Syncretisms: The New Mestiza
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Date
2019-05
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Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
I have written a creative thesis whose form and content explore a contemporary mestiza, or mixed, experience. My work is inspired by the writings of Gloria Anzaldúa, a mestiza woman like myself, whose essays and poetry enacted what she called the “mestiza consciousness.” This consciousness defines a mixed identity as a synthesis of experiences into a new culture, not a piecemeal mash-up of disparate identities’ components. “Soy un amasamiento”: “I am an act of kneading,” writes Anzaldúa in her seminal book Borderlands/La Frontera. Kneading is an act of uniting, but it is also an act brought about by physical force, the violence mestiza women experience from those within and without their communities. My project reclaims my mestiza identity while reckoning with the violence associated with it, as Anzaldúa’s writing did in the 1980’s.
My creative methodology emulates Anzaldúa’s mixed-genre approach with my own voice, interweaving short stories and essays. The short stories express narratives of trauma and joy that my essays reflect on personally and critically. I also experiment with destabilizing the short story form through fragmentation and blended points of view.
This project results in an anthology of interconnected short stories and essays reflecting on relationships that shaped my sense of identity, formed through moments of joy and trauma. The contents present a contemporary mestiza by syncretizing American and Mexican influences as my ancestors syncretized Spanish and Indigenous practices. The genre and form convey the collection’s goals by involving readers in an active interpretive process, just as mestiza women must constantly interpret their experiences in the face of inter- and intracommunity violence, including sexism, colonialism, and queerphobia. My project empathically humanizes Latina women’s experiences by giving outsiders an entry point to teach themselves. It also aids mestiza women who have survived trauma by promoting a literary community that relates our experiences. The American mixed-girl struggle is not one often seen in literature or in the classroom. By presenting my individual stories, I am asserting that our struggles deserve to be heard and healed.
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Keywords
creative writing, mestiza, creative nonfiction, fiction, feminism