Moving beyond “Borderlands”: Shifting towards new theoretical understandings of spiritual activism in Gloria E. Anzaldúa's children's literature

Date

5/30/2012

Authors

Ramirez, Susana

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Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Texas Woman's University

Abstract

In this thesis, I center spiritual activism to argue that Anzaldúa's thinking pushed beyond reductionist ways of understanding borderlands theory and possibly towards more inclusionary, relational worldviews rooted in spirituality. I focus more specifically on how Anzaldúa's post-Borderlands theories in her two published children's books can be read as manifestations of spiritual activism. By coupling Anzaldúa's children's books with her lesser-known theories, Anzaldúa offers theoretical and practical frameworks for enacting spiritual activism. Throughout my thesis, I treat each text separately in order to draw out specific theories, which it most closely embodies and enacts and how they contribute shifting understandings of spiritual activism. In the pedagogical spirit of the genre of children's literature, I anticipate educating readers about both Anzaldúa's post- Borderlands theories and raising awareness about the extensive breadth of Anzaldúa's writing through her children's literature.

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Keywords

Social sciences, Language, literature and linguistics, Children's literature, Friends from the other side, Gloria anzaldua, Nepantleras, Prietita y la llorona, Spirtual activism

Citation