Friedman, Nina

Hello, my name is Nina Friedman, I am a fourth year World Arts and Cultures major and Education Studies minor.

Much of what I took away from Out of the House, the Halo, and the Whore’s Mask: The Mirror of Malinchismo was the way in which Gaspar de Alba categorized the Chicana movement within the context of the feminist movement. Throughout the piece Gaspar de Alba emphasized the division between men and women in a movement of identity politics, a movement consisting of members seeking to rid themselves from varying forces of oppression. She spoke intimately about issues within this movement, particularly issues of being a woman in both the art world and the world in general. She states, “to privilege gender over class and race is to perpetuate racism and ruling class values. To ignore gender, however, in the struggle for civil and human rights is to perpetuate the objectification and abuse of women.” My question for Gaspar de Alba is how do you navigate multiple subordinate identities? How do you balance addressing issues of sexism, racism, and classism in a larger struggle for empowerment?

Other questions:

Does being a malinche still denote a negative context?

How have Chicana feminists reclaimed or redefined la malinche as a force of empowerment?