Border Theory

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Gloria Anzaldua Conference

10 October, 2008 in Border Theory, Borders, Culture, Feminism, Identity, Identity Politics, Queer, Religion, Research, Theology by Robyn | No comments

Lets reunite in Texas

Proposals for conference about the life and work of Gloria Anzaldua

Hello Comadres,
The SSGA is currently holding a call for proposals for our May 2009 conference titled El Mundo Zurdo: An International Conference on the Work and Life of Gloria E. Anzaldúa. Below is a flyer with more information and you may contact us via gloria.anzaldua.society@gmail.com or visit our pages at
myspace.com/gloriaanzalduasociety or www.ssganzaldua.org/.
Thank you,
Magda Garcia

El Mundo Zurdo: An International Conference on the Work and Life of Gloria E. Anzaldúa Sponsored by The Society for the Study of Gloria E. Anzaldúa (SSGA) and the Women’s Studies Institute at the University of Texas at San Antonio May 16-17, 2009.

Call for Proposals
The Society for the Study of Gloria E. Anzaldúa seeks submission of proposals for papers, panels of 3-4 papers, roundtables, workshops, or performances for its First International Conference on the work and life of Gloria E. Anzaldúa on the fifth anniversary of her passing.

We welcome proposals involving all facets of Anzaldúa’s life and work.  The following tracks are merely suggested conceptual groupings for panel and performance presentations:

  • BORDERS-explorations of border theory, borderlands ethos and other concepts of Anzaldúan thought focused on this key concept of her work
  • GENDER AND SEXUALITY STUDIES-el mundo zurdo and the atravesados, key
    to Anzaldúa’s thinking and application of her philosophical work
  • EDUCATION-pedagogical concerns surrounding her literary and
    philosophical works. Some questions that may arise: what are some
    challenges of teaching Anzaldúa? How does Anzaldúa’s thought apply to
    teaching?
  • INTERNATIONAL AND TRANFRONTERA-The effects of globalization and
    market economies on culture. What is the status of Anzaldúa studies
    at the international level?
  • SPIRITUALITY-Explorations of Anzaldúa’s spiritual teachings. How can
    we heal the earth and ourselves?

Guidelines
Proposals must include the following:

  • 250-word proposal narrative
  • 100-word abstract suitable for publication in the conference program
    book
  • Submissions for Panels must include proposals and abstracts for each
  • paper and the name, address, phone number(s), e-mail address, and
    institutional affiliation of each participant
  • Audio/visual needs
  • Contact person’s name, address, phone number(s), e-mail address, and
    institutional affiliation

All materials must be electronically date-stamped by February 15,
2009. Proposers will be notified of acceptance by March 15, 2009.
Questions about the submission process may be sent to:
gloria.anzaldua.society@gmail.com

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realidad

26 September, 2008 in Border Theory, Culture, Feminism, Identity Politics, Life, Queer, Theology by Robyn | No comments

Esta es mi realidad for sure…yet, mi realidad is my life and I love my life! It is ceratinly different than when I traversed la frontera, but now I traverse other borders…I share with you la sabiduría of Anzaldúa.

Anzaldúa escribes:

Cuando vives en la frontera
people walk through you, wind steals your voice,
you’re a burra, buey, scapegoat
forerunner of a new race,
half and half - both woman and man, neither-
a new gender;

To live in the Borderlands means to
put chile in the borscht
eat whole wheat tortillas
speak Tex-Mex with a Brooklyn accent;
be stopped by la migra at the border check points…

Es la verdad, si?!  Claro que si! Necesitas leer Anzaldúa ahora!  This is what it means to speak about God from more than one place and to follow Jesus in and around the border, at the margins of life which are teeming with the joys of the world.

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The politics of “immigration” and the reality of Oligarchy

22 January, 2008 in Anthropology, Border Theory, Borders, Politics by Robyn | No comments

Strongly believing in Free Speech, AlterNet is one of the main places where I go to get my Leftest and critical spin on the news.  I invite you to check out what recently came into my scope of reading this morning!

If you believe the Bible is the word of God — and especially if you believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God — you must believe this:

Leviticus (19:33-4):”And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself.”

It would be interesting to know how the “God said it-I believe it-that settles it” crowd would square this admonition with their blood lust to round up 12 million people and send them back to Mexico.

Speaking of fantastical thinking, has anybody calculated the cost of deporting 12 million people, housing them (in concentration camps, assumedly), processing them and then shipping them across the border? If it is, say, $3,000 per person, then the cost to U.S. taxpayers would be $36 billion. (If we outsource it to Halliburton, multiply that by a thousand.)

What Americans see as a domestic illegal immigration crisis is, in reality, an economic diaspora of unskilled workers fleeing ancient structural flaws ingrained into the Mexican political and economic system — which are compounded by a religious abhorrence for birth control among the people of the exodus.

Mexico is, in effect, the sort of oligarchy Republican economic and social policies are designed to create in the United States: A tiny elite group of people and corporations who control the country’s vast reserves of wealth and resources sits on top of a weak and struggling middle class, which in turn rests on a population of tens of millions of people who are poor, uneducated and easily manipulated.

The Mexican oligarchy profits from the exodus, as does the Bush oligarch wannabes: The influx of millions of unskilled laborers, combined with the defenestrating of U.S. jobs overseas, weakens the American labor movement, which, in turn, strengthens domestic corporations and oligarchs.

A question from a conservative published in a recent edition of the popular column, “Ask a Mexican,” points to an aspect of the crisis that is rarely discussed:

Why doesn’t Mexico have [the] drive toward technology and math/science education that has virtually transformed India? India doesn’t even have the mass economy like China, but they have billions and billions of dollars because of their brains. Mexico doesn’t produce labor other than the kind that will scrub, wash, press and cut grass.

Leaving aside the rightwing cultural bias, the larger question is on target. Why won’t the Mexican government do as the Indian government has done and educate its underclasses?

Why should they?

For one thing, the Mexican government does not view the U.S. illegal immigration crisis as a crisis because, from their point of view, it isn’t a problem, it is a solution. They have shifted the burden of caring for millions of their poor, unskilled people to the United States.

For another, educating its masses would actually weaken the Mexican regime because, unlike India’s democratic government, the Mexican oligarchy (rightly) views a strong middle class as a threat.

If this illegal immigration crisis is ever going to end, it won’t be resolved by the political parties in the United States playing rope-a-dope with each other — although Republicans will try to use it for their short-term political gain in the general election this year. The crisis will only be settled when the United States government forces the Mexican government to take responsibility for its people by feeding, clothing and, especially, educating them.

Until that happens, if it ever does, we have no other practicable option but to follow the biblical injunction and treat these people as our own. Restricting them from healthcare and education, as rightwing Christians insist on doing, will only exacerbate the problem by creating the ideal conditions for crime, domestic terrorism, deadly epidemics that spread like wildfire into the general population and worse.

Jon Ponder is regular blogger for the Pensito Review

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