The New Mestiza - A Consciousness of the Borderlands

Nataša C.S.

This factsheet is a distillation of Gloria Anzaldua’s “La conciencia de la mestiza,” a piece about Anzaldua’s philosophy as an Indigenous Mexican American scholar and feminist. The “mestiza” is a new consciousness that comes from the cross-pollination of ideology, culture, race and biology. The mestiza consciousness is rooted largely in living on the borderlands, where multiple opposing cultural messages speak to a person at once, and the mestiza, thus, learns to juggle cultures.

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References

Anzaldúa, Gloria. “La Conciencia de La Mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness.” In Borderlands / La Frontera: The Mestiza 4th ed. Aunt Lute Books, 2012[1987]: 99–113.

Source Authors

Gloria Anzaldua

Keywords

"In Between", "Machismo", "Macho", Acknowledge, Adaptation, Allies, Allyship, Ambiguity, Ambivalence, Anglo, Ashamed, Behaviours, Belonging, Biases, Biological, Biology, Bond, Borderlands, Boundaries, Celebrates, Challenge, Chicana/o/x, Chicano, Collective Shadow, Collectivity, Concept, Concepts, Confusion, Cosmic Race, Courage, Creative motion, Cross-pollination, Cultural, Cultural Messages, Cultural/religious, Culturally Favoured, Culture, Cultures, Death, Deeds, Dignity, Diverse Parts, Dominant white culture, Dualistic, Dualistic Thinking, Embraces, Enemies, Energy, European/Spanish Descent, False, Feminist, Fiction, Flexible, Foundation, Gathers, Gay Men, Gender Roles, Gloria Anzaldua, Healing, Homosexuals, Humanity, Hybrid, Ideological, Ideology, Images, Inclusivity, Indecisiveness, Indigenous, Indigenous Mexican, Indigenous Mexican American, Indo-Hispanics, Inherited, Inherited history, Injustice, Insecurity, Intracultural Split, Inventory, Jose Vasconcelos, Language, Languages, Latinos, Liberation, Magic, Male, Male Dominance, Male-derived Beliefs, Malleable Humans, Masculinity, Mediator, Mestiza, Mestiza/o/x, Mexican, Mexican American, Mexican-Indian Culture, Mixed Ancestry, Mixed Consciousness, Mixed Heritage, Mixture of Races, Mortal Combat, Multiple, Mutable, Myths, Native American, Negative parts, New Beliefs, New concept of Masculinity, New Consciousness, New Culture, New Cycle, New images, New Mestiza, New myths, New Symbols, One Global Race, Opposing, Oppressed, Oppression, Oppressor, Pain, Paradigm, Pathological, People of Colour, Personhood, Perspectives, Philosophy, Physical Space, Plural Personality, Political Designation, Power, Powerlessness, Prejudice, Priestess of the Crossroads, Protect, Psychic Restlessness, Public Restitution, Purity, Purpose, Queer, Race, Racial, Racial Personality, Racial Purity, Reasoning, Reclamation, Rejection, Removing Dualisms, Resisting, Respect, Rich Gene Pool, Rigidity, Self, Self-Determination, Self-Respect, Sexist, Sexist Element, Shaman, Shaming, Share, Show Love, Soul Level, South America, Stolen, Strengthens, Struggle, Struggle of the Mestiza, Subconcious, Subconsciously, Subject-Object Duality, Superior, Survived, Symbols, Tenderness, Thoughts, Threat, Tolerance, Tolerance for Ambiguity, Transformation, Transformative, Uniting, Value, Value System, Violence, Vulnerability, Vulnerable, White, White supremacy, Whole Perspective, Wholistic Perspective, Worth, Wounded, Wounding

Locations

Mexico, United States