I have a culture, I have a heart,

I
And no one can lAke Ilcm [jrom me' h
no nOI anyChicano"
bastard.]
And, Yes . . . The Earth Did Part Juanita Dominguez, Yo soy

On tlie Splitting of Chicanafo SUbjectivity 2

Lui week,
I had been white
· .. we were friends.
Yesterday,
I was Spanish
· .. we talked ...
once in a while.
Today
I am a Chicano
IDENTIFYING THE CHICANA SUBJECT{S);
POETIC EXCERPTS · .. you do not know me.

allowing excerpts, from poems written by Chicanas ofdifferent ages between Tomorrow,
Ite 19605 and the early 19805, all enlist forms of sdr-representation com. I rise to fighl
I found within Chicanafo discourse. l
and we are enemies. ""
·.. Margarita Virginia sanchez, Escape

Yo soy Chicano, tengo color 3

Americano pero con hollOT. Yo "O'f Chicana
Cuando me dicen que my revoIuci6n de las monUfus de Nucvo Mexico
DeflCndo mi raz.a con mucha valor. My skin is dark.. My hair black.

T engo mi 0rgu.llo, lengo mi re My heart cries for Rds LOpez Tijerina

Soy diferente. soy color care
T engo eullura. Itogo cor.u:6n
~~ ~~ exalted with the triumph of la huelga h "
Y no me los quira. a mi ni un cabrOn. Dorinda Moreno, "My Sons, My Daug ten
[I am a Chicano, browndinned,
4
an American but with honor.
When they tell me the revolution has Itarted,
I will defend my people with all my COurage. CHICANA

I have my pride. I have': my faith. date tu propio valor

I'm different, my skin is brown, eres III MUJER
til sola
 en tus orgasmos
en tus partos y poetic subjects above employ to define themselves and their constituencies. But
the excerpts also suggest that, aside from being rich in verbal expression, this
en tu muerte
sdf-descriptive Chicana language is also the site of violent and contradictOl)'
i'! en tu palabra?
positioning.;, which evoke contrary reactions, communicate a strategic struggle
and a relationship to power, enlist competing alliances, and discard identities as
haz 10 que tus hennaliOS well as assuming them.
Thus, all these Chicana poems record the passage of an empowered ethnic
CHICANA HERMANA MUJER subject from complacency to action, from social dislocation to political grounded-
ahara aClua por ness, and from individual oblivion to collective memory. TIley also illustrate that
Chicana identity is something to be discovered rather than passively inherited.
TI
Important differences do surf..ce, however, in the manner in which these Chicana
[.. poets author themselves into the cultural text. In poem I, "Yo soy Chicano," the
CHICANA speaking subject constructs herself through terms tmditionally used in the Chi-
cano movement, such as color, militancy, ethnic awareness, and cultural pride.
give yourself your own value In addition, she mark.~ the male gender by equating these features of Chicano
it is you woman identity with manliness.
In poem 2, written by a thirteen-year-old from California, self-identification is
yOll alone
achieved through the link made between 7thnic self-consciousness and the enunci·
in your orJ;:a~m~ atioll oftlw tcrm (.'l,;CI/fIlJ. Wilhin this cnntexl, "Chieano" illcorporatt;s a rejeclion
in your childbirths of external definitions, such as "white" or "Spanish," that would idelilify the
in your death Chicano as tbe "other." Identity is thus described as a space of self-creation and
and in your word? active struggle against preconceived ethnic modalities that are more acceptable to
the dominant culture.
Pocm 3 foregrounds cthnicity as a central calegory for Chicana and/or'group
do what your brolhers did identity. However, this excerpt offers a more elaborate construction, following the
pattern of Chicano identity set forth by artistic narratives such as HEI Plan
CHICANA SISTER WOMAN Espiritual de Azthin" and "I Am Joaquin," which construct the ethnic subject in
now act for relation to race, origin, language, culture, a historical legacy of conquest, a
YOURSELFJ political affiliation with La Causa and the socially dispossessed, and hannony with
Margarita Cota-Cardenas, "Manifestacion Tardia" (Lale Declaralion) the land and one's family.' A'l in these examples, the poetic subject distinguishes
herself from other ethnic groups: Spanish and Anglo. Yet she breaks with these
1£.ln the~r complet~ rendi~ions, these four poems foreground the identity of a classical models by identifying herself as both a Chicana and a daughter and by
se -con~IOUS, .speaking subject, appeal to mimetic modes of represent,llion offer inscribing not only gender and cthnicity but her own female body onto national-
~he ~t.lc subJcct a c~lIect~ve base and an ethnic identity, evoke cultural ~ride ism's largely male-centered narrative.·
Iliscn e a ~cw semantiC U1l1verse, and reaffirm the partnership between idcnt'ty' It is not until poem 4, however, that a new subjectivity is prefigured within the
~~~Ura~ld!SCot'Se, and pol~tical. struggle. 'Thus, the revolutionary impulse! of semantic universe of "Chicana," a universe which, the poet explains, narrates the
!can"fO cu tural p~ucll~n IS manifest: content as well as form must be Chicana's self-directed actions, life stages, and existential concerns and her rejec·
'ffidnsformed, re-created, I~Chlcanafo subjects are to speak with their own aCCents tion of all forms of ex.ternal subjection.
.\0 populate language With their own vernacular.2 Taken as a whole, these excerpts suggest that Chicana identity is not fixed
~e ~Iethora of :orms that Chicanas/os have invented to speak themselves in "once and for all." Instead, they propose that its axis, teffils of discourse, and
po~tlC dls:ours~ tes~lfies ,10 Ihe,ir creative and successful manipulation oflan a e. points of contention change in accordance with the ways in which Chicana
11us mampulatton IS evtdenl III the multiple forms of self-representation ~ ~e subjects arc positioned and, in turn, position themselves within the discourses of
history, culture, and society.' In addition, these JXletic voices-some identifying
 J\1'1U, 1'1'.::' •.• 11'11'. I'.I\KII'I UlU I'AK!

th~msel\'cs as Chicanas, others as Chicanos-' .

~df-repreS(:ntalion available '0 Ch" • b" mscnbc Ihe comp<:ling modes of htrsdf as a gendered subject (the implicit I), and exposes La Raza cultural
. Icalla su ~cclivit If h'
term CIIu:ona itself is a field fio' m 10" I I y. I IS were not enough the production as a "male" domain ("your walls''), Finally, she reminds us, as the
"
Ch lcane community) thai u t i . • U P e eu tural c '(j r.' •
n qUe! \lnslde and outside the Itgcndary poetJose Montoya once did, that "los they are us"-for TrujiUo, "los
r'dnic. Pocho Mexican Am ~I e SPreVl?USl y conferred identities: Anglo H;.- thry," the oppressors, are you, Chicano male. In lhis way, the Chicana speaking
encan panlSh d eh' , .....
J
suggests, the story of Chicanas/os
ot
han .
leane. As Norma AJarc6n mbjeet positions he~lf in a discursive space once reserved for los p«liJS tk/
elaborates, evt:n the term o,uom¥Q ":as" turned o~~ to ~ definitive; for, as she ~imlo and laundlcs her own "war ofpositions" on mac1UsmtJ and male privilege
cal an~ discursive sInIWe.'~ become a CntICa} Slle ofpolitical, ideologi. "ilhin "alternative" cultural productions,
QUIlt: a diffcrc:m picture emerges howeY(: h
excerpts from within the still wid ' d od r. w en ~ step back and read these
cultural-ideological aeslhelic. F=~~is c:: ~s of ~lIltural nationalism's preferred TO SPLIT AZTLAN: WRITING CHICANA SUBJECTIVITY
harmony and continuity 'mod fi. pe . peCIIVC, these excerpts forqtround r
And thus, nOllong after Tomas Rivera published his now classic ... no se fo lrag6
I st r.tgTnelllatlon a d r '
Iween competing idemitics a ,I d n. a ICnatJon. Differences be- ftJ lima,hi~ boy protagonist's greatest fear, that the earth would part,O has materi-
. IUS er.tse or COIll d d
Unlvcrsal Chicilno subiec! whO I . . alOe un er the influencc of a alized under the pens of not one but many Chicana poets. and cultural practition-
• " , IC I IS entrusted wuh '."
SOCIal conditionJI, In this "'on'" , proVlwng an antidote 10 th~ m. Yes, the earth (here understood as the symbolic rendition of Chicano/a
.... LX, a poem such "M''; ,
propoSC$ a new poetic unive~ fo Ch' as . am estaclOll Tardia," which subjectivity, Aztlan) has parted, and it has parted not once but twice-this second
of [; 'r. r Icanas can be read '
amI ar positions taken in th Ch" as a Simple outgrowth time self-consciously along gender lines that deconstruct sexism from within the
fb '. e leano movement- '
o rown. rruhtancy, thi! time a la Chicana as Just another example arena ofChicanajo cultural production itscl( With this parting, singular construc-
But thIS reading prod " " tions of idealized, homogeneous subjects. of Chicano political identity have gi~n
"f" uces tell5101U rather dlan I .
I Manifeslaci6n Tardia'" ,. gOSSIng over them ~ally way to a plurality ofcompeting identities, whose dilTerences are being consciously
. IS JXlS1l1oned ak>nSS'd ' - r -.....
ntJ1/U such as Sor Juana's much-loved "H I be coum~rp~rts: earlier manf!tskJ- marked within cultural discou~ in the tradition of many early Mujeres de la
contemporary mtlniftstlU:imus auth d om res NeClDS (Foolish Men)' or Raza,IO
celina Trujillo. who was ins 'red :re h by bol,d.spirited Chic.mas such as Mar. This essay examines the ideological formations that led to the splitting of
pI y t e MeXican muse and irreverenlly versed:
Chicana,'o subjectivity, focusing primarily on cultural productions of the 1970s
Your cuhur<: emanates and soon thereafter, in which Chicanas consciously disassociated themselves from
from Raza poslers all yOur walls male hegemonic constructions of group identity, This splitting of Chicana/o
subjectivity has taken place in two stages. In the first stage, Chicana subjects are
either displaced from group characterizations or mediated by systems of differen-
Chicanismo through osmosis
tiation that privileged male forms of identity and subjectivity. II In the second
stage, these fonm are either subverted or displaced by alternate definitiora, which
10 remind me: foreground Chicanas as individual speaking subjects and in group characteriza-
!hal machi-machi-machismo tions; entrust them with their own self-definitiora and subject positiora; and
is pan or OUr culture,' combat male-oriented figurations of Chicanas,l!
In the contemporary ~riod, this second type ofself-definition has increasingly
Once allowed to surface the," " given ~ to substitutions for the word C'liumo-namely, ChUll1UU and Chuanos,
ex lad ' enslons comamed' th '
P e, creating discordant notes d red' _ In e nationalist reading C1Iicatwja, or ChictJJW/o. 'The markers 0/12, a/o announce the end of the nongendered
self-definition, to be spoken not b a~ b IfCClIng us toward a new fonn of
n:m
a u~ by SOme of us: ttl (you); the generic
Mexican American subject of cultural and political identity; they reinscribe the
Chicana, La. Mujer (woman)' or
inscrihed as wcll by Trujillo'S' ;a
(SISter), ~>ther types of intervclllion arc
unthinkable from the perspec::mj. ere tIl(: ChIcana speaking subject docs the
Chicana presence, which had been subsumed under the universal ethnic denomi-
nation Chicano, However, there are differences inscribed within these markers,
co Uf'Se, She subverts the authon",",'0 ConVentions populo.lOze ' db " Whereas Chicarw/a consciously reinstates the Chicana subject within the ethnic
y natIOnalist dis_ discourse of Chicano, OticaTUJ/o privileges the female subject within group charac·
I I " Ive movement d' h'
~~ tura legacy equally representative of all Ch' ISCOU~, w tch posits a shared terizations Ihat mark distinctions, giving the Chicana her own independent trajec-
l$placement from Chicano cultural _-, . I~anos, Further, she names her tory as well as a collective one. Yet both ChicanaJo and Chicano/a are different from
Pi UUUCtlon {I,e., La Raz a """"'t
f""~~
)"d "fi
, I entl les
earlier forms of sclf-dellnition in Chicano discourse, because those who use these

oq>resslons are deliberately imposin~ their own selcctiVt; proces.'IC$ onto the cul-
tural subject being rt;presented. 11ms, they subvert the silences that have marked
nationalism's cloaked splitting of Chicanafo subjectivity under the imagt; of the
Chic;l.Ilo malt;-the essential subject for group identity.
The splitting of Chicanafo subjectivity along th~ dimensions has an added
social function. This configuration purports to emphasize tht; panicular social
distinctions that have promoted Chicana int:quality in society, following the same
type of logic that Cannen Tafolla enlist5 when asked "Why look at Chicanos
St;parately from Anglos, women separately from mOl, and now,to funher compli-
cate it all, at Chicanas as a separate group?" Tafolla's reply: "It is not we who
separate people off into groups-our society has already done ihat for us.... If
it were not for the different treatment of ethnic and sex groups in our country,
there would be no need for one book to be written about the Chicana, or about
the Anglo, or about the Black.""
For Tafolla as for other contemporary cultural critics, visualizing the distinc-
tions between Chicanas and Chicanos, and Chicanas/os and other groups, allows
readers to encounter an oppressive differentiallreatment of Chicana women and
to equalize cultural discourse by highlighting the panicularities of the exchldcd
element: Chicanas. However, Tafolla's rationale is also important because it
responds to the question: Who split the Chicano subject? This question was
routinely posed by authoritative discourses that faulted Chicanas for dividing and
splitting the Chicano moV(';ment when they sought to foment Chicana-eentertd
discourses and practices of resistance. While Tafolla does in fact call for a Chicana
rq>rtSt;ntation, thus splitting the Chicana subject away from a purponedly undif·
ferentiated fold, her purpose is not to subvert or divide the movement but , rather,
to combat exclusion. Ultimately, her aim is to incorporate Chicanas into cultural
discounes that mark their distinctions as women as well as their similarities with
Chicanas/os at large. However, quite another scenario emerges with the predomi-
nant male-centered authoritative discourses, which promised to include Chicanas
in the cultural record of the practices of ethnic resistance if they acapted their
exclusion as female subjects and dwelled only on their ethnic similarities with
Chicano males. Along with nationalism's 5elf-deceptiV('; mirror, which promised
Chicana women a transparent reflection of thcJllS(':lves through the imago of
others, th~ promises rarely materialized.
Round Ont: RnuMn's Maniful Chicano
The best example of th~ types of male-centered discourses of exclusion can be
~ound in Arm~do Rendon's Chicano Manifuto, published in 1971. In his descrip-
tion of the Chlcanafo revolt, Rendon polarizes the forces of contention into the
mutually exclusive categories of nwlti.rmo (male) and malinehismD (female).
Whe~as, for RendOn, the former is synonymous with revolutionary struggle,
commitment, and progress, the latter is synonymous with retrocession, betrayal,
___________~,..._.~.,~.~,_,_,,~.~.=''' .........., "'"' i l\"I':'~'- - - -
and conflUC'lI. By his pl.:n, (Chicana) female malindlts arc in errl:ct h;Ulishecl from
the political movement itself, cast over to the other side with the heinous Tio
Tacos (Chicano Uncle Toms) and Anglo oppressors. But female belrayal is much
worse than the male ve~ion, since ml1/indld betray not only a political principle
but male dignity and manhood as well. to Ultimately, for Rendon, (Chicanas)
maliflf:hts obstnlct social pro~, collective identity, and reconciliation with one-
self, the f:-tmily, and thc nation.
Rendon's objectification of political forces in the categories of rr"unismo and
mohllchismo at no point escapes its gOldered focus. As he hiJllS(':lf confessed after
describing the Chicano revolt: "It may seem that when reference is made to
Chicano activism, the emphasis is on the masculine alone. That tendency is
mainly attributable to my being macho (male) and naturally viewing the Chicano
revolt as a male-dominated phenomenon."" Since madtb is not only male but a
specific Chicano male (Rendon), it follows that mahncht is also a panicular
Chicana female, who remains gcneric in his essay. Rendon also associates
Chicano male with macho and the purponedly generic Chicano. And he implies
that if Chicanas (mQlindw) want to be Chicano (the generic term) and light
oppression, they have 10 embrace Chicano manhood as a political and personal
objective. He explains: "The essence of machismo, of being macho, is as much
a symbolic principle for the Chicano revolt as it is a guideline for family life.
... Macho, in other words, can no longer relate merel}' to manhood but must
relate to nationhood as well. ... The word Chicano in many ways embodies the
revolt itself."'1
Following Foucault's logic. it could Ix: said that Rend6n SC:t5 into motion a
system of gender differentiation designed !O maintain a fonn of (male) power-
patriarchy, which "subjugates" the Chicana by "imposing a law of lnuh" upon
her (machirmo) and by making her subject to $Omeont; else (Chicano males) "by
control and/or dependence."11 Thus, Chicana subjectivity, as elaborated in Ren-
dOn's Chicano Manifuto, is equivalent to subjection: Chicano. 'I Howevc:r, even with
his devastating ponrait of Chicanas and Malintzin Tencpal (Cones's mistress),
Rendon could not alter the onslaught of Chicana activism. As he admitted upon
paying lip servia to the contradictions in his text and to the vinues of some
Chicanas, Chicanas weren't ready to take a back scat to anyone. And many of
them didn't: they contested their negative figuration in stories of madw liberation
and manifest Chicanos by creating their own productions of cultural and political
stnlggle.
Round Two: RtdQiming the Chuana Subjut
Given Ihe ideological constraints that Chicanas faced, reclaiming a subject posi-
tion meant parting with male-ce.ntered ethnic qualifiers that inscribed Chicana
subjection; relocating Chicanas within Azt1:in, the political struggle, and national-
ist discourse; transforming Malinche into Malintzin;" rejecting the unequal and

divisive practices of st;xism in the struggle against domination; textualizing
Chicana militancy; visualizing the experiences of Chicana women in mainstream
Anglo-Saxon and alternative feminist discourses; contesting Chicano male domi-
nance at home and at work; and providing Chicana perspectives as a means of
evoking cultural pride among all people-particularly Chicanas. In brief, inter-
vening into ChicanaJo subjectivity within the context of the prevailing discourses
of exclusion necessarily meant reconnecting Chicanas to themselves, to each
other, and to others.
Many Chicanas boldly accepted this challenge,20 changing the word CilKcmO to
OKana in order to define themselves, assuming the most progressive elements of
Chiul1llJ, and giving Chicana/o subjectivity a female body and condition. But these
Chicanas not only changed the word; they literally changed the subject, populat-
ing culture with Chicanas, often replacing the discourses of tamalismo and com-
padres (brotherhood and brothers) with the discourses of feminismo and ctmlodru
(sisterhood and sisters), and problematizing the domain offeminism itself. I' Most
important, they alter«l the subject position of Chicanas in cullural productions,
taking them from subjection to subjectivity, from entrapment to liberation, and
from distortion and/or censurt: to self·awareness and defrnition. rz
In order to do all this, they enlisted more complex modes of representation,
which could better accommodate multiple subjects, competing discourses, and
contrary self-images. While it would be a mistake to attribute this type of opposi-
tional stance to all Chicanas or Chicana cultural productions, these features were
commonly found in the works of many Chicana cultural practitioners from the
early 19705 onward. Chicanas such as Yolanda L6pcz, Ana Nieto-Gomez,
Dorinda Moreno, and Bernice Zamora-whose work will be examined in the
following sections-altered Chicano cultural production by interrogating, modi-
fying, and displacing images of Chicana subjects from within different practices
of resistance and ideological and cultural fonnations."
IMAGING THE SPLIT CHICANA SUBJECT;
LOPEZ'S (FALLEN) GUADALUPE
To date, one of the best and most controversial Chicana artists is Yolanda Upez.
The foree of LOpcz's artistic production arises from her successful and repeated
modification of traditional ponraits of Chicanas/Mexicanas. Her most renowned
work is contained in the $em Guadalupe (Guadalupe series).lt As could be expected,
the target here is the stoic Christian Guadalupe, who in LOpez's practice is
frequently displaced by moclern-day Chicanas in motion: militant Chicanas,
fun-loving Chicanas dressed in shoru for summer, hard-working Chicana moth-
ers breast-feeding their babes, and warm Chicana daughters and grandmothers
openly expressing their aJfeetion for one another in joyful embraces. b Unlike the
original Guadalupe, who first images henelftoJuan Diego and the church, LOpez
reimages Guadalupe for contemporary Chicanas/Mexicanas seeking liberation
"NU, n:s ... TH1=: 1=:ARTH DID PART
from oppressive male-oriented images ofC~icana women and from the debilitat-
ing influences of social institutions and beliefs. . .. .
Perhaps the best example ofUpez's splitting ofChl.c~na/o subjectiVity can be
found in a work depicting a fallen portrait of the tradi~o~al Guadalu~ ~gure
3.1).1'5 As normally occurs in the work of LOpez, the ~~uc border (thIS time ~n
indigenous rim that serves as the internal frame) enclfchng ~~adalupe remalOS
intact. However, the privileged space reserved for the tradiuonal Guadalupe
image is intentionally subverted, virtually left blank in the ce~ter of ~he page,
where the eyes of the well-trained Chicano/Latino p~blic.fix their ~e m confir-
mation of the image of the Christian Virgin. Attention IS drawn Instead to the
right, to a contemporary Chicana who jogs away toward the :orner of ~he
external frame, and to the left, to a moclern-day Guadalupe .feedin~ he~ child,
located halfway outside of the Guadalupe border. And as a Sign of Its dISplace-
ment the traditional image of Guadalupe appears at the bottom of the external
•
frame. .
'I1ms, LOpez's artistic text is literally.split between. twO ?hlcana doubles: one
sct consisting of the young Chicana and her duplicate ~mage; ~e other set
oonsistingofdisparate Guadalupes-theuniversally recognizable Vtrge~ a~d the
lifelike modem Guadalupe, dressed partly in the robe of ~he Blessed Vugm and
partly in street dothes. The contrasting vertic~1 and hon~ntal ~ovements as-
sociated with these artistic subjects militate agamst the stauc quahty and closure
of the traditional Guadalupe portrait, and they chart new passages away ~ro~ the
immortal, supernatural past and toward the Chicana'.s.worldly ~resent. SI~larly,
the multiplication of Chicana subjects by ~o~bles mlht~tes agau~t the e~l~tence
of a singular univenal woman, imaged Wlthin the Chlcano/Launo "?"dl.non of
North America as the rrwtka Christian mother. LOpez also contests thIS s~ngular
woman by deliberately counterposing the eternal Virgin with twO very different
types of ChicanasfMexicanas: a mother and a young Chicana, both of who~ are
consciously embodied. That is, their physical attrihutes art: foregrounded ~n .the
text not hidden as the cloaked Virgin's are. And L6pez draws important disbn~.
tion~ between these Chicana subjects, not only in their embodiment but ~so m
their divergent activities and social attitudes. Thus, while one of these Chl~ana
subjects assumes the role of motherh~, ~d h~r ~iation ~~ the samtly
Guadalupe is marked by her posture, limlted IOseruon mto the pnVlleged Guada-
lupe space, and support by the familiar roses, the other runs away from ~he
Guadalupe portrait, divested of traditional imagery, unfettert:d by robe. or .child,
physical or emotional stagnation, or artifieial roses, perhaps toward a third Image
of the Chicana, yet to be constructed within another te~tual border: .
By relegating the notably artificial, statuesq~e portral~ ~f the Chlca~a/Mexl­
cana Virgen to the bottom of the page, LOpez d,~a~ thiS Image as a ~able one
for contemporary Chicanas/Mexicanas, and she Invlles.the.refo~ulanon and/or
displacement of this rt:ified female icon by new images, msplrtd III everyday ,:o~k
and play. Liberation from further subjection is inscribed in many forms W1thm
 al.V' Co .... n"' .. "'''''' ur"";'l~ r. ...:>r.:>11\1'1
.... ~, .•. ~ " ~ .•.• ,,~ n.

. LOpez\ fallen Guadalupe: in the rejection of images that promote submission of

Chicanas to existing power relations through the diffusion of universal "female"
tmths; in the lifelike images of Chicanas; and, finally, in the empty spaces, which
provide an opening for future constructions of Chicanas that can assist in their
r self-knowledge.
While LOpez successfully redefines one of the most traditional images of the
ChicanafMexicana, thus redefining ChicanasfMexicanas themselves, she does not
IMe sight of the tensions that frame Chicana subjectivity in real life. In fact, she
invites these competing images into her text at the same time that she invites her
Chicana spectators outside, to contemplate their own self-images and the degree
lowhich her reformulation of the Guadalupe image approaches theirs. LOpez also
involves her viewing public in a series of intertextual dialogues wilh other tradi-
tional variants of Guadalupe in Chicano cullUral productions-variants such as
"1..;1 Familia de la Raza" (the Chicano Holy Family), "L"lJefita," "I AmJoaquin,"
or RIm Me, Ultima, all of which reify Chicana subjects, extolling the virtues
associated with motherhood. Z1 With this dialogue, LOpez underscores the limited
anistic images available to Chicana subjecl~, and she extends her cultural critique
to a wider range of cultural productions, interfacing as well with other Chicana
texts that offer alternative visions ofChieana subjeel~. Thus, L6pez's new Chicana
subjects exist tensely on the border between tradition and modernity.

CHANGING THE SUBJECT(S): THE COUNTER

DISCOURSES OF CHICANA FEMINIST WRITINGS
The dialogical quality featured in LOpez's work is not unique to her particular
brand of cultural production. It is commonly found in the works ofother Chicana
cultural practitioners, whose entrance into textual representation is marked by the
appeardnce of a wide range of counter discourses. At their best, these counter
discourses populate language with the interests and vernacular of Chicanas,
subordinated within the cultural conversations of race, class, and gender oppres-
sion. The bold-spirited nature of this revisionist movement is best illustrated by
the Chicana feminist writings of the early 1970s, which denounced the contradic-
tions of the Chicano political movement and sang the virtues of La Mujer and the
heroines of La ColUsa. Unlike early Chicano movement discourses, which privi-
leged issues of general interest to the group, these Chicana feminist discourses
reinscribed the condjlion ofChicanas onto the political text.'lII Ana Nieto-Gamez's
"La Chicana," a political article written at a time when strenuous efforts were
Figure 3.1. Yolanda LO~z, from &rU Guadalupe, 1978. being made to integrate Chicanas into the curriculum, provides an illustration of
these early Chicana feminist counter discourses. 2lI
In this essay, Nieto-Gomez proposes that Chicana feminism "is the recognition
that women are oppressed as a group and are exploited as pari ofla raza people"
under the imperatives of a racist capitalist system. While foregrounding her
discussion of the particular nature of Chicana oppression within the parameters

of the group, she :uso emphasizes that proponents orreminism should identify and
act upon the needs of Chicana women-needs such as "child care reproduction.
economic stability, welfare rights, forced sterilization and prostitution." Nonethe.
less, she qualifies this statement by adding that "all interests must be eradicated,"
including female interests. Thus, she draws a clear distinction between her brand
ofChicana feminism and mainstream variants, which would be content to substi.
tute male oppressors with female ones.
With her particular construction of Chic,uL1. feminism, Nieto-G6me-L deliber-
ately and successfully contairn the male-centercd discourse on Chicano oppm-
sion, formulated in response to an unwarranted fear of Chicana activism. As
previously suggested, these types of discourses onen accuscd Chicanas of dividing
the Chicano movement and of aligning themselves with mairntream feminists,
who allegedly planed to rt:instate even mort: oppressive regimes. In tum, Nieto-
Gomez's counter discoune challenb'eS each ofthesc assumptions and provid" a
more equitable representation of male and female interests. And she avoids the
closure of Chicano movement discourse, soliciting feedback from a mixed public
and calling for a more integrated approach, which addresses the very colllradic-
tions that have separated Chicana women from Chicano males. Finally, like many
of her contemporaries, she argues that this approach, ifit is to be successful, must
aim toward transforming the entire f.1.bric of social relationships.
Nieto-G6mez's refonnulation of Chicano movement narratives shares man)'
affinities with LOpe-L's Guadalupe. The fallen Guadalupe images new interpreta.
tions of Chicana subjects; "La Mujer" offers Chicanu new subject positions
within political discourse and practice. The fallen Guadalupe invites more com.
plex forms of artistic representation of Chicana subjects; "La Mujer" invites a
more complex undemanding of the nature of Chicana,lo oppression. The fallen
Guadalupe counters competing male and female narralives of Guadalupe; Nieto.
Gomez's lext counters the narratives of Chicano nationalism with those of
Chicana feminism. I-inally, the Guadalupe portrait inviles its spectators to reflect
critically on the unsuitability of the traditional Christian Guadalupe for represent.
ing contemporary Chicana subjects, while the essay "La Mluer" challenges its
readers to reflect on the limitations of early Chicano movement discounes for
representing the interests of Chicanas in the political arena. Together, these
Chicana texts successfully countered the male-centerecl nationalist text, which
frequently laced its exclusion of active Chicana subjects with idealized archetypes
that were of little value in the political struggle for self-affirmation.
Yet liberating Chicanas from their subjection entailed much more than refig.
uring their images and condition within contemporary cultural and political
discourse. A step had to be taken toward Chicana activism. That is, discourses of
liberation had to be formulated-discoufSCs that championed Chicana militancy,
consciousness, and sc.lf-empowennent. Clear distinctions had to be made between
these discounes of liberation and the authoritative discourses of Ihe Chicano
""u. ,.·•., ... ' n " r,/'Klll lJlLlI"I\KI
movement, which favored male models of resistance (Che, Villa, and Zapata, for
instance) and were often contextualized by the exploitation of Chicanas at home
and at work.'" Once again, poetry furnished a useful medium for imagining a new
type of Mujer de la Raza, a Mujer who could lead her people into liberation,
lextualize the passa~ to militancy through a new artistic sc.nsibility, and raise
awareness about her unique burden through her own counter discour5Cs of
Chicana,lo liberation.
LIBERATING THE SUBJECT:
SHOUT OUT, MUJER DE LA RAZA
The passage to Chicana militancy is best captured in Dorinda Moreno's
"Mujer de 1.1. Raza."" Here Moreno urges the Mujercs de la Raza to "shout
out" the an~r in their souls as wdl as lheir newly found freedoms, and she
predicts that today the Mujer de 1.1. Raza will "nullify her past subserviency,"
"activate her convictions," and "organize her liberation," "forging the direction
for tomorrow." Yet her affinnation of collective liberation is but the culmina·
tion of a poetic reflection that documents the many facets of Raza women's
pas5.1.ge to militancy: recognition of their oppression; denunciation of the pain
and wrongs endured; faith in the transformative potential and leadership of
Raza women; protest against oppression through political discourse and con·
sciousness raising; and, finally, a call to action and involvement in the business
of transforming the future.
The unyielding power of the Chicana's consciousness enables her to pass from
one state of being, where she is "caged" in society's "concretejungles," to another
state, whcre she is outside its grip. According to the poetic subject, this conscious-
ness kindles not only militancy (the renunciation of wrongs endured and the
rejection of unfulfUled promises) but also a contagious appreciation for liberation
ofall subje<:ts. Economic and social oppression, mental and urban ghettos-aIl of
which have bttn nourished by the larger social order-are not, however, the only
evils to be countered with this newly discovcred Raza women's consciousness.
This consciousness is also to be enlisted against the "false pride" of Raza men,
who "wrongfully" believe that the place of Raza women is "only in the home."
The antidote to the Raza women's triple oppression is thus to be found in their
"spectacular awareness" and "perceptive insights." TIle power of their conscious-
ness is so great that it can alter all aspects oftheir existence and can influence those
who are exposed to it, regardless of ~nde.r or place of origin. By likening Raza
wornen's consciousness to a tropical stonn, Moreno captures its explosive. poten-
tial:
Our ideas lik.e thunder
ovenake our lives
 like lightllillg across the skies
~achillg minds opclling t:yr:s."
Because this political consciousness can transfonn the consciousness ofothcrs
Moreno concludes that Raza women and men will prevail in their united struggl~
against the multiple forms of Chicana subjection. In retrospect, Moreno's formu-
las for liberation may !Ccm extremcly naive, particularly to contemporary
Mujeres de la Raza, who have militated in the presence of less than sympathetic
Chicano cohorts. Nonetheless, Moreno is aware that much groundwork must bt
laid for building the consciousness of ~ Mujer. For MOn':no, this type of dJOo
demands not only militancy but the purposeful cn':ation of a liberating discourse;
thus, "rdlective change" can come about only ifRaza women "SHOlfr OUT"
the deep-seated rcsemment in their souls about the conditions that have subor-
dinated them and depleted their energies. Such a political discourse, once framed
in the cxperiences of Raza women, will, according to Moreno, then provide the
base necessary for "activating" their conviction and "organizing" their liberation
through strategic ventures that will enable them to meet the challenge of the day
and forge the din:ction of tomorrow.
Although Moreno's poem ends by appealing to the collective nature of her
tnterpnse-that is, the participation of Raza men-it is clear that dlt primary
struggle of eonsciousntss building and organization of Chicllllas lies in the hands
of the Mujer de la Raza herself; for it is she who must confront the anger and
hostility that have ensued from h(~r exploitation, just as she must savor the
heart~throbbing euphoria evoked by her own self-styled amiD Y 1.,"10 de libmuwn
(song and cry of libcrlltion)_"" And it is she who must extend her testimony and
message of social refonn to Ihose who surround her. Finally, it is the Chicana
subj«t who, in Moreno's poem, brtaks OUI ofthe jail cdls ofcconomic, racial, and
gender oppression, a.\Sisted by the "brolherly" SU!)!Xlrt Ihat i., optimistic.'llly en.
listed in such an endeavor. It goes without -S..'lying that Mureno's all-inclusivc
brand of Raza women's feminism is om attempt to involve Chicano males in the
unique struggles of Chicanas-a st"l\eb'Y no doubt enlisted as a deterrent [0 the
continued suhjugation of Chicanas in the household, the factories, thc fields, and
the. Chicano movement. Yet (h~ tensions cOluinue to surf.'lce in the poem,
which, afler all, foregrounds Chic.'l1lO1 women's strugglc:s and experiences and does
not mention the Chicano male sulJjC1:t until the final V(:no, where a courst: of
action for the futun: is oudined.
Re-imaging llil Fnnak Gn'lo (SeTlam) lhrough Art
These tellSions arc also roregrounded from another perspective in an iIIuslration
acc~mpallying Moreno's poem. In this anonymous black-and-white sketch, the
~uJtr de la Raza's passage to Iiberalion is depicted in three scenes that progres-
SIvely document her n':lease from a jail cell containing the multiple a~nts and
facets of oppression (Figure 3.2).M Unlike the poetic version of this narrative of
Chicana liberation, tht flf'St scene of the triptych captures the subordination of the
~'Iujer de la Rna in society by focusing on her entrapment in lhe concn:tc jungles
ofurban life, where she is accompanied by husband and daughter." In this scene,
she is a victim of her eircumstance, a spectator who caresses the bars of her cell
and assumes the posture and appearance of a passive woman. As a sign of her
complacency, her lips arc sealed, and she hides behind her man and her daughter,
who are also subjected to society's concrete jungles.
Scene two, which marks a dramatic change in the composure and the physical
appearance of the Mujtr de la Rna, iUu.~trates the crucial passage to Chicana
consciousncu. It is significant that in this scene the Mujer de la Raz.a is presented
alone, her figure magnified to fill the enlin': artistic space of th~ center of the
triptych, from where she shouts the anger in her soul, the resentment at her
condition. Here she has shcd the braids and th~ maidenly bun of the Spanish
scnorila, and her mouth is open wide, her hair free. This Mujer is dcarly reminis~
cent of the "Militant Chicana," who was widely featured in movement publica-
tions that dther captured her alone or placed her in front of ~dy Liberty. "Ibt
now fragmented urban structure, which fonnerly had caged her and her family
in dilapidated housing projects, is cast offinto the background: it no longtr towers
over the family's portrait but is lodg~d in her wild tresses, confined to her memory.
In marked contrast stands the artistic rendition of a spectacular Chicana mili-
tancy, guaranteed (as Mor~no had predicted) "to reach minds and open eyes."
Thc power of its rage is channeled through the fil,"I.lre of a Chicana who assumes
the features of an enraged animal and will not be deterred in her quest for
freedom.
In scelle Ihree, Ihe Mujerde la Raza begins her escapt: from the prison ccllihat
continues to ~Ilgulf her husband, now reinstated in the background, behind the
Figu~ 3.2. I~ne del Rosario, M'!i" de ItJ ibl..{a, c. 1975.

ban, aJonWiide her enlarged face. Here an end to entn.pment is preftgUred: the
head ofthe Mujer de Ia Rau, who has shouted out, aJready protrudes outside the
ban, aJthough her body is still tn.pped imide. The full and successful liberation
of the Mujer de Ia Raza is reflected in the figure of the other Mujer de la Raza,
perhaps the daughter, who appears in miniature at the bottom right of the scene.
With her mouth opened in protest, and fist clenched in defiance, she leads the
other Mujer (perhaps her mother) out of incarceration. The male remaim in the
background, not at the side of the Mujer, as Moreno had initially proposed. He
neither obslnlct5 nor aids the process ofliberation, while the Chicana figure. who
is prominently displayed in the center of the portrait, provides the impetus and
the support for this transition from oppression to liberation. Her opened mouth,
which is duplicated in the face of the Mujer de la Raza in scene two and in the
face of the Mujer who has escaped incarceration, provides the necessary discourse
for consciousness raising. Her long, disheveled hair, which envelops scenes one
and thrtt, sustains the human figure! in these scenes, providing the bridge from
subjugation to liberation.
It is significant that the Chicana who has made her way out of the cell, marking
me p~age to liberation, continues to display the f."1rmworker's eagle on her chest;
thus, In her person, the struggle against economic, racial, and gender oppression
is fused at the symbolic level in the female body. Even with this fusion, the artist
of this tripytch appears to suggest that escape from incarceration is an arduous
process requiring a painful struggle with multiple antagonists as well as a support-
ive network. Perhaps that is why the artist chose 10 privilege the process leading
up to liberation (as represented by the figures who are still partially entrapped in
the cell) rather than its end product: the young Chicana who has escaped bond-
age. B~ p~vileging the process by which the Chicana is liberated (her militancy
and reJe<:tlon of social and domestic oppression) with an expansive spatial repre-
sentation, the artist echoes Moreno's message that liberation will require various
stages of political consciousness and activism on many fronts. However, here as
well the seeds of liberation are to be found in the Chicana's own analytical and
verbal capabilities. She must "SHOUT OUT" her condition if liberation is to be
achieved, fusing the symbolism of her struggle Wilh that of her people.
CDmhoting &xUm: Rtj"mnng ''Nota.ftum a Chicana Cool"
In contnUt 10 "Mujel"(:s de la Raza," which textuaJizC5 the passage to Chicana
militancy through consciousneu raising ...ilhout giving much attention to the
internal contradictions of the Chicano movement's ideology, "Notes from a
Chicana Coed" by Bernice Zamora foregrounds these contradictions, drawing
attention to movement discourses that were preoccupied with issues of racial
oppression." Through the demystifying critique of a bold-spirited Chicana coed,
Zamora deconstruct! these largely nationalist analyses, which targeted the gahtulw
..... , ......
(the Anglo) as the sole agent of Chicano/a oppression. In her scathing and ironic
critique of the movement's reductionism, she juxtaposes the nationalistic dis-
course ofa eamaJ (male) with that of his Chicana mate, who is beginning to display
a feminist consciousness. Whereas his discourse is marked by abstract expressions
of national oppression, hers is marked by her own female testimonial of concrete,
lived experiences of gender oppression. However, her/story prevails as the domi-
nant one. She questions his boisterous yet rhetorical commitment to their "collec-
tive" liberation from a "foreign" enemy; and she repudiates the universal truths
U'aIWTlilled through authoritative movement discourses, which proposed that as
Chicanos we "al"(: oppressed first because ... our skin is dark," and "we al"(:
exploited as workers by a system which feeds like a vulture off the work of our
people, "" without attending to gender.
By naming her ,amtJfs (brother's) privilege-his three gahadla guisas (white
girlfriends), use of his wife's free intellectual labor, and failure to provide for his
family-Zamora foregrounds Chicanas' issues within movement discourses in
much the same way that her contemporaries, such as Enriqueta Vasquez, did in
the face of denial, censure, and opposition on the part of many Sl::gments of the
Chicano community. As Vasquez explflined: "When she [the Chicana] tries ~o
speak of Machismo, she is immediately put down and told 'We know about It.
.. .' She receives nothing but censorship again. She tries hard to say, 'Yes, there
is much on Machismo, but can't you Machos lock at the women and children who
are the victims of your Machismo?' She tries so much to speak up and instead
finds herself speaking to deaf cars and a completely dosed mind.""
Zamora I"(:enacts this type of discursive encounter with a "dosed-minded
male" in order to make him see "the victims of his machismo." Shc also reminds
her readers, as Vasquez did e,lrlier, that "When we talk of equality in the
Mexican-American movement, we better be talking about TOTAL equality,
beginning right where it all starts, At Home. lIft 11ms, tlle Chicana subject obliges
her ctmUJi to see himSl::lf as an agent of oppression. More important, her active
participation in this discourse serves as testimony to the fact that Chicanas
themselves must lead the way toward educating others about their condition as
it is represented in the politicallif~ of the community and at home. "Notes from
a Chicana Coed" in fact exemplifies this type of consciousness raising as its
speaking subject instructs the Chicano male about the theoretical and practical
contradictions of"Chicano heavies," who promoted exploitation ofwomen in the
household while enjoying Sl::xuaJ privileges and leadership positions outside the
home. The political lesson encapsulated within these notes is scathing. The CQ1JlQfs
repetitive assertion that "the gabacho is oppressing us" is countered with the
young poet's sarcastic assertion:
Dye carnal, you may as well
teU me thaI the mOOtl water

cura constipation
that penguin soup prevents crudas
or that the Arctic Ocean is menudo. to
Thill ddianl answt:r, which c10res the poem, undencort:s the fact that there is
no turning back to racial utopias which polarize the forces of opprcssion along
ethnic lines and create fictitious narratives of domestic bliss wilh the concept of
a male-centered familialism. The spt:aking subject also invites the very real possi.
bility that other young Chicana coeds will refuse to be brdinwashcd or intimidatt:d
into believing rhcwrical statemenu that run counter to their own interesl$ and
have no concrete expression in their daily lives. The poem ends in a stalemate
between nationalist and feminist discourses, with no inkling ofthe male's response
to this second alternative discourse on Chicana/o oppression. Yet, like the other
cultural texts examined in this essay, "Notes frvm a Chicana Coed" skillfully
weaves together the competing tensions that It:d to Chicana-centered cultural
productions. Like these tt:xts, "Notes" marks a definitive break with the Chicano
discourses of exclusion, which would deprive Chicanas of a place in the political
movement for self-determination and a voice in the struggle for equality.
RENAMING THE CHICANA AUTHOR(S): 80RDERS,
BRIDGES, AND TRAVELING THROUGH THE 1990S
Bemice Zamora, Margarita Cota-Cardenas, Dorinda Moreno, Volanda LOpez,
Ana Nieto-G6mez, Carmen Tafolla, Enriqueta Vasquez, Marcdina TrujiUo,
Martha Cotera. Tht: contributions of these and other Chicana cultural practition.
ers who are nOt named in this essay are best summarized by the title ofa collection
of poems, Puentes.J fionm-as (Bridges and Borders).
Chicana cultural producers of the 1970s and early 19805 crossed the seemingly
impenetrable borden of Chicano subjectivity. They transformed the language of
self-representation, visualized new ethnic configurations and subject positions,
and paved the way for contemporary Chicana.~ to explore other dimensions ofthe
Chicana experience. Had it not been for tht: pionet:ring drofts of early Chicana
cultural practition~rs, who were oft~n unjustly divorced by their own Rna, th~
developments would have bttn hampered. And of course new roads need to be
travcl~d in tht: 1990s if the constantly changing panorama of an ever·growing
Chicana population is to gain entrance into cultural discourse in a manner that
dignifies this population and privileges iu own sdf-eonslructions and the rhythms
and intentiOn! of its own vt:macular. Thanks to the efforts of Mujeres cit: la Raza,
who had the conge (anger/courage) and political foresight to say "Va soy" and
mean "Chican.a," this joumey toward new Chicana subjcctivitit:s in the year
2000 is facilitated.· 1
. ~ .., - .
NOTES
I.Juanit:t Dominguez, "Yo soy Chicano," in Armando RendOn, 71It ai/altO MtIJf~
(New York; Collier, 1971), p. 182; Margarita Virginia Sanchez, "Escape," in IV~ A"
Chitanar, ed. Phillip Ortego (New York; Washington Square Press, 1973), p. 208; Dorenda
Moreno, "My Son, My Daughten," in fA Mwpt.J /JJ iUrrojLa tinra tin vida (Berkeley, Calir.:
Ca5a Editorial, 1975), n. 1'.; Margarita Cota-Cardemu, "M:mifesuoon Tamia" (Late
Declaration), fA PRla/na 2, no. 2 (Fall 1980); 37. }{alt: In these poems, five spaced dou
indicate omissions from the original text.
2. FoUowing Michel Foucault, 1 view subjectivity as an elfttt, as something produced
by the power of di5cou~ and social relations. Foucault's projttt of exami~ngsubjtttivity
thrm.gh "the h;~tory of the mode, by which, in ollr cuhure, human bemgs are made
subjccts" is also useful here, because it allows for undentanding t~e ~nte~elatedn~ss ~f
different forms of ethnic subjeetivities as they are construCted from WIthin different h,ston-
c:aJ p~riods. For a more complete discussion of this project, see his "The Subject and
Power," Cri/itallnquiry 8, no. 4 (Summer 1982); 777. .
3. The "Plan F..spiritual de Azdan (Spiritual Manifesto of Aztl!m) is a dedarahon put
forth :\1 the Dcll\'t:r Conference, MaN;h 1969. 'Inis dcclaratK)O identif)CS Aztlin as the
platt of the ChicanolmlJ/i.t:" nation, prof!l0tes (ama/iJma (brotherhood) as a coDectivc ",:,"lue,
stipulates that lhe "calling of our blood" is the b:l~is for Chicano po....er, and est:\bh~!lc~
a link bet~en the nations of the "bronze continelll"; North, South, and Central Amenta.
'" AmJoaquin" (1967) purported to be an "epic ofthe Chicano people." The poem foll~
lhe spiritual joumey of a Chicano male protagonist who alleviates his penonal and SOCIal
alicnation by reaffirming his ties with Mexican culture, history, and identity. 111e poem
also prdigura the coming of a Chicano revolution, tr..ca a racial ethnic ancestry, and
militates against assimilation, passivity, and cultural genocide. "Fl Plan" and "Yo soy
Joaquin" appeared in the popular anthology 1.il~alura Chi,,,1IfJ,' TlXla J '~~It:dQ, ed. JOS:Ph
Sommers, Antonia Castaneda Schular, and Tomas Ybarra Frausto (Englewood CIiJTs,
NJ.: Prentice-HaD, 1972), pp. 93-94, 89-90.
4. Afterdescribing herdark skin and her black hair, the poetic \'Oitt brings them together
in the phrase "My nippb are dark brown" (Moreno, "My Son, My Daughten," p. 6).
5. I ha~ adopted Stuart Hall's notion of "identity as positionality" as a way of
establishing connections between different forms ofChicanalo identity and subjectivity. In
describing identity as po~itionality, Hall notes; "Identities are lhe names we give to the
different ways we are positKlIled by, and position ourselves within, the nalTativcs of the
past." Sec his "Culturall<ientity and Cinc!llatic Repn:scntatton," F,~ no. 36 (1~;
68-81. Stuart Hall is considered to be a leading exponent in the field of cultural studies.
For an example ofhis inlluenc~ in thi~ respect, set: Cultural Studies, ed. Lawrence Grossl>crg,
Cary Nelson, and Paula Treichler (New York; Routledge, 1992).
6. Nanna A1aroon, "In the Tracks of the Native Woman," CullJual SlutJits 4, no. 3 (1990):
''''.7. SorJuana Ints de la Cruz was a famous Mcxican poet. She is known for her poem
"Hombres Nccios," wriuen in the late seventeenth century and considered by many to be
a precursor of feminist thought because: of its scathing ~xposition and critique of the
paradoxes of male arrogance toward women.

8. Marcelina Trujillo, hMachismo Is Part ofOurCultun:," in TM Tltull 1V0IMIl: Milll'Jril]
W_ IVI'itm '.! IN lhtiurJ St4rn, ed. Dexter F"tsher (Bos.ton: Houghton Mifflin, 1980), pp.
iOl-402_
9.... And tIu &rt!I Did NfJi Pa,t (Berkeley, Calir.: (hiinto Sol, 1971).
10. "'Vomen of the Race," a tenn commonly used ill alternative productiolls to refer
to Chicanas.
II. I am n:ferring to lhe systems of signifICation within nationalist discourse: which
dfe<:ted the displacement of Chicana subje<:tivity. In language, for example, the univuul
ethnic subject olien was treated as masculine (Chicano) instead offeminin<: (Chicana) ~-en
when fully embodied Chicanas wen: represented. A case in point is the volume IVt A,t
Chiamos (sec note 1 above), which greets the n:ader with the image of a young Chicana
representing lhe passage to "modem Chicano expression." Chicana subjcctivity is tbus
ovt:rridden at the linguistic level by a gender referenlthat centen a Chicano masculinity
and dellies tbe Chicana all independent subjc:t;tivity as well as a separ.l.Ie literary trajectory.
Phillip Onego (lhe editor of IV, ATt Otua1WS) was not alone in this portrayal; similar
eJGlffiplc:s abound in early Chicano productions.
12. The splitting of Chicana/o subjectivity could abo be examined from the outsKk,
through a critique ofthe dominant culture's figurations ofChtcana/o identity and subjectiv-
iry or a critique of alternative feminist n:pn:sentations of Chic:mas. I have elected to
examine the spliuing of Chicana/o subjectivity from imide the Chicana's own cultural
production, in order to foreground the tensions between maxulinist and feminist construe-
tiOI1$.
Alternate definitions that fon:ground Chicanas as (individual) speaking subjects include:
those lhat fol.low the pattern found in excerpt 3, which begins "Yo soy Chicana." Gl'(MJ.p
charaClerizations include those that appeal din:t:t1y 10 1I collective female identiry ....; thout
individual distinction, such as "Mujer" or "Chicana.." E.xample' include excerpt 4 and the
poem "Mujer de I" R:ua," analyzed later in this essay. For an analysis of the~e forms of
Chicana identity, sce my essay "I Throw Punches for My Race, but I Don't Want to Be
a Man," in CullulIIl Slud~J, pp. 81-95.
13. Cannen Tafolla, Ttl Split II Hutrlllll (San Antonio: Mexic-dIl America.n Cultural
Center, 1985), p. I.
11. M RendOlI notes: "We ChicallOS have our sh....n: ofnuilinches, which is what we call
traitors to la ral.a who are of la rna, after the example of an Aztec woman of that name
who became Cortel.' concuuinc under the name of Dona Marina, and scrvt..d him also as
an interpreter and infonner ·against her own people. The malinches are worse characten
and more dangerous Ihan the Tio Tacos, lhe Chicanismo cuphemism for an UncJ.c: Tom.
11le Tio Taco may stand in the way of progress only out of fear or misplacal. self-
importance. In lhe se....-itt oflhe gringo, malinchc:s attack [theirJ own brothen, betray our
dignity and manhood, cause jealousies and misundentandings among us, and actually seek
to n:taro the advance ofthe Chicanos, ifit benefits themselves-while the gringo watchcs"
(PI'. 96-97).
15. Ibid., p. 183.
16. Ibid., p. 105.
17. Foucault, "The Subject and Power," p. 781.
18. Unarguably, RendOn's (AiavM MtuliftJItI i, an extreme illustration; OIher cultural
practitioners were leu offensive when splitting Chicana/o subjectivity under the pl.e of
.... _, .~" ~ ~ " ~ ""'"
ideal male figures or female figures imaged wilh male eyes. Yet his essay pr0vidc3 us with
a perfect exampk: of the contradictions of Chicano movement discou.-,es and practices.
While he castigates _1i",1ra for dividing the movement, and opposes the subjc:clion of
ethnic groups to immutable Anglo truths (stereotype:! such as the Frito Bandito, for
instance), he nonetheless activates system' of diffen:ntiation that duplicate rather than
contest the subjection of ChicanaS/os within the dominant social fonnation.
19. This n:naming was conscious, and it n:prc:sented anolher intcrpretation of lhe
hiSlorical figure Malinnin Tenq>al, who was said to be horn around the year 1505 and
....ho was dubbed a trailOr because ofher n:lationship wilh Cones. The tenn MaJiJlcNis now
synonymous with traitor, and Chicanas wish to n:cIaim Malintzin as a historical prc:cunor
of Chicanas and a victim of male chauvinist attitudes, wltich often culminated in holding
her almosl single-handedly responsible for the conquest of Mexico. Chicanas generally
orrer positive depictions of Malint:dn. For all example, see Adelaida del Ca~tillo's "Malin-
tl.in Tenq,al: A Pn:liminary Look into a New Penpectivt:," in EsU!]s till l.JJ M'9n. ed.
Rosaura Sanchez alld Rosa Martinez Cnu (los Angeles: Chtcano Studies Research
Center, 1977), pp. 12-4-149.
20. For a bibliographical sampling of some of their lexts, see FJizabc:th OrdOiicz,
"Sexual Politics and the Theme of Sexuality in Chicana Poetry," in Womm in Hispanic
L;/nll/lfft: Icons and Fallen IrJoI.r. ed. Ue~h Miller (Berkeley: Univt:nity of California Press,
1983), PI'. 316-337.
21. See Martha Cotera, "Feminism: The Chicana and the Anglo Vcmolls," in Twiu
III MinorilJ: Mt:cium Anrtrittul Womm. ed. Margarita Melville (St. Louis: Mosby, 1980), pp.
217-234.
22. There wen: many Chicanas who of COU~ mimickt:d malc:-oriented vemons of
female subjects in their cultural productions. These types of female-authored productions
IOb';cally IJc:long to the fint stage of the splitting of Chicana/o subjtttivity.
23. These Chicanas have been selected because of their convergence wilh One or more
of the features listed above, and in order to give a sampling of Chicana cultuml production
in different domains.
24. Yolanda LOpc-t, StrV e-Jalwpt (Guadalupe serics), Mai.t.t I, no. 4 (Spring 1978):
55 59 and front and back coven.
25. Tbcx obsoerv:ations are applicable to COntemporary Mexicanas as well.
26. I refer to this image as lhe fallen Guadalupe, but this portrait is not distinguished
sme
in GUlldalupt, p. 55.
27. "La Jo'arnilia de hl Ra~.a" is the name of an illuslmtion done by the mumlist Walter
Bab. Significantly, lJJ Ftmlilia tit la R4<.a was also lhe name of a publication that stn:sscd
the principle of unity through the family as well as nationalist renditions of Chicano
idcntiry. The illustration lhat I am referring to recalls represc.ntatiolt! of"the holy family."
Bab's illustration centers a male protagonist and a child, who en~ the spectator's guc:
din:etIy through frontal portraits. 11le veiled woman, who is reminiscent of lhe Virgin, is
capturcd by herprofilc:, which prevents this type ofdefinition and engagement. In addition,
her body becomes an extension of the male's, M his ann extend~ around her, once ag-din
n:centering his representation and role as "prote<:tor." For an example of this portrait, see
Dc CoImts 1,110. 2 (Spring 1974): 65. BItu Mt, Ultima is the title of a novel by Rudolfo Anaya
(Berkeley, Calif.: Quinto Sol, 1974). 11le novel is replete with traditional reprc:scntation'
of WOmc:ll. 1bc:sc TepTCKntalions come together in the char.tcter of Ultima, the most
 ANGlE CHABRAM DERNERSESIAN FOUR
56

~ . finc db hcrrdationship 10 Antonio. "LaJeftta" wa5

imporUl11 female character, who 15 dc: £1 Ye- ' (D_ "_1"'" Calif.: Quinto Sol, 1972), p.
. _ _I.....,cnutkd =fHJtl uo;TMO_,. _~..l
published in a scmffi anu~,. hi [J'K)(hcr who works all day ........
233. "LaJdita" is intended 10 be a lnh~te to a C ~na
'h nd "ooly <omplains In her sleep.
most or the mg I a . M h' Cot ra Enriquela VlUqutt, ranclK3.
F - Speaking from the Margin
28. 1 am rt;fcrring to Chicanas such.as art a e,
Uninvited Discourse on Sexuality and Power
Rincon and Rosa E. Domingue"L, to cite a few. I. '975 9
, • - Chi .. WlI/fltII SlTugg~ ,p..
29. Ana Nieto-GOme%, ".... c.a~a,. Soma ~L "The Role of the: ChKana Emma Pbu.
30. For an account of these contradieuons, sec. '6~29
.. ' Es.uz.1J 011 fA M¥ pp. .
within the ~tlldent Movc~cnt: In , lUza" in La ~ll1jtr a /JJ IWa, p. 27.
31. Donnda Moreno, MUJcr d e a , Don't fmlOin wiJIIin l!u PJ7d-noJ.lh€ ,1oJII,t. T W /I I«Jk. I1rnr ClII drnmgh.
ntLtNI: CIXOUI, "TilE UlUCH O' TlIE 1Ul)UI,\"
32. Ibid. .' .' /Q . mi IiIHrIlCi&t (New York Doubk·
33. 1 am paraphrasmg Ricardo san~hci/; s Can :J ~ 77u UbtrtJJWn of II Chicano Mil/d.
day, 1971). This title signiflCanlly earned t~ ~u~ea ~~ Rosario ofVaUejo, C;ilifomia,
34. This illustration, which I bclieve to " y rene
'M
accompanIes oreno s
•
' "M uJ'er de la Rau p.27.
. . '. . '
h' typeOfVlClimuatlOlilSSCC n
'0
Ix: a thing of the past, at least
.
35,. In Mol"Coo 5 poem, t IS r..' ment toward self-deu::mUnatlOll.
. . h unts her sOCCeM".... move
for the poetlC subject, w 0 reco Ch' Coed" ea,o,ol3 (1977); 19.
36. Bemice Zamora, "NoteS from a lCillla ,

37. Rend6l1, (;hictJM M(Ulifu~, p. 15~'Th W man of La Rau," in A~tl4n: All ArztJwlogy
38. Enriqueta Lo~gauex y Vasq~e~, Id . e dOSUUl Steiner (New York: Vintage Books,
of Mtric4ll-AIfIl7'icmI: LiJoalllft, ed. Luis Va ez an My socialist-reminist position has pushed me toward a psychoanalytic end, ir only
1972), p. 277. .. momemarily. When I was a budding graduate studem in ChicanaJo history and
V.:....,uc::z "Woman of La Raza, p. 278.
39 . -... , . Coed" 19 women's history, I tried stubbornly to show that a class-based movement sub-
40. Zamora, "Notes fro~ a ~Il\c~n~ :_~~' p~_ S~n Diego por d gran cjemplo que sumed gender. l While Chicano scholars argue that race must be integrated into
..._.... traba>n a SylVIa .......... aga m ; ' p
41. l.e '-K'UICO este ~- . •. aslul.a de Iluestra cullura. or a cJass..based revolution, many Chicana scholars defend the premise that the
. .._ d I do y convenldo en cnllea " I
nos dlO al haucr5C L~
oc ora ble por 'as"Iml" aclO...- ',._ .,
nue habrin aqui. Tamblen .. .,_e secondary status given to women's issues in a race- and class-based revolution
supueslO, me ,,,,go respon~ I da. nue me proporcionb en 1a preparaclOn u<: cheats the revolution.!
ilgrad<::.:CO a Zarc DcnleTSdlan a gran "yu "
'I11e "unhappy marriage" between Marxism and reminism, howevt:r, remains
este en!i3.YO.
the chosen marriage, because the alternative for feminists is capitalism-a deadly,
destructive husband. s As socialist feminists, we opt ror the man who, as our
mothers point out, "si toma hiji., pero no te golpea" (yes, he drinks, but he doesn't
bauer you). He is far from perrect, but we tenaciously hitch ourselves to the man
~ are desperate to change in order to improve the marriage. TIlls "husband" has
potential irhe abandons the ego-driven anxiety that defines his world on his terms.
With him, at least, there is a potential for equality and freedom.· With the
capitalist, we are banered, raped, and lert to die in factories, fields, bedrooms, and
boardrooms. The Marxist tclh us that "womcn are oppreSS«l," as he gathers with
his male cohorts, then yells to you, "Oye coraz6n, are you finisbed typing my
manuscript?" Lip selVice is worth something, whether it's in the boardroom or the
bedroom, but it is not a revolution. 3
I want to take us beyond the antiquated Marxist-feminist debate, assuming
we agree that class struggle is unavoidable and that race/gender analysis and
sexual autonomy must be the vanguard of a victorious revolution.' The qua-
57