Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017

The Poetic Politics of Chicana & Black Women’s Poetry

Sarah Hethershaw Southwestern University Texas Alpha Chapter

Vol. 2(1), 2017 Article Title: The Poetic Politics of Chicana & Black Women’s Poetry DOI: 10.21081/AX0105 ISSN: 2381-800X Key Words: Chicana feminism, Black feminism, feminism, poetry, race, gender/women’s studies This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Author contact information is available from the Editor at [email protected].

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Article Title: The Poetic Politics of Chicana & Black Women’s Poetry DOI: 10.21081/AX0105 ISSN: 2381-800X This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The Poetic Politics of Chicana & Black Women’s Poetry

Sarah Hethershaw Southwestern University Texas Alpha Chapter

Abstract

Using feminist theoretical framework that understands power is vested in language, this analysis focuses on the ways in which poetry has helped to combat the linguistic terrorism, cultural restraints, racism, sexism, classism, and various other oppressions that seek to silence Black and Chicana feminist movements and control women’s existence in the United States. This comparison analyzes how the creation, performance, and reading/sharing of poetry is employed as a carrier of language, experience, knowledge, and history to resist internal and external cultural oppressions by dominant groups in the United States.

Key words: Chicana feminism, Black feminism, feminism, poetry, race, gender/women’s studies

“For women, then, poetry is not a luxury. seek to silence Black and Chicana feminist movements It is a vital necessity of our existence.” * and control women’s existences in the United States. This comparison analyzes how the creation, perfor- Poetry serves in recognizing multidimensional iden- mance, and reading/sharing of poetry is employed as a tities as political entities in political worlds. The poetic carrier of language, experience, knowledge, and history process rejects the separation of art and politics, and to resist internal and external cultural oppressions by instead acknowledges creativity and spirituality as vital dominant groups in the United States. components of holistic knowledge and consciousness to Focusing specifically on Chicana and Black wom- facilitate discussion of power, privilege, and oppression en’s writing allows the term “feminist” to be critically within and outside of feminist movements. As Audre examined. Feminist history is not synonymous with Lorde writes, it is vital to women’s existence. However, women’s history. Feminist movements have a significant although Chicana and Black women have been involved role in defining women’s rights, status, and perception in feminist movements for centuries, their acceptance in broader society and culture. Nevertheless, women of and inclusion in these movements has often been barred color often reject the label “feminist” because of the rac- by racism and classism inherent in White mainstream ist, classist connotations it carries. Therefore, rather than feminism. Using Chicana and Black feminist theoretical only focusing on feminist poetry, this analysis exam- framework from Gloria Anzaldúa and Audre Lorde that ines poetry written by Chicana and Black women who understands power is vested in language, this analysis may or may not claim the “feminist” title. “Third-wave focuses on the ways in which poetry has helped to com- feminism” is often thought of as the birthplace of inter- bat the linguistic terrorism, cultural restraints, racism, sectionality and the emergence of women of color into sexism, classism, and various other oppressions that feminist movements. However, both Black and Chicana 2017 Aletheia—The Alpha Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research 3

feminist movements must not be thought of as reactions are different from Black women’s experiences in the to, or branches of, mainstream White feminism. Women United States, who face specific historical legacies of of color have been involved with resistance movements slavery and segregation. Just as Chicana, Latina, and in the United States for generations. It is not by White Hispanic are not synonymous, “Black” is not a single, acceptance or recognition that the actions and accom- defined group of people. For the purposes of this anal- plishments of women of color should be recognized. ysis, “Black” is used as a term to describe anyone who By simply occupying labels of non-White and non- identifies themselves as Black, and experiences preju- male, women of color face oppression from the dominant dice due to the color of their skin. culture in the United States within social, economic, and My use of the word “poetry” draws from black fem- political opportunities, respects, and institutions. Wom- inist poet Audre Lorde’s theoretical framework that en- en of color are alienated by being in both the category of compasses both physically written and spoken poetry as “woman” and “person of color.” Nevertheless, “women” well as the poetic spirit and poetic processes of writing, cannot be carelessly lumped into a single unified class creating, performing, and reading poetry (Lorde, 1984). of people based solely on gender; hierarchies of oppres- With this understanding, poetry is an act of power, cre- sion connected to sexuality, race, and class impact the ation, and knowledge pulled from lived experience—or ways in which different women experience patriarchal theory in the flesh (Moraga & Anzaldúa, 2015). Using violence at the hands of men (and White women, who this critical framework, Anzaldúa’s concept of cono- hold racial privilege). Although the existence of patriar- cimiento questions conventional knowledge’s current chal violence upon women is universal, it is not experi- categories, classifications, and contents, advocating for enced in the same way universally. Additionally, “peo- the restructuring of knowledge through non-traditional ple of color” is not a category that can be conceptualized spiritual and creative processes such as poetry (Anz- as any non-White person who experiences oppression in aldúa, 2002). Poetry validates personal experience as le- the United States Historical institutions of colonialism, gitimate knowledge, and simultaneously produces new slavery, and racism in the United States have created ste- knowledge in individuals through consciousness raising reotypes and perceptions of different racial groups that (Moraga, 2015). In both Chicana and Black women’s influence the ways in which different races are treated. feminist movements, consciousness raising took place Thus, while Chicana women and Black women are both largely through the writing, reading, and performing of women of color who experience oppression in the Unit- poetry. Through shared community and validation of ed States, it is not to be suggested that these groups of their respective identities and experiences, Black and women do not have unique histories and perspectives. Chicana women were able to deconstruct dichotomies Examining the nuances between the manifestations of between personal lives and political issues, emotions oppression upon different groups of women from both and intellectual thought, and between abstract feminist the dominant culture (i.e., White male patriarchal cul- theory and applicable feminist practice. ture) and within marginalized groups (i.e., machismo) Through reframing hegemonic conceptions of is necessary for the study of both Black and Chicana knowledge, women’s poetry stimulated and advanced women’s resistance through poetry. social justice work by demanding the presence and need “Chicana” refers to women of Mexican descent. for women’s perspectives, histories, and thoughts to be It is different from the terms “Hispanic” or “Latina,” part of the larger discourse and mainstream knowledge. which refer to Spanish-speaking peoples and persons Through this process, language can be recognized as ac- from Latin America, respectively. “Chicana” is a term tion. New understandings of knowledge reject the idea that highlights the diversity of Mexican heritage, in- that language only serves to inspire or promote action, cluding indigenous Americans, Spanish colonizers, and rather than the act of writing being revolutionary in itself. mestizo populations (Nieto, 1997). Chicanas’ close ties To write with and from perspectives that are not male, to Mexico alienate them from hegemonic culture in the white, heterosexual, or middle-class is to break system- United States due to the language difference between ic oppression and silence by claiming an active voice English and Spanish as well as the rhetoric that portrays and meaningful presence in hegemonic society (Lorde, Mexican immigrants as “illegal” “aliens.” Hence, Chi- 1984). Through the poetry produced in both Black and cana women’s lived experiences in the United States Chicana feminist movements, these women bring their 2017 Poetic Politics of Chicana & Black Women’s Poetry 4

spiritual strength and resilience to life through celebrat- social hierarchies that devalue Chicana existence (Anz- ing language, history, and self-worth. aldúa, 1987). Themes of emphasizing and celebrating Chicana feminism is rooted in the political con- ancestry and heritage as well as the promotion of self- sciousness, activism, and resistance of the Chicano worth and agency are prevalent within Chicana poetry, movement of the 1960s and 70s, but sought to widen operating to give name to their various oppressions and political and social consciousness to include the expe- effectively carve space for the Chicana perspective in riences of women through examining intersections of mainstream literature and discourse. Black feminist race, class, and gender (Córdova, 1994; Nieto, 1997). poetry does many of the same things; however, Black In doing this work, Chicanas face resistance from both women’s poetry is unique to Black women’s experienc- dominant, White Anglo culture as well as alienation es, cultures, and histories. Legacies of institutionalized and accusations of undermining solidarity from within slavery, racism, and the systematic commodification of Chicano communities (Córdova, 1994). Facing oppres- black women’s bodies differ from the ways in which the sion from these various fronts, the Chicana identity is Spanish Conquest and institutionalized racism affect grounded in what Anzaldúa names “border culture” Chicana communities (hooks, 2015). Themes of tradi- (Anzaldúa, 1987). Both physical and psychological, bor- tion and strength inherited from foremothers and shared derland cultures consist of the tensions, collisions, and among sisters are prevalent themes in both Chicana relations between cultural, linguistic, or various “other- and Black feminist poetry, as well as the declaration of ing” factors such as sexuality, gender, or class that create agency over the self by redefining the value of “dark” split-consciousness for individuals in between groups in bodies that have been hypersexualized, demonized, and a transitional nepantla state of being/bridging commu- degraded by White society. nities and multidimensional identities (Anzaldúa, 2002). Celebration of ancestry and heritage within Chicana A “borderland” split of consciousness is not unique to poetry is largely tied to physical land and nature as well Chicana women, however. Black women’s identities as the knowledge, strength, resilience, and the spiritual- and relations to themselves, their communities, and to ity of Chicanos/Chicanas, particularly through maternal dominant White culture have been formed by living in lineage and the passing of language and culture through a racist White society that systemically denies Black mothers and grandmothers. Black and Chicana poets, by women of their histories and voices. Additionally, the virtue of their intersectional identities, do not or cannot patriarchal structure within Black communities denies separate political issues from the realm and experiences Black women of their gender identity in the name of of personal life (Moraga, 2015). Chicana poets specifi- anti-racist solidarity (hooks, 2015). The fragmentation cally craft their diverse linguistic backgrounds to work of the mind and consciousness that results from having towards fighting for social justice through the lyrics of to constantly deny aspects of one’s identity results in their poems (Herrera-Sobek & Viramontes, 1996). The split consciousness. Although painful, this split is not combined use of Spanish, English, and sometimes Na- necessarily destructive; the liminality of living in and huatl in Chicana poetry is used to explore and engage between communities or aspects of one’s identity allows the extent of Chicana identity and history. Anzaldúa for a deeper understanding of consciousness to draw on does this through her writing and poetry: inner strength and creativity to enact “internal shifts and external changes” (Anzaldúa, 2002). This land was Mexican once, Chicana poetry is born of the struggles of living in was Indian always and among physical and psychological borderlands. The and is. physical border between Mexico and the United States And will be again. is founded upon the seizure of Mexican land through White, capitalist exploitation; linguistic barriers be- Yo soy un Puente tendido tween English, Spanish, and Indigenous languages be- del mundo gabacho al del mojado, come borderlands founded on cultural difference and lo pasado me estirá pa’ trás racism through linguistic terrorism; and legacies of the y lo presente pa’ ‘delante. Spanish Conquest create psychological borderlands by Que la Virgen de Guadalupe me cuide the systematic establishment of racialized power and Ay ay ay, soy Mexicana de este lado.1 2017 Aletheia—The Alpha Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research 5

The combination of Spanish and English visually and Feminist poetry emphasizes that “to transform yourself, textually provides the division between the United you need the help (the written or spoken word) of those States and Mexican border. Additionally, Anzaldúa who have crossed before you” (Anzaldúa, 2002, pp. 557). takes a political stance by pulling from her linguistic Ancestry goes beyond geographic space to encompass heritage—she employs the Spanish language without the knowledge, creativity, and work of women that is translation or explanation. The poem challenges domi- passed through generations of mothers, sisters, friends, nant English-speaking culture in the United States and and other women. Appreciating women as carriers of ties her to the land that was taken from her ancestors knowledge and culture solidifies women’s presence and (Herrera-Sobek & Viramontes, 1996). power in history and acknowledges the oppressions that Black women’s language possesses the same pow- enforced silence and struggle: er to challenge dominant, White English and cultur- al practices (Combahee River Collective, 2014). The I am a white girl gone brown to the blood color notion of song (lyric and poetry) that is closely tied of my mother speaking for her to Black women’s spirituality and resistance has been partially shaped by slavery and the fact that histori- as it should be cally, Black women were not allowed to read or write dark women come to me (Walker, 1994). Thus, poetry became a vital necessity sitting in circles of Black women’s existence; using language to define, I pass through their hands name, and speak for themselves, Black women’s resis- the head of my mother tance manifested itself through lyric, song, and poetry to painted in clay colors develop a unique Black voice to reclaim the language which had been instrumental in silencing them (Lorde, touching each carved feature 1987). Black feminist poet Ntozake Shange rejects using swollen eyes and mouth “correct” English and instead writes in a language that they understand the explosion the splitting mirrors spoken word. Shange compares the manipula- open contained within the fixed expression tion and creation of a new English language to a new identity for Black women—emerging with crowns on they cradle her silence their heads and acknowledging ancestors who “didn’t nodding to me3 make it,” but displaying optimism for the future: Chicana feminist author Cherríe Moraga inherits the rappin’ a English we make up as we go along words unspoken by her mother contained in the knowl- turnin’ nouns into verbs braids into crowns edge of the head, which is painted in the “clay colors” and always fetchin’ dreams from a horizon of the earth to represent a connection to both maternal strewn with bones and flesh of those of us ancestry, indigenous ancestry, and a mother-earth fig- who didn’t make it whose smiles and deep ure. Moraga shares these knowledges with the circle of dark eyes help us to continue to see women she is surrounded by, encouraged to speak for there’s so much life here.2 her mother and herself. Similarly, Alice Walker explores Black ancestry and the importance of black foremother Reclaiming language goes hand in hand with reclaiming figures in her essay “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” land; both Black and Chicana histories have been colo- discussing how the history of Black resistance (spiritual nized by dominant White erasure, and the physical land and physical) from her foremothers enabled her to find stolen or lost from these communities of women through her “garden,” (connecting to both the mother-earth as the Spanish Conquest and slavery display the origin of well as her female ancestors) as her place and voice in the split in consciousness of Black and Chicana women. the contemporary Black feminist movement and society The physical seizure, domination, or control of as a whole (Walker, 1994). land and language by hegemonic White forces parallels Black and Chicana feminist poetry movements the psychological colonization and silencing of Indig- sought to redefine what it meant to be not only Black enous, Mexican, and Black women (Córdova, 1994). and Chicana, but Black and Chicana women. In defining 2017 Poetic Politics of Chicana & Black Women’s Poetry 6

their realities and experiences with their own language nist movements, Black women redefined the meaning of and definitions, the women of these movements rejected their strength and reclaimed their active voice in existing stereotypical narratives prescribed onto them by dom- beyond the definitions of their oppression by reclaim- inant society (Combahee River Collection, 2014; Cór- ing ties to motherhood and being mothers of all life: dova, 1994). Chicana poetry challenges the rhetoric and belief that framed the downfall of Chicano men as orig- I was born in the congo inating with the creation of mestizo people by women I walked to the fertile crescent and built passively surrendering themselves and their people to the sphinx their conquerors (Córdova, 1994). The idea of the pas- I designed a pyramid so tough that a star sive Chicana woman is rejected, replaced by women re- that only glows every one hundred years falls claiming their sexual, political, and social agency over into the center giving divine perfect light themselves as valuable members of their communities. I am bad Chicana poet Alma Villanueva discusses these themes in her poem “I Sing to Myself”: I sat on the throne drinking nectar with allah I will swallow you whole and I got hot and sent an ice age to europe accept and transform you to cool my thirst till you melt My oldest daughter is nefertiti in my mouth. (you/man only the tears from my birth pains bit the apple: created the nile you must swallow I am a beautiful woman.5 death— I/woman give birth: Author Nikki Giovanni ties Black women back to the and this time to beginning of history, and throughout the poem continues myself).4 to place Black women in the place of historical events and figures; in doing this, Giovanni asserts Black wom- The woman in this poem is active and present. The allu- en’s presence in their own terms, rather than dominant sion to the apple, from the biblical tree of knowledge, is perceptions of Black women/people only existing in only bitten by the man; the woman herself is holding the relation to colonialism or through relations with White man in her mouth, ultimately, containing all knowledge. history. With this knowledge, the woman then gives birth—to Black and Chicana women write, create, and live herself, a new self. This new self and new life are pro- within intersectional identities which help define the duced from an old life of struggle and strife, yet “The social, political, and economic realities of living in the new life brings a sense of hope and strength to the old margins of hegemonic White culture. Yet although these life and makes an identification and linkage between the external forces affect the realities of Black and Chicana new and the old life . . . [Bringing] hope and optimism women, they are not solely defined by their oppressions; for a better future. Motherhood, then, is perceived as a Moraga writes that for women of color, “spirituality creative process and equated with writing poetry, [and] does not come from outside ourselves. It emerges when being born again” (Herrera-Sobek & Viramontes, 1996). we listen to the ‘small still voice’ within us which can For Black women, cultural perceptions of motherhood empower us to create actual change in the world” (Mor- were largely centered on the romanticization of Black aga, 2015, pp. 195). Thus, writing and creating poetry women’s strength; as “mammies” and domestic matriar- can be understood as spirituality, and spirituality can be chal figures, the idea of a “strong, Black woman” perme- understood to not be mutually exclusive with politics, ated popular rhetoric (hooks, 2015). This became harm- intellect, or knowledge. Instead, spirituality becomes a ful in the development of the myth that Black women revolutionary force for women along the path of cono- were already liberated, confusing liberation and being cimiento, finding and reclaiming their voice and knowl- strong in the face of oppression with overcoming op- edge to enact larger social change. Lorde writes that the pression (hooks, 2015). However, through Black femi- “erotic,” deep, suppressed knowledge found in the life- 2017 Aletheia—The Alpha Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research 7 force of women and women’s creativity is the power to 2. Excerpt from Shange, N. (1993) “People of Watts” in become in touch with oneself and one’s surroundings. Vibe Magazine vol 1, no 3. Vibe Media Group. This lifeforce enables women to become less willing to 3. Excerpt from Moraga, C. (2015) “For the Color of My accept powerlessness, resignation, despair, self-efface- Mother,” In Moraga, C. & Anzaldúa, G. (Eds.). This ment, depression, and self-denial (Lorde, 1984). Anz- Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. Albany: State University of New York Press. aldúa also writes on the spiritual power of poetry and 4. Except from Villanueva, A. (1977). “I Sing to Myself” women’s knowledge, asserting that writing requires a in Bloodroot. Place of Herons Press. complete trust and belief in herself, her ideas, and her 5. Excerpt from Giovanni, N. (1972). “Ego Tripping spirit: “I cannot separate writing from any part of my (There May be a Reason Why).” In My House. Morrow. life. It is all one” (Anzaldúa , 1987, pp. 73). Dividing art, spirituality, intellect, politics, and per- References sonal life as completely separate spheres is to imagine the complex, fluid identities of Black and Chicana wom- Anzaldúa, G. (2002). Now let us shift…the path of cono- en as one-dimensional and stagnant. Black and Chicana cimiento…inner work, public acts. In G. Anzaldúa & identities are multidimensional and versatile—acting as A. Keating (Eds), This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation (pp. 540-576). New York: bridges between cultural, linguistic, national, racial, and Psychology Press. ethnic groups. However, Black women’s identities, his- Anzaldúa, G. (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera: The New tories, and cultural practices and traditions are obviously Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books. different from Chicana experiences; it is not enough to The Combahee River Collective. (2014). A Black Feminist merely group non-White women together as women “of Statement. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 42, 271–280. color” and pretend that they experience gender, racial, Córdova, T. (1994). Roots and Resistance: The Emer- linguistic, sexual, or classist oppressions in the same way. gent Writings of Twenty Years of Chicana Feminist Although used for similar means and containing similar Struggle. In N. Kanellos & C. Esteva-Fabregat (Eds.), themes, Black and Chicana poetry and poetic processes Handbook of Hispanic Cultures in the United States: are built upon different histories and cultures that make Sociology (pp. 174-202). Houston: Arte Público Press. Giovanni, N. (1972). “Ego Tripping (There May be a Rea- each movement unique to the creative and spiritual na- son Why).” In My House. Morrow. tures of Black and Chicana women. This attests to the Herrera-Sobek, M. & Viramontes, H.M. (Eds.). (1996). adaptability of poetry as an accessible medium for ev- “Introduction.” In Chicana Creativity and Criticism: eryone to develop feminist theory, raise consciousness, New Frontiers in American Literature (pp. 1-42). Uni- share experience, and resist oppressions by breaking si- versity of New Mexico Press. lences. The breaking of women’s silence is imperative hooks, b. (2015) Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Fem- for the future of Black and Chicana feminist movements inism. New York: Routledge. as well as society as a whole, for “it is not difference Lorde, A. (1984). Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. which immobilizes us, but silence” (Lorde, 1984, pp. Crossing Press. 44). Through continuing dialogue and discussion among Moraga, C. & Anzaldúa, G. (Eds.) (2015). This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. groups of women (and men), and by building on the tra- Albany: State University of New York Press. ditions of women’s poetry and resistance, fear, hatred, Nieto, C. (1997). The Chicana and the Women’s Rights oppression, and injustice born and perpetuated by igno- Movement. In A. M. García (Ed.), Chicana Feminist rance and silence can be deconstructed, dismantled, and Thought: The Basic Historical Writings (pp. 206-212). reformed. New York: Routledge. Shange, N. (1993) “People of Watts” in Vibe Magazine vol 1, no 3. Vibe Media Group. Notes Villanueva, A. (1977). “I Sing to Myself” in Bloodroot. Place of Herons Press. *From Lorde, A. (1984). Sister Outsider: Essays and Walker, A. (1994) “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens.” In Speeches. Crossing Press. A. Mitchell (Ed.), Within the Circle: An Anthology of 1. Excerpt from Anzaldúa, G. (1987). Borderlands/La African American Literary Criticism from the Harlem Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Renaissance to the Present (pp. 401-409). Durham: Books. Drake University Press.