieces are arranged chronologically; each one is preceded by a brief introduction. The collection includes a glossary of Anzaldúa’s key terms and concepts, a timeline of her life, primary and secondary bibliographies, and a detailed index.
This reader—which provides a representative sample of the poetry, prose, fiction, and experimental autobiographical writing that Anzaldúa produced during her thirty-year career—demonstrates the breadth and philosophical depth of her work. While the reader contains much of Anzaldúa’s published writing (including several pieces now out of print), more than half the material has never before been published. This newly available work offers fresh insights into crucial aspects of Anzaldúa’s life and career, including her upbringing, education, teaching experiences, writing practice and aesthetics, lifelong health struggles, and interest in visual art, as well as her theories of disability, multiculturalism, pedagogy, and spiritual activism. The pieces are arranged chronologically; each one is preceded by a brief introduction. The collection includes a glossary of Anzaldúa’s key terms and concepts, a timeline of her life, primary and secondary bibliographies, and a detailed index.
376 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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1406 people want to read
About the author
Gloria E. Anzaldúa
43 books782 followersGloria E. Anzaldúa was a scholar of Chicana cultural theory, feminist theory, and queer theory. She loosely based her best-known book, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, on her life growing up on the Mexican-Texas border and incorporated her lifelong feelings of social and cultural marginalization into her work.
When she was eleven, her family relocated to Hargill, Texas. Despite feeling discriminated against as a sixth-generation Tejana and as a female, and despite the death of her father from a car accident when she was fourteen, Anzaldúa still obtained her college education. In 1968, she received a B.A. in English, Art, and Secondary Education from Pan American University, and an M.A. in English and Education from the University of Texas at Austin. While in Austin, she joined politically active cultural poets and radical dramatists such as Ricardo Sanchez, and Hedwig Gorski.
After obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in English from the then Pan American University (now University of Texas-Pan American), Anzaldúa worked as a preschool and special education teacher. In 1977, she moved to California, where she supported herself through her writing, lectures, and occasional teaching stints about feminism, Chicano studies, and creative writing at San Francisco State University, the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Florida Atlantic University, among other universities.
(from Wikipedia)
See also: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/onlin...
When she was eleven, her family relocated to Hargill, Texas. Despite feeling discriminated against as a sixth-generation Tejana and as a female, and despite the death of her father from a car accident when she was fourteen, Anzaldúa still obtained her college education. In 1968, she received a B.A. in English, Art, and Secondary Education from Pan American University, and an M.A. in English and Education from the University of Texas at Austin. While in Austin, she joined politically active cultural poets and radical dramatists such as Ricardo Sanchez, and Hedwig Gorski.
After obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in English from the then Pan American University (now University of Texas-Pan American), Anzaldúa worked as a preschool and special education teacher. In 1977, she moved to California, where she supported herself through her writing, lectures, and occasional teaching stints about feminism, Chicano studies, and creative writing at San Francisco State University, the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Florida Atlantic University, among other universities.
(from Wikipedia)
See also: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/onlin...
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 10, 2015
"The world knows us by our faces, the most naked, most vulnerable, exposed, and significant topography of the body. When our caras do not live up to the "image" that the family or community wants us to wear and when we rebel against the engraving of our bodies, we experience ostracism, alienation, isolation, and shame." - Hacienda caras, una entrada
Anzaldúa tells the story of my life, my experiences, my thoughts. Although I'm not a Chicana like she was, so much of what she wrote could have applied to me, in fact to any woman who belongs to a marginalized or a minority group. Whether it was her lectures, her poetry, or interviews, her work was such a wealth of knowledge. She was a poet, an artist and more, and used poetic language from which she drew from Jungian psychology, and also intertwined her Spanish language.
I rarely come across theory in academia that is so interesting, refreshing and accessible.Anzaldúa puts herself into her work: her sensitivity, her empathy, her activism. She discusses the reading of this theory as a holistic experience which really resonated with me having read so much dry theory:
From: En Rapport, In Opposition Cobrando cuentas a las nuestras
"From where I stand, queridas carnalas-in a feminist position-I see, through critical lens with variable focus, that we must not drain our energy breaking down the male/white frame (the whole of western culture) but turn to our own kind and change our terms of reference. As long as we see the world and our experiences through white eyes -in a dominant/subordinate way-we're trapped in the tar and pitch of the old manipulative and strive-for-power ways."
Anzaldúa also discusses the problems with being the token woman of colour in academia or in similar space, how stressful it can be, and the ways in which those of us who find ourselves in that position can protect ourselves. It's reminiscent of the Donna Kate Rushin poem , The Bridge (http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defco...), which is included in the "This Bridge Called my Back" anthology.
From: Speaking in Tongues A Letter to Third World Women Writers
"We cannot allow ourselves to be tokenized. We must make our own writing and that of Third World women theorist priority...We are in danger of being reduced to purveyors of resource lists."
Regarding feminism, Anzaldúa clearly shows how mainstream feminism is not enough for women of colour; she discusses how we have different issues and although we are not encouraged to write, we really should because through our writings we can create theories that will change policies, etc:
"Why am I compelled to write? Because the writing saves me from this complacency I fear. Because I have no choice. Because I must keep the spirit of my revolt and myself alive. Because the world I create in the writing compensates for what the real world does not give me. By writing I put order in the world, give it a handle so I can grasp it. I write because life does not appease my appetites and hunger. I write to record what others erase when I speak, to rewrite the stories others have miswritten about me, about you. To become more intimate with myself and you. To discover myself, to preserve myself, to make myself, to achieve self-autonomy. To dispel the myths that I am a mad prophet or a poor suffering soul. To convince myself that I am worthy and that what I have to say is not a pile of shit. To show that I can and that I will write, never mind their admonitions to the contrary. And I will write about the unmentionables, never mind the outraged gasp of the censor and the audience. Finally, I write because I'm scared of writing but I'm more scared of not writing. Why should I try to justify why I write?"
I liked how Anzaldúa injects so much of herself in her writing. She shows that her identity, which is complex, and her upbringing, are all part of who she is, and how she sees the world. She discussed her own personality and was very honest and transparent about several things:
"Being a mestiza queer person, una de las otras ("of the others") is having and living in a lot of worlds, some of which overlap. One is immersed in all the worlds at the same time while also traversing from one to the other."
In: Spirituality, Sexuality, and the Body: An Interview with Linda Smuckler
"At this time in my life, I need a lot of solitude. I live in my imagination, in my inner world. There has to be a balance: I need a community of people, I need to go out into the world, I need that connection. So it's either extreme. When I find myself being too much out in the world I have to put shields around myself so that I can come home, recuperate, recharge, and reconnect. But if I'm in my little womb of a house (for me, the house is always a symbol of the self), if I'm too protective, too much of a hermit, I have to take those shields off and let people in."
I am so glad I have a copy of this as I feel the knowledge I learned and the knowledge that was reaffirmed, will last with me for a long time.
A long quote, one of my favourites and the basis of my thesis, coming up:
"What is considered theory in the dominant academic community is not necessarily what counts as theory for women-of-color. Theory produces effects that change people and the way they perceive the world. Thus we need teorías that will enable us to interpret what happens in the world, that will explain how and why we relate to certain people in specific ways, that will reflect what goes on between inner, outer, and peripheral "I"s within a person and between the personal "I"s and the collective "we" of our ethnic communities. Necesitamos teorías that will rewrite history using race, class, gender, and ethnicity as categories of analysis, theories that cross borders, that blur boundaries-new kinds of theories with new theorizing methods. We need theories that will point out ways to maneuver between our particular experiences and the necessity of forming our own categories and theoretical models for the patterns we uncover. We need theories that examine the implications of situations and look at what's behind them. And we need to find practical application for those theories."
Anzaldúa tells the story of my life, my experiences, my thoughts. Although I'm not a Chicana like she was, so much of what she wrote could have applied to me, in fact to any woman who belongs to a marginalized or a minority group. Whether it was her lectures, her poetry, or interviews, her work was such a wealth of knowledge. She was a poet, an artist and more, and used poetic language from which she drew from Jungian psychology, and also intertwined her Spanish language.
I rarely come across theory in academia that is so interesting, refreshing and accessible.Anzaldúa puts herself into her work: her sensitivity, her empathy, her activism. She discusses the reading of this theory as a holistic experience which really resonated with me having read so much dry theory:
From: En Rapport, In Opposition Cobrando cuentas a las nuestras
"From where I stand, queridas carnalas-in a feminist position-I see, through critical lens with variable focus, that we must not drain our energy breaking down the male/white frame (the whole of western culture) but turn to our own kind and change our terms of reference. As long as we see the world and our experiences through white eyes -in a dominant/subordinate way-we're trapped in the tar and pitch of the old manipulative and strive-for-power ways."
Anzaldúa also discusses the problems with being the token woman of colour in academia or in similar space, how stressful it can be, and the ways in which those of us who find ourselves in that position can protect ourselves. It's reminiscent of the Donna Kate Rushin poem , The Bridge (http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defco...), which is included in the "This Bridge Called my Back" anthology.
From: Speaking in Tongues A Letter to Third World Women Writers
"We cannot allow ourselves to be tokenized. We must make our own writing and that of Third World women theorist priority...We are in danger of being reduced to purveyors of resource lists."
Regarding feminism, Anzaldúa clearly shows how mainstream feminism is not enough for women of colour; she discusses how we have different issues and although we are not encouraged to write, we really should because through our writings we can create theories that will change policies, etc:
"Why am I compelled to write? Because the writing saves me from this complacency I fear. Because I have no choice. Because I must keep the spirit of my revolt and myself alive. Because the world I create in the writing compensates for what the real world does not give me. By writing I put order in the world, give it a handle so I can grasp it. I write because life does not appease my appetites and hunger. I write to record what others erase when I speak, to rewrite the stories others have miswritten about me, about you. To become more intimate with myself and you. To discover myself, to preserve myself, to make myself, to achieve self-autonomy. To dispel the myths that I am a mad prophet or a poor suffering soul. To convince myself that I am worthy and that what I have to say is not a pile of shit. To show that I can and that I will write, never mind their admonitions to the contrary. And I will write about the unmentionables, never mind the outraged gasp of the censor and the audience. Finally, I write because I'm scared of writing but I'm more scared of not writing. Why should I try to justify why I write?"
I liked how Anzaldúa injects so much of herself in her writing. She shows that her identity, which is complex, and her upbringing, are all part of who she is, and how she sees the world. She discussed her own personality and was very honest and transparent about several things:
"Being a mestiza queer person, una de las otras ("of the others") is having and living in a lot of worlds, some of which overlap. One is immersed in all the worlds at the same time while also traversing from one to the other."
In: Spirituality, Sexuality, and the Body: An Interview with Linda Smuckler
"At this time in my life, I need a lot of solitude. I live in my imagination, in my inner world. There has to be a balance: I need a community of people, I need to go out into the world, I need that connection. So it's either extreme. When I find myself being too much out in the world I have to put shields around myself so that I can come home, recuperate, recharge, and reconnect. But if I'm in my little womb of a house (for me, the house is always a symbol of the self), if I'm too protective, too much of a hermit, I have to take those shields off and let people in."
I am so glad I have a copy of this as I feel the knowledge I learned and the knowledge that was reaffirmed, will last with me for a long time.
A long quote, one of my favourites and the basis of my thesis, coming up:
"What is considered theory in the dominant academic community is not necessarily what counts as theory for women-of-color. Theory produces effects that change people and the way they perceive the world. Thus we need teorías that will enable us to interpret what happens in the world, that will explain how and why we relate to certain people in specific ways, that will reflect what goes on between inner, outer, and peripheral "I"s within a person and between the personal "I"s and the collective "we" of our ethnic communities. Necesitamos teorías that will rewrite history using race, class, gender, and ethnicity as categories of analysis, theories that cross borders, that blur boundaries-new kinds of theories with new theorizing methods. We need theories that will point out ways to maneuver between our particular experiences and the necessity of forming our own categories and theoretical models for the patterns we uncover. We need theories that examine the implications of situations and look at what's behind them. And we need to find practical application for those theories."
February 26, 2010
I should probably start by saying that I absolutely love Gloria Anzaldúa. She was a writer whose work focused mostly on her identities as a woman, Chicana, lesbian, feminist, etc.—identities she insisted could not be separated from one another. She is probably best known for co-editing This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color and for her book Borderlands/La Frontera, The New Mestiza.
Anzaldúa’s work engages me in a unique way, so I was equal parts ecstatic and apprehensive to start The Gloria Anzaldúa Reader. There are so many ways this could go—there could be too much new or obscure material, too much old material, too much academia, etc. Luckily for me, the book provides just the right balance and showcases Anzaldúa in a way that made me love her even more.
The book is divided into four sections: early writings, middle writings, images, and later writings. The divisions are based mostly on chronology, but there are also certain themes that are more prevalent in one section than another. Every section starts with a quote from Anzaldúa’s works and each piece has a short introduction. The introductions were very useful because they often provided the context of where it fit into Anzaldúa’s writing, listed some of the themes in the piece, and sometimes suggested what other works to read in order to explore the themes in that piece.
What I liked most about this book is that the editor, AnaLouise Keating, does a great job of including a bit of everything in almost every way. There are poems, fictional stories, autobiographical pieces, drawings, transcripts of talks and email exchanges, and so forth. In terms of content, there are at least a couple of pieces for all of the issues important to Anzaldúa: feminism, culture, queer studies, and disability. For example, the book contains an interview about spirituality and sexuality, a piece about her preference for the term “dyke” instead of “lesbian,” several pieces about culture and identity, a poem about the process of writing, an email exchange about disability, and the list goes on. It gives a great introduction to people who have never before read Anzaldúa’s work, but even die-hard fans will like the book because it includes a good amount of unpublished material.
I enjoyed almost everything included in this book, but I did earmark a few that stood out to me. There were a few pieces about how Anzaldúa started writing and the methods she uses for writing that I liked a lot. Similarly, a piece on creativity was one of my favorites, in which she explores the rational mind, imagination, her sensitivity to the world around her, and how all of that comes together when doing something like writing. There was also a very funny story about a woman so saddened by her husband’s death that he comes back as a ghost, at which point she realizes just how sick of him she really was.
One thing that I might have changed is the placement of the images. It was great to include them and a couple of the drawings make my list of favorite pieces in the book, but I think putting them all together in between other chapters seemed awkward. For me, it was reminiscent of a biography with photos in the middle. Perhaps spreading them throughout the chapters might have been better and more in tune with Anzaldúa’s own style of switching through mediums within the same work. But I have to admit that this is probably just nitpicking to find flaws in an otherwise incredible book.
Review by Frau Sally Benz
Anzaldúa’s work engages me in a unique way, so I was equal parts ecstatic and apprehensive to start The Gloria Anzaldúa Reader. There are so many ways this could go—there could be too much new or obscure material, too much old material, too much academia, etc. Luckily for me, the book provides just the right balance and showcases Anzaldúa in a way that made me love her even more.
The book is divided into four sections: early writings, middle writings, images, and later writings. The divisions are based mostly on chronology, but there are also certain themes that are more prevalent in one section than another. Every section starts with a quote from Anzaldúa’s works and each piece has a short introduction. The introductions were very useful because they often provided the context of where it fit into Anzaldúa’s writing, listed some of the themes in the piece, and sometimes suggested what other works to read in order to explore the themes in that piece.
What I liked most about this book is that the editor, AnaLouise Keating, does a great job of including a bit of everything in almost every way. There are poems, fictional stories, autobiographical pieces, drawings, transcripts of talks and email exchanges, and so forth. In terms of content, there are at least a couple of pieces for all of the issues important to Anzaldúa: feminism, culture, queer studies, and disability. For example, the book contains an interview about spirituality and sexuality, a piece about her preference for the term “dyke” instead of “lesbian,” several pieces about culture and identity, a poem about the process of writing, an email exchange about disability, and the list goes on. It gives a great introduction to people who have never before read Anzaldúa’s work, but even die-hard fans will like the book because it includes a good amount of unpublished material.
I enjoyed almost everything included in this book, but I did earmark a few that stood out to me. There were a few pieces about how Anzaldúa started writing and the methods she uses for writing that I liked a lot. Similarly, a piece on creativity was one of my favorites, in which she explores the rational mind, imagination, her sensitivity to the world around her, and how all of that comes together when doing something like writing. There was also a very funny story about a woman so saddened by her husband’s death that he comes back as a ghost, at which point she realizes just how sick of him she really was.
One thing that I might have changed is the placement of the images. It was great to include them and a couple of the drawings make my list of favorite pieces in the book, but I think putting them all together in between other chapters seemed awkward. For me, it was reminiscent of a biography with photos in the middle. Perhaps spreading them throughout the chapters might have been better and more in tune with Anzaldúa’s own style of switching through mediums within the same work. But I have to admit that this is probably just nitpicking to find flaws in an otherwise incredible book.
Review by Frau Sally Benz
April 8, 2010
Really awesome to have a compilation of Anzaldua's work out there. It's nicely arranged, with decent contextualizing editorial comments before each piece. I especially appreciated the inclusion of her visual art and so many previously unpublished pieces, as well as the intentional editorial choices that showcased the breadth of her work in many genres. I found her comments around disability, which i was really excited to have included, to be kind of disappointing. But a vital and necessary collection overall.
December 3, 2009
This is a great anthology of some of Anzaldua's best work. Again really good for writers who like to read books about why someone is compelled to write. Anzaldua's writing is an amalgam of prose, poetry, essay, dreamings...it's cool.
May 23, 2016
Anzaldúa's earlier writings, especially the non-fiction ones, really spoke to me. Her narrative style is rich and vibrant, and the way she interweaves spiritual/tradition with social/political themes is masterful. Really enjoyed!
January 30, 2016
UPDATE: Here's my full review.
I LOVED this book! I'll be writing a review in the next couple of days.
I LOVED this book! I'll be writing a review in the next couple of days.
September 16, 2011
Hijole! One of my favorites.
November 28, 2012
First introduced to Gloria in my women's studies course...brought my first awareness to how languages/cultures are viewed by people juggling with many cultural identities.
July 4, 2014
Baruch haruach for this amazing person! Anzaldua achieves what I really seek as a reader- to feel the organic interdependence of all life. Reading her words, my mind burns and I feel alive.
June 20, 2017
Reread for the 3rd? time 6/19/17
January 31, 2021
I loved this collection of her writing - her thoughts on identity especially spoke to me.
"Identity is not a bunch of little cubbyholes stuffed respectively with intellect, race, sex, class, vocation, gender. Identity flows between, over aspects of a person. Identity is a river-a process. Contained within the river is its identity, and it needs to flow, to change to stay a river-if it stopped it would be a contained body of water such as a lake or a pond. The changes in the river are external (changes in environment-river bed, weather, animal life) and internal (within the water). A river's connects flow within its boundaries. Changes in identity likewise are external (how others perceive one and how one percives others and the world) and internal (how one perceives oneself, self-image). People in different regions name the parts of the rive/person which they see."
"Identity is not a bunch of little cubbyholes stuffed respectively with intellect, race, sex, class, vocation, gender. Identity flows between, over aspects of a person. Identity is a river-a process. Contained within the river is its identity, and it needs to flow, to change to stay a river-if it stopped it would be a contained body of water such as a lake or a pond. The changes in the river are external (changes in environment-river bed, weather, animal life) and internal (within the water). A river's connects flow within its boundaries. Changes in identity likewise are external (how others perceive one and how one percives others and the world) and internal (how one perceives oneself, self-image). People in different regions name the parts of the rive/person which they see."
March 27, 2024
This book can be read over many lifetimes. My copy is full of annotations, underlines, sticky notes…Reading and engaging is an act of transformation.
Anzaldùa’s terms and theories not only help me make sense of myself, but of the world itself. Healing of all sorts is a collective responsibility. “The healing of our wounds results in transformation, and transformation results in the healing of our wounds.”
Anzaldùa’s terms and theories not only help me make sense of myself, but of the world itself. Healing of all sorts is a collective responsibility. “The healing of our wounds results in transformation, and transformation results in the healing of our wounds.”
December 11, 2018
Amazing! Should be required reading in any Gender & Women's Study Program!
April 12, 2019
I am not really sure what else to say about this extremely important book other than WOW.
Read
July 23, 2025SIMM 54, read ''To(o) queer the writer', really inspiring, love her!
March 9, 2024
earth shatteringly radical for the chicana consciousness. a must-read for any latina reflecting on borders, trans-nationalism, colonialism, feminism, and generally the art of countering white supremacy as used to discriminate against chicanas.
January 23, 2015
Gloria the poet. Anzaldua the woman. Gloria Anzaldua and her poems, essays, her stories, her activism. A beautiful book about an author who know what it is to walk in the shoes of those que ni de aquí ni de allá pero de todos lados.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews