Feminism on the Border: Chicana Gender Politics and Literature

by Sonia Saldívar-Hull

In this bold contribution to contemporary feminist theory, Sonia Saldívar-Hull argues for a feminism that transcends national borders and ethnic identities. Grounding her work in an analysis of the novels and short stories of three Chicana writers--Gloria Anzaldúa, Sandra Cisneros, and Helena María Viramontes--Saldívar-Hull examines a range of Chicana feminist writing from several disciplines, which she collects under the term "feminism on the border." By comparing and defining literary and national borders, she presents the voices of these and other Chicana writers in order to show their connection to feminist literature and to women of color in the United States. This book provides one of the most comprehensive accounts of Chicana feminist writing available.

Saldívar-Hull draws on contemporary literary and post-colonial theory, as well as her own autobiography, or testimonio, to help her define "feminism on the border." Successfully uniting theory with lived social experience, she delineates many of the internal processes that must be acknowledged in order to access larger transnational and geopolitical literary movements. This book thus joins a body of scholarship within feminist theory, working at the intersection of identity politics and political praxis. Saldívar-Hull's close readings of Chicana literary texts are informed by a comparative and cross-cultural perspective that enables her to forge links to a geopolitical feminist literary movement that unites ethnic identity to global solidarity.

Genres: Nonfiction

230 pages, Paperback

First published April 9, 2000

Reviews

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book addresses the necessity of alternative discourses and methods towards feminist theory. Salvidar-Hull challenges mainstream feminism that was created by white, educated women using the texts of Gloria Anzuldua, Sandra Cisneros and Helena Maria Viramontes.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book as it brought the work of 2 of my favorite authors (Anzuldua & Cisneros) to discuss a subject that I've always been interested in and based much of my undergraduate work in. I found myself nodding and agreeing with much of what Saldivar-Hull discussed and how she presented "Border Feminism."

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in exploring Chicana politics and 'border feminism.'

[sdw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Salvidar-Hull identifies and examines examples from a literary practice she identifies as "Chicana Feminism on the Border." She combines close readings of texts like Anzaldua's Borderlands/La Frontera and Viramontes' Moths and Other Stories with commentary on and contributions to feminist theory.

If there is a clear arguement to be identified it would be that emergent Chicana literature reshapes feminist theory, as it theorizes the family, the female, and the border. Such texts are deserving of narrative analysis and contribute significantly to the intellectual discussions occurring in multiple fields across the academy.

[anique · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this smart challenge to the "institutional" feminism as created by white, educated women and accepted by the academy, Saldivar-Hull addresses the necessity of alternative discourses and methods towards feminist theory.