La conciencia de la mestiza

Here are a few quotes from Gloria Anzaldua's La conciencia de la mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness that I found quiet striking.

"A counterstance locks one into a duel of oppressor and oppressed; locked in a mortal combat, like the cop and the criminal, both are reduced to a common denominator of violence. The counterstance refutes the dominant culture's views and beliefs, and, for this, it is proudly defiant. All reaction is limited by, and dependent on, what it is reacting against. Because the counterstance stems from a problem with authority--outer as well as inner--it's a step towards liberation from cultural domination. But it is not a way of life. At some point, on our way to a new consciousness, we combatants somehow healed so that we are on both shores at once and, at once see through serpent and eagle eyes [...] The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react."

 I really liked this quote because, to me, it explains what the beginning of the journey for a mestiza could be like: you can be the hunter or the hunted. By that, I mean that you can either let yourself become a victim to the words spoken to you by your oppressors, or you could fight back and not let yourself be caught in the beak of the eagle. But in the end, that doesn't get much done. Just like it says in the end, it isn't enough to react -- this is going to send us into a cycle that never ends where we fight each other because of opposing views. Instead, we need to do something about the things that we are fighting about and find a middle ground where both of the people standing on opposing river banks can coexist without shouting at each other.

"As a mestiza, I have no country, my homeland cast me out; yet all countries are mine because I am every woman's sister or potential lover. (As a lesbian I have no race, my own people disclaim me; but I am all races because there is the queer of me in all races.) I am cultureless because, as a feminist, I challenge the collective cultural/religious male-derived beliefs of Indo-Hispanics and Anglos; yet I am culture because I am participating in the creation of yet another culture, a new story to explain the world and our participation in it, a new value with images and symbols that connect us to each other and to the planet.

This is what it means to be a mestiza. You are and you aren't part of a culture, you are not simply making yourself part of one - you are creating a whole new way of living through which you, as a mestiza will be happy. You are leaving (and at the same time experiencing) the oppression of the current culture of which you are trying to rid yourself of.

"'You are nothing but a woman'" means you are defective. Its opposite is to be un macho. The modern meaning of the word "machismo," as well as the concept, is actually an Anglo invention. For men like my father, being "macho" meant being strong enough to protect and support my mother and us, yet being able to show love. Today's macho has doubts about his ability to feed and protect his family. His "machismo" is an adaption to oppression and poverty and low self-esteem. It is the result of hierarchical male dominance. The Anglo, feeling inadequate and inferior and powerless, displaces or transfers these feelings to the Chicano by shaming him."

This is one of the things that in a world with the culture of mestiza exists, this is something that would be eliminated. I liked this quote because it shows how sexists men are so afraid of a woman who has knowledge and power and a mind of her own. And they do everything in their power to belittle that woman because their manliness or "machismo" is questioned, and in the end their self-esteem becomes lowered. When this happens, they assume their "dominance" and oppress women because of their feeling of powerlessness. In a mestiza culture, this wouldn't be much of a problem because mestizas themselves wouldn't be seen as a creature that is here to bring down the world.