Interpreting Borderlands - The New Mestiza
Gloria Anzaldua's Work Examines Chicana and Tejana Culture in the US
“The US- Mexican border es una herida abierta where the Third World grates against the first and bleeds. And before a scab forms it hemorrhages again, the lifeblood of two worlds merging to form a third country, a border culture.” This quote is the essence of the book, Borderlands/La Frontera, The New Mestiza: Third Edition, by Gloria Anzaldua.
Written in 1987 (third edition in 2007), this autobiographical literary work is half narrative and half poetry. It is about the experience of the author, Gloria Anzaldua, growing up in the Borderlands of Texas and Mexico - physically, culturally, psychologically and spiritually. Anzaldua was a sixth-generation Tejana (Texan of Mexican descent), Chicana (American woman of Mexican descent) and also a Mestiza. Throughout the book, Anzaldua explores many facets of "Mestiza" - of being "caught between" a variety of oppositions such as black/white, gay/straight, right/wrong. Issues of language are also present themes.
History of the Borderlands
Anzaldua spends the first part of the book providing the reader with the history of the Borderlands, to better explain her complex cultural position and experience, which led to the racism and oppression she faced throughout her life. After the invasion of the Spaniards, a new race was formed from the joining of the Indians and the Spanish—the Chicanos. In the 1800s, modern day Texas was still a part of Mexico. Americans went into Texas illegally in great numbers and drove many of the natives out and/or committed horrendous crimes against them. Mexico was forced to wage war on the invaders, resulting in the Battle of the Alamo. According to Anzaldua, this was the beginning of Americans viewing Mexicans as “cowardly and villainous.”
Since the Mexicans lost the Battle of the Alamo and that land suddenly became part of the United States, the Mexican people that lived there for their entire lives were instantly foreigners. This increased during the Mexican-American war when the Texas border was pushed south an additional 100 miles. On February 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was signed to protect the 100,000 Mexicans that were now on the American side. The treaty ensured that the land that these people were living on would still be honored. This was not the case - quite the opposite - and restitution has never been made to this day. This is also the time that the first physical “border” was built between the two countries.
Where Does She Belong?
By the time Anzaldua was born in 1942, her family worked as sharecroppers on the Texan/Mexican border and moved around often to find work. Anzaldua’s father finally moved the family to Hargill, Texas, to have some stability for the children to stay in one school. One time, Anzaldua was sent to the corner of the classroom for “talking back” to the Anglo teacher when she was just trying to tell her how to pronounce her name. The teacher told her to “speak American” and if she didn’t like it that she could “go back to Mexico” where she belonged. These experiences set the stage for Anzaldua’s anger and frustration with her cultural position throughout her lifetime.
The Reader Experiences “Borderlands”
One of the ways that Anzaldua draws the reader into experiencing these frustrations is through her use of language, as about half of the book is written in Spanish. Anzaldua does this effectively by inserting Spanish words and phrases in seemingly random places. Sometimes it is just a word, other times it is a sentence and a few times this occurs for an entire page, both for the narrative and the poetry sections of the book. A non-Spanish speaking person is able to read and understand the book to a certain degree, but can somewhat understand the frustration that Anzaldua, and others living in the Borderlands must feel each day.
Anzaldua’s use of language also illustrates how someone that is strongly influenced by many cultures has trouble identifying with just one. In the Borderlands, regardless of the exact location, something called a “Border Tongue” usually develops by the people there who live in one country - in this instance the USA - where there is the primary language spoken, but that is not their native language. These people cannot identify with their native language fully either, and a hybrid language or “Border Tongue” emerges. Chicano Spanish was formed from this “Border Tongue,” by those living on the border needing to have a distinct identity between English and Spanish.
The New Mestiza
Due to the many Borderlands that exist for Anzaldua, she is able to create a term called “The New Mestiza” to describe an individual who is aware of his or her conflicting and meshing identities and uses insights based on his or her experience to challenge the typical binary (black vs white, right vs wrong) thinking. From this, a new word was created called mestizaje, which is a new state of being beyond binary oppositions, especially as it relates to academic writing and discussion. Anzaldua went on to write many other books and literary works on this topic to become a true pioneer in incorporating this kind of cultural understanding into the academic world.
The Alamo
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