Conversations with ancestors: A theoretical analysis and interpretive application of Gloria Anzaldúa’s theory of la facultad

Conversations with Ancestors: A Theoretical Analysis and Interpretive Application of Gloria Anzaldúa’s Theory of La Facultad” is an archival analysis and theoretical application of Chicana queer feminist Gloria Anzaldúa’s lesser-known theory of la facultad. While Anzaldúa is heralded for her groundbreaking book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, her theory of la facultad is one of the less frequently studied theories within the book. This project seeks to deeply engage with Anzaldúa’s theory of la facultad in order to more fully understand her epistemology. By following the drafting and publication of Borderlands/La Frontera in The Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa Papers, a large archives devoted to Anzaldúa’s paper and ephemera, this study offers an archival analysis of Anzaldúa’s development of la facultad. This project details many unknown early components of this theory and details the conception of many of Anzaldúa’s better known theories such as mestiza consciousness. The dissertation then applies la facultad as a lens to evaluate and analyze two of Anzaldúa’s short stories, “El Paisano is a Bird of Good Omen” and “Reading LP.” The interdisciplinary nature of this dissertation seeks to contribute to the evolving field of Anzaldúan studies and to explore the rich theoretical framework Anzaldúa left as part of her legacy.