Borderlands / La Frontera
Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza is a semi-autobiographical work by Gloria Anzaldúa . The book was published in 1987 by Aunt Lute Books .
Borderlands is about the invisible borders that exist between different groups in the border area between the USA and Mexico: US citizens - Mexicans / Chicanos , men - women, heterosexuals - homosexuals .
shape
The book is divided into two parts. The first part, written in prose , is divided into seven sections in which she combines autobiographical matters with the history of the US-American-Mexican border and essay-like passages about her worldview. The second part of the book consists of a collection of 38 poems divided into six groups.
The book cannot be assigned to any of the usual literary categories. From the perspective of a lesbian feminist, a Chicana-Tejana, it combines autobiographical issues, topics of contemporary history, historical and cultural-historical excursions, reflections on Aztec mythology and culture, from which they then develop their theories about the “new mesticine”, an “awareness of Mestizo ”( Mestiza consciousness ) and developed through“ borders ”and“ border crossers ”.
content
Borderlands begins with a poem about the sea that surrounds Mexico. The sea as a natural boundary is intended to serve as a contrast to the man-made, unnatural boundaries. One such unnatural border is that which separates the United States of America and Mexico. Anzaldúa perceives this boundary as strange and restrictive. The author even speaks of an open wound (“The US-Mexican border es una herida abierta”). This man-made border not only separates two countries, but it also exerts a great influence, both sociologically and psychologically, on those people who have to live around them. Anzaldúa engages the reader deeply in the tension and conflict between the Chicanos and the whites. In doing so, she vividly conveys an impression of the helplessness of the mestizos who are no longer accepted or tolerated in their former homeland due to the US-Mexican border.
According to Anzaldúa, borders serve to separate the good from the bad, the safe from the insecure, us from them. The mestizos are not allowed to cross the border, whether legally or illegally. They are then raped, mutilated, strangled, gassed or shot. Only white people and the rich can cross the line at any time.
Anzaldúa also tells the historical background of the US-Mexican border region. After the Mexicans lost their land in 1848 ( Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ), many of them became homeless and unemployed. Large US corporations took advantage of this helplessness of the Chicanos and forced them to work hours and hours underpaid in their factories. In addition, the Chicanos' cultural heritage was spurned and American culture, language and ideals were forced upon them instead. For many Mexicans, the only option left was to stay in Mexico and starve, or to take the risk of entering the US illegally and at risk of death in order to survive.
In connection with the border issue, especially the liberation from it, Anzaldúa also mentions the cultural heritage of the Chicanos. The author explains z. B. on the basis of the Aztec goddess Tlazolteotl , the centuries-old oppression of women by men. The power to give birth to life, which is inextricably linked with the sexual act, was only given to women and should be used by them restrictively and with caution. In this way women could free themselves from the oppressive limits of their sex and oppose male rule. The power to give birth to life, according to Anzaldúa, is comparable to the work of creation. Women are therefore endowed with an incredibly creative and enormous power that men will never have. Thus women are fundamentally superior to men and not inferior to them.
In addition to the physical border between the United States of America and Mexico, the linguistic barriers between Spanish, English and various slangs as well as the sexual borders in the form of different genders and inclinations, Anzaldúa also addresses invisible borders such as those of art or understanding and the Appreciation of artistic goods. For Latinos and their culture, art is something alive, something that breathes and has human needs. Works of art are not perceived as objects, but as people to whom special attention is paid. They are sacrificed, nourished and cared for: “They attend them by making sacrifices of blood (goat or chicken), libtations of wine. They bathe, feed and clothe them. ”For whites, however, art is only there to decorate their rooms. Art objects are admired here, but they are by no means seen as something living. Accordingly, according to Anzaldúa, whites have no real understanding of art, they cannot connect deeply with it, as the Latinos can. According to Anzaldúa, this is also proof that the whites are only on earth to exploit it, but not to help it or to treat it respectfully, to pay homage to its creations.
The second part of Borderlands consists of a collection of poems by Anzaldúa, which also deal with borders and border experiences. Through the form of the poem, the author allows her readers a different approach to the topic.
interpretation
All of the lyrics in Borderlands are based on Anzaldúa's own experience as a Chicana and lesbian activist. The author discusses various borderline experiences on the basis of various identity components. For example, Anzaldúa's lesbian nature has both female and male elements. Anzaldúa's cultural heritage is also made up of different races and cultures. Anzaldúa continuously questions the concept of the "border" as something arbitrarily created by humans. According to Anzaldúa, there is always an oppressor and an oppressed. She calls on the oppressors to work for the good of the oppressed and to rethink their attitude towards them. Prejudice and ignorance of the oppressed weaken them and the imaginary boundaries between the individual groups are increasingly strengthened.
language
The text changes constantly between the languages English, Spanish and various slangs . For the Chicanos: “We are a synergy of two cultures with various degrees of Mexicanness or Angloness. I have so internalized the borderland conflict that sometimes I feel like one cancels out the other and we are zero, nothing, no one. ”The continuous change of language reflects the inner turmoil of the mestizos: Having grown up between two different cultures, they really don't feel like one another associated. Only through the interaction of both parts do they obtain their complete identity. A separate chapter - “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” - is devoted to the linguistic conflict of the Borderlands population, which deals with the importance of language for the formation of human identity.
Historical background
Mexico
Between 1519 and 1521 Mexico was conquered by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his followers. The country was under Spanish rule for the next 300 years before a Catholic priest, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla , on September 16, 1810 , calling for Mexican independence. His Grito de Dolores was the first public call for independence in the country and at the same time the beginning of a rebellion against Spain, which resulted in a declaration of war and thus in the Mexican War of Independence . After 10 years of war, the victory of the Mexican guerrilla troops was near and Spain agreed to sign the " Treaty of Cordoba " in August 1821. Mexico was henceforth an independent state and founded a constitutional monarchy under Augustin de Hurbide.
Texas
The Texan area belonged to Mexico for a long time and was only sparsely populated. After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, the Mexican government allowed US settlers to claim land in the region. Many US settlers welcomed this opportunity to get cheap land ownership and so the area became increasingly populated. With the increasing number of US citizens, the Mexicans in the area became more and more a minority. However, the language and cultural heritage of the Mexicans were rejected by the settlers. In addition, the fact that predominantly US citizens lived in the area led to various frictions with the Mexican government. So the Texan Revolution finally came in 1835 . The Texan armed forces defeated the Mexicans within a few months, so that Texas gained independence on April 21, 1836. Mexico, on the other hand, refused to recognize Texas' independence and ordered the United States not to annex Texas. These in turn ignored the order and annexed Texas in March 1845 as the 28th state in the United States of America.
Mexican-American War
The Mexican government did not recognize the annexation of Texas. From a Mexican perspective, the Nueces River continued to form the border between Mexico and the United States of America. The United States of America, however, saw the border more south, in the Rio Grande . The border disputes quickly became a blatant topic. Mexico refused to give up a large part of their own land with Texas, the United States of America, especially President James K. Polk , insisted on their right to Manifest Destiny (in the form of western expansion). At Polk's request, Congress declared war on Mexico on May 13, 1846, which Mexico finally lost after two years. The decision resulted in a landing at Veracruz in March 1847 and the occupation of Mexico City by US troops in September of that year. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of February 2, 1848 then led to a large increase in territory for the United States and expanded its territory to the Pacific Ocean .
Today's border between Mexico and the United States of America is approximately 3,140 km long and crosses a variety of different terrains. This border is one of the most frequented borders in the world, which of more than 350,000,000. People is crossed annually. In addition, there is an unknown number of illegal border crossings. For this reason, the border is closely guarded. Anzaldúa describes this boundary as an open wound. The life of the people there is hard, they suffer from extreme poverty, racism and isolation: " Hatred, anger and exploitation are the prominent features of this landscape. "
expenditure
- Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute 1987. ISBN 978-1-879960-12-1 [first edition]
- Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Introduction by Sonia Saldivar-Hull and Sonia Saldc-Var-Hull. San Francisco: Aunt Lute 1999. ISBN 978-1-879960-56-5 [Extended Edition]
Research literature
- Michaela Díaz-Sánchez: "Yemaya Blew That Wire Fence Down": Invoking African Spiritualities in Gloria Anzaldúa's Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza and the Mural Art of Juana Alicia. In: Solimar Otero, Toyin Falola (Ed.): Yemoja: Gender, Sexuality, and Creativity in the Latina / o and Afro-Atlantic Diasporas. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY 2013, pp. 153-186.
- Monica Perales: On Borderlands / La Frontera: Gloria Anzaldúa and Twenty-Five Years of Research on Gender in the Borderlands. In: Journal of Women's History. 25, 4, 2013, pp. 163-173.
- Anna Brígido-Corachán: Native Journeys of Self-Figuration: N. Scott Momaday 's The Way to Rainy Mountain and Gloria Anzaldúa's Borderlands / La Frontera. In: Begoña Simal (Ed.): Selves in Dialogue: A Transethnic Approach to American Life Writing. Rodopi, Amsterdam 2011, pp. 109-132.
- Markus Heide. Overwriting boundaries : Chicano / a-narrative literature and the staging of cultural contact. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2004. ISBN 3-8253-1662-9 .
- María Lugones: On Complex Communication. In: Hypatia. Vol. 21, No. 3, 2006, pp. 75-85, doi: 10.1111 / j.1527-2001.2006.tb01114.x
Individual evidence
- ↑ Anzaldúa, Gloria (2012). Borderlands / La Frontera. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books. P. 25.
- ↑ Gloria Anzaldúa: Borderlands / La Frontera. San Francisco 2012.
- ↑ Gloria Anzaldúa: Borderlands / La Frontera. San Francisco 2012. p. 90.
- ↑ Gloria Anzaldúa, Gloria: Borderlands / La Frontera. San Francisco 2012. p. 90.
- ↑ Koegeler-Abdi, Martina. "Shifting Subjectivities: Mestizas, Nepantleras, and Gloria Anzaldúa's Legacy". Retrieved July 25, 2014.
- ↑ Gloria Anzaldúa, Gloria: Borderlands / La Frontera. San Francisco 2012. p. 85.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved July 25, 2014.
- ↑ Gloria Anzaldúa: Borderlands / La Frontera. San Francisco 2012. p. 19
