´This Bridge Called My Back´: Chicana Life Writing - Einzelansicht

In this class we will trace the developments of Chicana writing. In its broadest sense the term designates texts produced in North America by Mexican-American female authors. As part of the biggest minority groups in the United States Chicana authors did not only have to find and articulate their own voice as racial Other but at the same time as women within a patriarchally defined community. We will therefore read the poems, novels, and short stories of authors such as Gloria Anzaldúa, Ana Castillo, Helena Maria Viramontes, Sandra Cisneros, and Cherry Moraga by focusing on the intersection of gender oppression with racial and class oppression. Furthermore the text will be placed in the context of autobiographical writing and gender theory.

Judith Butler Gender Trouble, Philippe Lejeune The Autobiographical Pact, Ana Castillo The Mixquiahuala Letters, Gloria Anzaldúa             Borderlands La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Sandra Cisneros The House on Mango Street, Helena Maria Viramontes The Moths and Other Stories, Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzáles “Yo Soy Joaquin”, La Chrisx “La Loca de la Raza Cosmica”

successful completion of Introduction to Literary Studies and Introduction to Cultural Studies