In Gloria Anzaldua’s “To Live in the Borderlands” poem, she very quickly establishes an identity predicament that she is going through. She speaks about being caught in the in-between; “neither hispana india negra española ni gabacha, eres mestiza, mulata, half-breed caught in the crossfire between camps while carrying all five races on your back”. This sentiment links to going through a confusing identity development/determination, especially while trying to relate to her Mexican culture. The use of Spanish words and phrases sparingly throughout the poem indicated to me how she feels she is in between cultures, trying not to forget her Chicana heritage, but also recognizing that Brooklyn, NY is her home. It also brings up the self-deprecating thoughts that she is not fully connected to her culture, and other people around her likely feed into this narrative by disparaging her belongingness in the group.
While there is not an immediately clear link between “To Live in the Borderlands” and the piece by Laina Dawes about “Home Alive”, I feel like there was a lot of connection in the theme of defense. In the poem, Anzaldua is defending her existence to people who say she’s too Mexican or not Mexican enough, while also trying to prove to herself that all of her experiences are valid, despite not feeling like she fits into one particular group. In the Home Alive piece, the article also spotlights a Hispanic woman who, because of her womanhood and likely her race/ethnicity, was brutally assaulted and killed. Even though these forms of attacks are very different, they both present the idea of having to defend both your physical body and your mind from people who are trying to detract from your experience. In the foundation of Home Alive, the “nonprofit organization that promotes alternative methods for women to protect themselves within the community”, this was a more tangible expression of union between women and girls who need to empower and protect one another. In the poem, Anzaldua made strides toward emotional healing by defending her experience and feeding into self-empowerment in this way.
These pieces both relate to the punk and grunge music scene, because not only were women of color forgotten from this movement, which links us back to our two writing pieces, but punk and grunge were also about not fitting in. When Anzaldua writes about being in an “in between”, this feeds into the punk narrative of being an outcast, but finding community through other people like you. In the Dawes piece, the passing of Mia Zapata who was a grunge artist opens the doors to a community focused around protecting and empowering women in the name of community around womanhood and music. Both of these pieces link to 2 songs, one of them being “What’s Normal Anyway” by Miguel, which touches on not fitting into many different groups and feeling isolated because of it. The second song is “A Change is Gonna Come” by the Gits, which gets at a fatigue and a longing for a change within Zapata’s life.
“What’s Normal Anyway”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icyi7Jjhg-U
“A Change is Gonna Come”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6mQdnr6dm4
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