Borderland Consciousness

Question 1

What is a “mestiza consciousness”?

Answer 1

Constant restlessness and uncertainty created by existing in the borderlands

Question 2

Why is a tolerance for ambiguity important for the mestiza consciousness?

Answer 2

Ideas cannot remain in borders, and mestiza aim to create a new consciousness by breaking down paradigms and creating a new mythos

Question 3

What is the corn analogy in the context of mestiza consciousness?

Answer 3

Corn, like the mestiza, is a product of cross-breeding, and mestiza are tightly wrapped in husks of culture. The corn kernels clinging to the cob represent the mestiza clinging to their roots and the earth.

Question 4

How is the mestiza struggle a feminist one?

Answer 4

Anglos hurt Chicanos, Chicanos hurt Chicanas → mestiza are harmed by both white supremacy and misogyny

Question 5

What is the role of queerness in the mestiza struggle?

Answer 5

Queers of color have always been at the forefront of every liberation struggle in the US

Question 6

Do the borderlands serve more as a consciousness or a physical space in La conciencia de mestiza?

Answer 6

Consciousness

Question 7

How does rigidity in categories serve as a form of oppression?

Answer 7

Anyone that exists outside of those categories (i.e. race, gender, gender expression, etc.) is oppressed

Question 8

What is la conciencia de la mestiza’s relationship to rigidity?

Answer 8

La conciencia de la mestiza rejects rigidity and embraces hybridity as liberation