Mujeres Talk: On Doing Work that Matters and Sustaining Ourselves in the Interim

It’s a week since the 2012 El Mundo Zurdo Conference at UTSA. I feel a rejuvenated sense of purpose about my work, my heart is full, and my mind and soul inspired. I sat at my desk working on an essay today, and as I did, I periodically glanced over at the brightly painted rock … Read more

Mujeres Talk: Considering Transformations at the SSGA Conference

Back home from another stimulating gathering of the Society for the Study of Gloria Anzaldúa, a conference held every 18 months at the University of Texas at San Antonio, hosted and sponsored by the Women’s Studies Institute. Kudos to Professor Norma Cantú, Chairperson of the SSGA, for putting together a great program, and to Professor … Read more

New by Josefina Lopez: Detained in the Desert

From NBCLatino, by Adrian Carrasquillo Josefina Lopez is best known for authoring “Real Women Have Curves,” a play turned movie which challenged cultural assumptions on beauty, marriage and a woman’s role in society. Her latest effort could be described as even more personal – “Detained in the Desert,” a movie from her and director Iliana … Read more

Mujeres Talk: Guatemalans’ Missing Children

Last week, the U.S. State Department announced that it would not return a girl adopted from Guatemala in 2008, even though courts there found that she had been kidnapped. The child’s mother, working with Fundación Sobreviventes (a feminist group that works on femicide, child sexual abuse, and children lost to adoptions) has said that she will travel … Read more

Entre Mujeres: a translocal music composition project

My name is Martha Gonzalez and I am a Chicana artivista, singer and songwriter for East LA based Quetzal. I want to invite you all to support a very important project that I have been working on.

Entre Mujeres is a translocal music composition project between Chicanas/Latinas in the U.S. and Jarochas/Mexican female musicians in Mexico. This project seeks to make the voices, ideas and translocal dialogues between Chicanas and Jarochas visible through the medium of song.

A song as a sonic and literary manifestation is life’s sound-scape, a unique cathartic memento, as well as a powerful political Entre Mujeres tool. Without question a song is also an important historical text. A person’s testimonio (testimony), life views, triumphs, and struggles can be expressed into song lyrics. In the end a song, like a testimonio is what stands as moment lived. Multiplied by community this can be an active exercise in consensus and knowledge production. As a collaborator in various songwriting moments I have witnessed time and again how this method and process creates space, builds community, challenges multiple patriarchal systems, and can potentially produce knowledge that is accessible.

Throughout this project there has been convivencia, trust, testimonios that have generated important moments of healing, and knowledge production. In these ways Entre Mujeres Project is a testament to the kind of collective knowledge generated across U.S. Mexican borders.

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Mujeres Talk: Women of Color and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

  This past academic year, I have served as the Women Studies liaison to the Women’s Center on my university campus. In this capacity, I had the privilege of working with work-study students on a variety of issues, one of which being gender-based violence. The culmination of programming and events on this issue was our … Read more

Chicana/Latina Studies names two new editors

From MALCS Chair Monica Torres: Colegas, Some good news from the journal. Chicana/Latina Studies: the Journal of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social has appointed two new editors to its staff. Elisa Rodriguez y Gibson has been named co-editor. Rodriguez y Gibson is an assistant professor at Loyola Marymount University. She teaches courses on Chicana/o … Read more