This factsheet summarizes 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 Anzaldua at once. The mestiza, thus, learns to juggle cultures.
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.