On Borderlands/La Frontera: An Interpretive Essay

Author(s): Maria Lugones

Source: Hypatia, Vol. 7, No. 4, Lesbian Philosophy (Autumn, 1992), pp. 31-37
Published by: Indiana University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3810075
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On Borderlands/LaFrontera:
An InterpretiveEssay
MARIA LUGONES

Borderlands/LaFronteradealswiththepsychologyof resistanceto oppression.

Thepossibilityof resistanceis revealedby perceivingtheself in theprocessof being
oppressedas anotherface of theself in theprocessof resistingoppression.The new
mestizaconsciousness is bor fromthisinterplaybetweenoppression andresistance.
Resistanceis understood as social,collectiveactivity,byaddingto Anzaldua'stheory
thedistinctionbetweentheact and theprocessof resistance.

Borderlands has been a very importanttext for me. I have foundcompanyin

it. Desdeel primermomentopenseque eramoshermanasen pensamiento.I have
carriedAnzaldua'sinsightsand metaphorswith me forseveralyearsin mydaily
ruminationsand in my daily exercise of triple vision. I could say that I have
lost perspectiveon this text in makingit mine, or I could saythat I have gained
perspective in finding borderdwellingfriendshipin it. I find her thinking
intertwinedwith my own. Thus this essayis highly interpretive.I will explain
what I learnedfromBorderlands and I will try to think my way aroundsome of
the troublethat I have with some of the living that it suggeststo me.
Workon oppressedsubjectivityfocuseson the subject at the "moment"of
oppressionand as oppressed.Oppressiontheorymayhave as its intent to depict
the effects of oppression (alienation, ossification, arrogation,psychological
oppression,etc.), without an intention to rule out resistance.But within the
logicalframeworkof the theory,resistanceto oppressionappearsunintellligible
becauseit lacks a theoreticalbase. Anzaldua'sBorderlands is a workcreatinga
theoreticalspace for resistance.
Anzaldua focuses on the oppressedsubject at the "moment" of being
oppressed.Thus she can captureboth an everydayhistory of oppressionand
an everydayhistoryof resistance.Her culture,though oppressive,also grounds
her resistance:
vol. 7, no. 4 (Fall1992)? byMariaLugones
Hypatia
32 Hypatia

At a very earlyage I had a strongsense of who I was and what

I was about and what was fair.... Every bit of self-faith I'd
painstakinglygathered took a beating daily. Nothing in my
cultureapprovedof me. (16)
But also,
When I wasseven, eight, nine, fifteen,sixteen yearsold, I would
read in bed with a flashlight under the covers, hiding my
self-imposedinsomnia from my mother.... My sister,Hilda,
who slept in the same bed with me, would threaten to tell my
mother unless I told her a story.... Nudge a Mexican and she
or he will breakout with a story.So, huddlingunderthe covers,
I madeup storiesformy sisternight afternight .... It musthave
been then that I decided to put storieson paper.(65)
Anzalduadescribestwo statesof the self beingoppressed:the stateof intimate
terrorismand the Coatlicuestate. These states are two sides of the experience
of beingoppressed.In expressingthis experience, Anzaldiiathinks of the self
asmultiple.There is the selfoppressedin andby the traditionalMexicanworld;
the self oppressedin and by the Anglo world;and the self-in-between-the
Self-herself in resistanceto oppression,the self in germinationin the border-
lands.If the self is being oppressed,then she can feels its limits, its capacityfor
response,pushed in, constrained,denied. But she can also push back. This is
not a fantastic or metaphysicalleap out of the reality of oppressed.Rather
Anzalduaknows the weight of oppressedworldsand the hard, riskywork of
resistance.
In the stateof intimateterror,the Self feels the oppression;she feelspetrified:
Alienated from her mother culture, "alien"in the dominant
culture,the woman of color does not feel safewithin the inner
life of her Self. Petrified,she can't respond, her face caught
between los intersticios,the space between the differentworlds
she inhabits. (20)
Anzalduasees the ability to respond as at the center of responsibility.She
connects the state of intimate terrorismwith a lack of ability to respond,the
"verymovement of life, swifterthan lightning,frozen"(21). But as the Self is
beingoppressed,she is at the crossroadsof choice (21). Anzaldua
made the choice to be queer ... It's an interestingpath, one
that continuallyslips in and out of the white, the Catholic, the
Mexican, the indigenous,the instincts. In and out of my head.
It makesfor loqueria,the crazies.It is a path of knowledge-one
of knowing (and of learning) the history of oppressionof our
raza.It is a way of balancing,of mitigatingduality.(19)
 MariaLugones 33

Anzalduiathinks of homophobiaas "thefearof going home."The fearof being

caughtin the intersticios,
orthe fearof beingabandonedbyLaRaza.Abandoned
"forbeing unacceptable,faulty,damaged"(20). The two fearsso close, since
abandonmentis a powerfulweight exercised on the in-between-selfto give
herselfup, not to make full use of her faculties.
Anzalduiatells us that Coatlalopeuhwas an early Mesoamericancreator
goddess that had two aspects: the underworld,dark aspect, Coatlicue;and
Tonantsi,the light, the upper.Coatlicuewas driven undergroundwith other
powerfulfemale deities by the male dominatedAzteca-Mexica culture, and
Tonantsi,splitfromherdarkaspect,becamethe good mother(27). The Spanish
colonizers and the colonizing church continued the split when Tonantsi,
desexed,became Guadalupe,the chaste protective mother (28).

Todayla VirgendeGuadalupeis the single most potent religious,

political and culturalimageof the Chicano/mexicano.Because
Guadalupetook upon herself the psychological and physical
devastationof the conqueredand the oppressedindio,she is our
spiritual,political and pyschologicalsymbol.Guadalupeis the
symbolof the ethnic identityandof the toleranceforambiguity
that Chicanos/mexicanos..., people who cross cultures, by
necessity possess.(30)
Anzalduiaembracesa decolonizedGuadalupeback into her darkand light
ambiguity.She remembersthe name Coatlicueand rejectsthe mind/bodysplit
imposed on Tonantsiby the Catholic church as well as her desexualization.
Coatlicueis rememberedin resistanceto oppression,in creation.

She, the symbolof the darksexualdrive, the chthonic (under-

world), the feminine, the serpentinemovement of sexuality,of
creativity,the basisof all energyand life. (35)
The Coatlicuestate is a state of creation. The self beingoppressed,the
self-in-between, la terca,la hocicona,the against-the-grainstorytellerpushes
against the limits of oppression.Caught in-between two harmfulworldsof
sense that deny her ability to respond,the self-in-betweenfashionsherselfin
a quiet state. Anzalduiarecognizes here that the possibility of resistance
dependson this creationof a new identity,a new worldof sense, in the borders.
The Coatlicuestate is one of stasisbecauseit is a state of makingnew sense.
It is a state of isolation, separationfrom harmfulsense. This creation is a
dangerousthing. The self risksher own familiarityand her being familiarto
others.Though in intimate terrorshe is not safe but "avictim wheresomeone
else is in control,"the in-between-selfat the moment of germinationmaybe
unable to make new sense, and that is a terrifyingpossibility.
34 Hypatia

She has this fear that she has no names that she has
many names that she doesn't know her names.... She has
this fear that if she takesoff her clothes shoves her brain
aside peels off her skin... stripsthe flesh fromthe bone ...
that when she does reachherself... she won't find anyone ...
She has this fear that she won't find the way back (43)

So the self-in-between in the Coatlicuestate, the resistantstate, needs to

enact both strategiesof defenseagainstworldsthat markher with the inability
to respondand distractivestrategiesto keep at baythe fearof having no names.
The strategiesof defense againstharmfulsense are insulatingstrategies:she
uses rage to drive others away and to insulate herself against exposure;she
reciprocateswith contemptforthose who have rousedshamein her;etc. (45).1
Since she cannot respond in their terms, because in their terms she is not
responsible,she must make a space apartfor creation.
Anzalduasees repetitiousactivity and depressionas distractingstrategies:

At first I feel exposed and opened to the depth of my dissatis-

faction. Then I feel myself closing, hiding, holding myself
together ratherthan allowingmyselfto fall apart.

Sweating, with a headache,unwilling to communicate,fright-

ened by suddennoises, estoyasustada.(48)

The new mestiza, an ambiguousbeing, is the borderdwellingself that

emergesfrom the Coatlicuestate:
It is this learningto live with la Coatlicuethat transformsliving
in the Borderlandsfrom a nightmareinto a numinousexperi-
ence. It is alwaysa path/stateto somethingelse. (73)

This path leads to a consciousness that is bor from "racial, ideological,

cultural,and biologicalcross-pollinization"(77). The mestizaconsciousnessis
characterizedby the developmentof a tolerancefor contradictionand ambi-
guity,by the transgressionof rigidconceptualboundaries,and by the creative
breakingof the new unitary aspect of new and old paradigms.The mestiza
consciousnessparticipatesin the creation of a new value system throughan
"uprootingof dualisticthinking"(80).
Lamestizais captiveof morethan one collectivity,andher dilemmais which
collectivity to listen to. She crossesfrom one collectivity to the other and
decides to stake herself in the borderbetween the two, where she can take a
critical stance and take stock of her pluralpersonality.

Peroes dificildifferentiatingbetween lo heredado,lo adquirido,lo

impuesto.(82)
 MariaLugones 35

She throwsout what is worthless,the lies, the dullingof life, the runaways.
She effects a rupturewith all oppressivetraditionsat the same time that she
makesherselfvulnerableto foreignwaysof thinking, relinquishingsafety.
Anzaldua makes it clear that remaining a being in two worlds without
"cross-pollinization"is deadlyfor Chicanasand other women of color. It is to
become a hyphenated being, a dual personalityenacted from the outside,
without the ability to fashion her own responses.She would agree with the
Pachuco speaking in Peregrinosde Aztlan by Miguel Mendez-M.When the
Pachuco asks the question "quesemos ese?"(what are we?) and hears the
response"Bueno. . . puesmexicoamericanos," he responds:

Chale,ese, es purapinchimadera,la demexicanodomaspa'meterlo

al surco,a las minas,nel, pos otrachingapior.Lo de americanos,
posya tedarascola, camarada,pa'darnosen lamadreen suspinchis
guerraspuercas.

[Roughly:Mexicanosto be put to workthe land, or the mines,

or something worse.Americansto kill us in their filthy wars.]
(Mendez-M.1979, 25)

BecauseI think it is importantto distinguishthis dualpersonality2fromthe

pluralpersonalityand the operatingin a pluralisticmode of new mestiza,I will
venturemy own sense of the distinction. I think this sense fits Anzaldua'stext
well. The dual, hyphenated,personalityis an Anglo creation. According to
this concept, there is no hybridculturalself. It is partof the Anglo imagination
that we can keep our cultureand assimilate,a position that would be contra-
dictory if both cultures were understoodas informing the "real"fabric of
everydaylife. But in thinkingof a Mexican-American,the Anglo imagination
construes "Mexican" as the name for a superexploitablebeing who is a
practitionerof a superfluous,ornamental,culture.Being "American"is what
supposedlygives us (dubious)membershipin that "real"culture, the culture
of the ideallyculturally-unified-through-assimilation polls illegitimatelycalled
"America."Being American is what makesus functioningcitizens.
The Mexican and the American in the dual-personalityconstructareboth
animated from the outside; that is why there is no cultural"cross-polliniza-
tion." But the pluralityof the new mestizais anchoredin the borders,in that
spacewherecritique,rupture,andhybridizationtakeplace.Thoughshe cannot
choose not to be read, constructed,with a logic of hyphenation, demoraliza-
tion, instrumentality,stereotyping,anddevaluation,she can imbuethatperson
with a senseof conflictedsubjectivityandambiguity.3 So the dual,hyphenated,
personality is externally animated and characterizedby an absence of the
ability to respondand create. The pluralpersonalityof the new mestizais a
self-critical,self-animatedplurality.
36 Hypatia

A difficult question to answer in Anzaldua'stext is the question of the

companythat the Self-in-between,the borderSelf, keepsin resistantcreation.
A borderlandis a vague and undeterminedplace createdby the
emotionalresidueof an unnaturalboundary... a constant state
of transition.Losatravesadoslive here ... those who crossover,
pass over, or go throughthe confines of the "normal.(3)

A social history of both despojamiento

and resistance in the meetings
between gringosand mexicanoscrisscrossesAnzaldula'sunderstandingof the
borderdweller'ssituation.

iQuien estd protegiendolos ranchosde mi gente? iQuien estd

tratandode cerrarla fisuraentrela indiay el blancoen nuestra
sangre?El Chicano,si, el Chicanoqueandacomoun ladronen su
propiacasa.(63)

Anzaldua also tells us of the cultural backingsfor her own resistance in

ancient Mesoamericancultureand in contemporarymexicano,Tejano,Chicano
cultures.Her text drawsfromcorridos,ancient myths,dichos,cantares,contem-
porarytexts by Chicano/a and Latin American writers.She drawsfrom Los
Tigresdel Norte as well as fromAndresGonzalesGuerrero;fromGina Valdes
and Alfonsina Storni;fromEl Pumaand MiguelLeon-Portilla.
In depicting the borderlands,she tells us of a "place"or state populatedby
"the people who leap in the dark"(81), a people who are a new mixtureof
races,"laprimerarazasintesisdelglobo,una razamestiza"(77).
YetAnzalduaalso depictsthe crossing-overas a solitaryact, an act of solitary
rebellion.Maybebecausethe Coatlicuestateand the state of intimateterrorism
aredescribedasstatesof the innerlife of the self,becauseAnzalduiais describing
states in the psychologyof oppressionand liberation,she does not reveal the
sociality of resistance.Yet, unless resistanceis a social activity, the resisteris
doomedto failurein the creationof a new universeof meaning,a new identity,
a razamestiza.Meaning that is not in responseto and looking for a response
fails as meaning.
I see enough evidence in her text to develop an account of the socialityof
resistance.If rebellionand creationareunderstoodas processesratherthan as
acts, then each act of solitary rebellion and creation is anchored in and
responsiveto a collective, even if disorganized,processof resistance.
Los Chicanos,how patient we seem, how very patient.... We
know how to survive. When other races have given up their
tongue, we've kept ours.... Stubborn,persevering,impenetra-
ble as stone, yet possessing a malleability that renders us
unbreakable,we, the mestizasand mestizoswill remain.(63-64)
 MariaLugones 37

This society places borderdwellersin profoundisolation. The barriersto

creative collectivity and collective creation appearinsurmountable.But that
is only if we think of the act and not of the processof creation. As we author
everyact of resistancewe can understandit as meaningfulbecauseit is inserted
in a processof resistancethat is collective, but we can also aspireto acts of
collective resistance,breakingdown our isolation againstthe odds prescribed
by "the confines of the normal."

NOTES

1. I have analyzedthese defensestrategiesin "Liberatory

Strategiesof the Chicana
Lesbian:Active Subjectivityin the Absenceof Agency,"andin "Hardto HandleAnger,"
to appearin (Lugones,forthcoming).
2. Forworkon dual personality,see Rosaldo(1989), Madrid-Barela(1973), Chin
(1991) and my "Colonization",unpublishedmanuscript.
3. I have developedthese ideasfurtherin Lugones(1987).

REFERENCES

Anzaldua,Gloria.1987.Borderlands/la frontera.San Francisco:Spinsters/AuntLuteBook

Company.
Chin, Frank.1991. Come all ye Asian Americanwriters.In Thebigaiiieee!An anthology
of ChineseAmericanandJapaneseAmericanliterature, ed. JeffreyChan. New York:
Meridian.
Lugones,Maria. 1987. Playfulness,"world"-travelling, and loving perception.Hypatia
2(2): 3-19.
Essaysin pluralistfeminism.Binghamton:
.Forthcoming. Pilgrimages/peregrinajes:
SUNY Press.
Madrid-Barela, Arturo.1973. In searchof the authenticpachuco.Aztlan4(1): 31-60.
Mendez-M.,Miguel. 1979. Peregrinos de Aztlan.Berkeley:EditorialJustaPublications.
Rosaldo,Renato. 1989. CultureandTruth.Boston:BeaconPress.