Anzaldúa, Gloria (1987). “La herencia de Coatlicue.” In Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Spinsters/Aunt Lute.

Summary:

Anzaldúa discusses her psyche’s coping and crossings of/between separations of self and the collective power over the self of each inner self.

Keywords: Culture, Cultural Rhetorics, De/Postcolonial

Quotations:

“There are many defense strategies that the self uses to escape the agony of inadequacy and I have used all of them. I have split from and disowned those parts of myself that others rejected. I have used rage to drive others away and to insulate myself against exposure. I have reciprocated contempt for those who have roused shame in me. I have internalized rage and contempt, one part of the self (the accusatory, persecutory, judgmental) using defense strategies against another part of the self (the object of contempt)” (45).

“The soul uses everything to further its own making” (46).

“Every increment of consciousness, every step forward is a travesía, a crossing. I am again an alien in new territory…. Knowledge makes me more aware, it makes me more conscious. “Knowing” is painful because after “it” happens I can’t stay in the same place and be comfortable. I am no longer the person I was before” (48).