Maria Herrera Sobek and Tere Romo both analyze how Malinche is depicted, mostly in the form of visual imagery. Instead of seeing her in a negative light, as do most Mexicans, they offer an alternative analysis that depicts her as the center of Chicana movement and separates patriarchal misperceptions from the reality.
Maria Herrera Sobek looks at pictures and texts with Malinche, seeing her as a beautiful, intelligent, powerful young woman who was a skilled translator. Because she was born and raised to a noble family, by some accounts, she developed translating skills. This allowed for her language dexterity and communication with Cortes and the Tlaxcalans. Throughout the imagery that portrays her, Malinche is a confident woman who commands
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This gave her socio political mobility, contributing to her status over those like Cortes. Malinche had a large amount of power. In Miguel Gonzalez’ painting with Moctezuma, Malinche, and Cortes, both Malinche and Cortes are on the highest platform in the painting while everyone else, including Moctezuma is on a lower level. This depicts status, and puts Malinche as an indigenous woman on a higher level than an indigenous man. She is also, elegantly dressed and slightly taller than Cortes. Although she’s been europeanized through religion, she serves as a link between the indigenous culture and the European. Romo argues that Malinche stands as a symbol for the indigenous. Even though she has been converted and Europeanized, her native roots remain. Romo furthers this idea when she provides the alternative explanation to Malinche’s tears in Cecilia Alvarez’ painting. Instead of her tears symbolizing her guilt as a traitor, she is instead representing the native women who have suffered the same injustices that she has. Not only does Malinche still have her native roots, she also represents native …show more content…
She compares Malinche and Cortes to Adam and Eve because they are the forebears of the Mestizo race. Although this is partly false because their child, Martin, is not the first Mestizo who is born, I would say that because Malinche and Cortes are so popular in Mexican culture, it’s easy to see why they continue to be confused as the first parents of the Mestizo race. The body Cortes is stepping over is the vanquished native. Tere Romo sees Cortes position as asserting spanish male dominance over both Malinche and the native. Romo claims that Orozco is addressing Cortes’ control over both the native on the ground and Malinche by stepping over one and restraining the other. Throughout the other paintings, Sobek and Romo mention the dress of Cortes and Malinche. In Orozco’s mural, they’re both naked meaning that the differences between the two cultures would seem less obvious in a materialistic sense. However, in their naked state, even without Cortes’ armor and Malinche’s huipil, they are still very different because Cortes has light skin and Malinche dark brown skin. Through this, it becomes clear how Malinche is a link between the two cultures because she is holding hands with Cortes, and, as Sobek put it, she is the “forebear” of the Mestizo
Blackwell was able to conduct with the pioneering Chicana activist and theorist Anna NietoGomez, along with the members of Las Hijas de Cuauhtémoc. She talks about the families of Anna NietoGomez, Corinne Sanchez, and also Sylvia Castillo; and what brought them to activism. She uses Foucault’s archaeology of knowledge to help understand the ways in which the Chicanas have been omitted from the social histories of the Chicano and women’s movements.
In this section his initial thoughts show through. “But losers matter, especially in the history of early America.” Many different regions of early America are examined in their years of early conquest when native populations started their descent. The biggest theme throughout the section is the effect that conquistadors and explorers had on the native population in their search for gold and glory. The information that is given is not typical of what is learned of early America, but tries to really focus on the most important figures of the time and there voyages. For example, when talking about the Plains nations and there explorers, Coronado and De Soto a tattooed woman woman is brought up who had been captured by both explorers at different times and different places, but little is known about her. “Of the tattooed woman who witnessed the two greatest expeditions of conquest in North America, and became captive to both, nothing more is known.” This point captures the main idea of the theme and what many know of this time. Horwitz aims to point out the important facts, not just the well known
North Americans and Mexicans must also attempt to overcome the ideas that women should be seen and not heard. In Anzaldúa’s words, “Hocicona, repeloma, chismosa, having a big mouth, questioning, carrying tales are all signs of being mal criada. In my culture they are all words that are derogatory if applied to women – I’ve ever heard them applied to men” (2947).
In the years following the Spanish conquests, the southwest region of the United States developed into Spanish colonial territory. Indians, Spaniards, and blacks occupied this territory in which the shortage of Spanish women led to the miscegenation of these cultures. The result of mixing these races was a homogenization of the people of various cultures that came to be called mestizos and mulattos who, like present day Mexican Americans, inherited two distinct cultures that would make their culture rich, yet somewhat confusi...
Delgadillo, Theresa. "Forms of Chicana Feminist Resistance: Hybrid Spirituality in Ana Castillo's So Far From God."Modern Fiction Studies. 44.4 (1998): 888-914. Delgadillo, Theresa. "Forms of Chicana Feminist Resistance: Hybrid Spirituality in Ana Castillo's So Far From God."Modern Fiction Studies. 44.4 (1998): 888-914. .
The novel, The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela is a great perception of the Mexican Revolution. The stories of exploits and wartime experiences during the Mexican Revolution was fundamentally driven by the men. The war was between the people and the government. Throughout the novel, these men had to isolate themselves from their families and battle for a cause they greatly believed in. Even with not enough resources, the people were able to fight aggressively in order to overthrow the government. Regardless of the men who were at war, there were two females who played a significant role in the Mexican Revolution, Camila and War Paint. While the representation Mariano Azuela captures these ladies and their role in society are accurate, he neglects
Moraga, Cherrie. “Queer Aztlan: the Reformation of Chicano Tribe,” in The Color of Privilege 1996, ed Aida Hurtado. Ann Arbor: University Michigan Press, 1996.
“I, Rigoberta Menchu, an Indian Woman in Guatemala” (1983), is the personal narrative of the life of a young Guatemalan Quiche Indian woman. Written in the genre of personal testimony, Menchu's powerful voice records the hardships of the Guatemalan people during the political terror of a 36-year Civil War that ended in 1996. Menchu's reality is harsh; life is a struggle to survive. Menchu as if creating an indigenous cloth with numerous threads, creates a tale of connection within her Quiche community. One of Menchu's main objectives is to maintain a cohesive Mayan culture and to bring cultural identity to her community. Menchu records her culture's past through memory, detailing rituals, customs, and traditions. She presents the Mayan culture with a sense of wonder and mystery. She speaks of candles lit to welcome the newborn children, of celebratory fiestas at weddings, of the importance of maize, and of respect for the elders of the community. Menchú promotes cultural identity of her people and encourages it for those other indian an indigenous nations around the world. The rituals she describes are alien and very different to the Western mind.
As she tours her hometown, one can see the horrendous circumstances in which her community thrives in, for example, to get from one side to the other they must cross a makeshift bridge where the water has begun to change color such as black, green, even beginning to foam. Numerous health problems have arisen due to the toxic waste that is being dumped into the streams that therefore leading to runoff when it rains such as sores developing on feet and legs, weakened immune system, spots that appear on the limbs, etc. Lujan, a third world feminist (could also be known as an environmental feminist as well) exposes the unsanitary environment in which she lives in, desiring a greater community where her children can live in without the worry of diseases or the contamination of their water sources. Though she was not always a promotora/advocator it was not until Lujan came face to face with a sign inviting women to participate in a health survey furthermore learning about the health risks that she made the decision to be outspoken about the cause. She took workshops to help her better apprehend labor and women’s rights in order to promote laws and speak out against illegal acts conducted by businesses. Therefore, it only makes sense that women would be the most outspoken group of the maquiladoras since they make up eighty percent of the
Demetria Martínez’s Mother Tongue is divided into five sections and an epilogue. The first three parts of the text present Mary/ María’s, the narrator, recollection of the time when she was nineteen and met José Luis, a refuge from El Salvador, for the first time. The forth and fifth parts, chronologically, go back to her tragic experience when she was seven years old and then her trip to El Salvador with her son, the fruit of her romance with José Luis, twenty years after she met José Luis. And finally the epilogue consists a letter from José Luis to Mary/ María after her trip to El Salvador. The essay traces the development of Mother Tongue’s principal protagonists, María/ Mary. With a close reading of the text, I argue how the forth chapter, namely the domestic abuse scene, functions as a pivotal point in the Mother Tongue as it helps her to define herself.
La Malinche, also called Malintzin, Malinalli or Doña Marina, was a Nahua woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast. “She was born into a noble family sometime between 1496 and 1501 in the Paynalla province in Coatzacoalcos, in the Veracruz region of southern Mexico” (“Creator or traitor”). Pocahontas was born around 1595; she was the daughter of Wahunsenaca (Chief Powhatan). Her name was Matoaka, but she was called by her nickname Pocahontas, which means “Little Wanton” (“Pocahontas 1595 – 1617”). She lived in eastern North America, present day Virginia. These women belonged to different region of America and different time. Malinche had contact with Spanish conquerors and Pocahontas was related to English conquerors.
Rigoberta Menchu is a Quiche Indian, who experienced how unfair and prejudice life can be for an impoverished, indigenous, Indian community. Rigoberta was from a very traditional Indian society, which held its values and customs very close to its heart. By revealing the harsh racism, the exploitation, the poverty, as well as the need to fight for equality, and to preserve the Mayan culture, Rigoberta exemplifies why the fight she and many others endured, was necessary. Throughout the book, she shows how exploitation, genocide, racism and poverty, all acts done by the higher class the Ladinos, and the Guatemalan military, can severely cripple a group of people. Menchu expresses
Judith Ortiz Cofer, a professor of english and creative writing, tackles gender roles as well as cultural stereotypes in “ The Myth of the Latin Woman” and challenges them by attempting to replace the stereotypes with the realities. In “The Myth of the Latin Woman” Cofer discusses her life in America as a Puerto Rican woman. She also shares her stories of when she was stereotyped and how gender roles play a role in how Latinos are viewed. Stereotypes will follow you around because of your appearance and how the media portrays Latinas.
The contrast between the Mexican world versus the Anglo world has led Anzaldua to a new form of self and consciousness in which she calls the “New Mestiza” (one that recognizes and understands her duality of race). Anzaldua lives in a constant place of duality where she is on the opposite end of a border that is home to those that are considered “the queer, the troublesome, the mongrel and the mulato” (25). It is the inevitable and grueling clash of two very distinct cultures that produces the fear of the “unknown”; ultimately resulting in alienation and social hierarchy. Anzaldua, as an undocumented woman, is at the bottom of the hierarchy. Not only is she a woman that is openly queer, she is also carrying the burden of being “undocumented”. Women of the borderlands are forced to carry two degrading labels: their gender that makes them seem nothing more than a body and their “legal” status in this world. Many of these women only have two options due to their lack of English speaking abilities: either leave their homeland – or submit themselves to the constant objectification and oppression. According to Anzaldua, Mestizo culture was created by men because many of its traditions encourage women to become “subservient to males” (39). Although Coatlicue is a powerful Aztec figure, in a male-dominated society, she was still seen
Suaréz, Lucia M. “Julia Alvarez And The Anxiety Of Latina Representation.” Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism 5.1 (2004): 117-145. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 25 Mar.2014.