Gloria anzaldua ethnicity
biography
Image Source: http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/anzaldua.phpIn 1942, Gloria Anzaldúa was born in the Rio Grande Valley, a part of southern Texas near the border of Mexico. Her parents, Urbano and Amalia Anzaldúa, were ranchers and sharecroppers, so Gloria and her younger siblings grew up helping tend to the fields and raising chickens (Perry 20). She died at the age of 61 from diabetes-related complications, leaving her mark on feminist and queer identity theories and both Spanish and English literature (Off Our Backs 63).
Anzaldúa was first introduced to the English language in public school, where she also learned about and experienced racism. In "How to Tame a Wild Tongue," she recounts being punished for speaking Spanish during recess in primary school and later describes how she and other university Spanish-speakers were required to take two speech courses to get rid of their accent. She was told: "If you want to be American, speak 'American.' If you don't like it, go back to Mexico where you belong" (How to Tame- 2947).
Anzaldúa's language and ethnicity made her inferior not only in the eyes of her white American teachers and classmates, but even to her own culture. Her mother, Amalia, was mostly Aztec Indian, which was considered inferior by the Mexican community even though their genes "are 70 to 80% Indian," as Gloria points out (How to Tame- 2954). Members of her south Texas community usually called themselves Chicanos or Chicanas, signifying their American citizenship as well as their Mexican heritage. None but a few identified as mestizo, claiming both Mexican and Indian roots, as Gloria later did.
Sexism was another defining issue in Anzaldúa's life, one that became apparent in her home community. She was unhappy being hindered by normative gender stereotypes and found herself at odds with the expectations of her masculine-oriented culture. Women were meant to be seen, not heard, but Gloria wanted her voice, too.
As she found, Chicanos had many derogatory terms for women who gossiped, talked back, or spoke too much in general, but none were used for men. Anzaldúa realized early on that "language is a male discourse" which often erases female identity (How to Tame- 2948).
For example, the Spanish word for 'we' or 'us' is nosotros, a term which Chicanos used regardless of the gender of those present. When Gloria first heard two Spanish-speaking women use the term nosotras, she was shocked - even her own language had ways of silencing the experiences of women.
Feeling unwelcome in the white community for being Mexican, ostracized by her Mexican culture for being Indian, and later rejected for being a lesbian, Anzaldúa started exploring the struggles of questions of identity.
Anzaldúa was first introduced to the English language in public school, where she also learned about and experienced racism. In "How to Tame a Wild Tongue," she recounts being punished for speaking Spanish during recess in primary school and later describes how she and other university Spanish-speakers were required to take two speech courses to get rid of their accent. She was told: "If you want to be American, speak 'American.' If you don't like it, go back to Mexico where you belong" (How to Tame- 2947).
Anzaldúa's language and ethnicity made her inferior not only in the eyes of her white American teachers and classmates, but even to her own culture. Her mother, Amalia, was mostly Aztec Indian, which was considered inferior by the Mexican community even though their genes "are 70 to 80% Indian," as Gloria points out (How to Tame- 2954). Members of her south Texas community usually called themselves Chicanos or Chicanas, signifying their American citizenship as well as their Mexican heritage. None but a few identified as mestizo, claiming both Mexican and Indian roots, as Gloria later did.
Sexism was another defining issue in Anzaldúa's life, one that became apparent in her home community. She was unhappy being hindered by normative gender stereotypes and found herself at odds with the expectations of her masculine-oriented culture. Women were meant to be seen, not heard, but Gloria wanted her voice, too.
As she found, Chicanos had many derogatory terms for women who gossiped, talked back, or spoke too much in general, but none were used for men. Anzaldúa realized early on that "language is a male discourse" which often erases female identity (How to Tame- 2948).
For example, the Spanish word for 'we' or 'us' is nosotros, a term which Chicanos used regardless of the gender of those present. When Gloria first heard two Spanish-speaking women use the term nosotras, she was shocked - even her own language had ways of silencing the experiences of women.
Feeling unwelcome in the white community for being Mexican, ostracized by her Mexican culture for being Indian, and later rejected for being a lesbian, Anzaldúa started exploring the struggles of questions of identity.