RICE UNIVERSITY Nepantlería of Self: The Supernatural and the Soul in an Anzaldúan World of Motion By Stefan Ray Sanchez A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE Master of Arts APPROVED, THESIS COMMITTEE Claire Fanger Associate Professor, Director of M.A. Studies William B Parsons (Mar 29, 2020) William Parsons Professor Jeffrey J. Kripal Jeffrey J. Kripal (Mar 31, 2020) Jeffrey Kripal J Newton Rayzor Professor HOUSTON, TEXAS May 2020 Abstract The writings of Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa are greatly influential in Chicanx and Southwest Studies, with her work being recognized for its value in feminist and queer theory; art, culture, and literary criticism; and the portrayal of a uniquely and unapologetically Mexican- American historical narrative that seeks to highlight hybridity and porousness in response to narratives of cultural purity. The latter portion of her short life and career saw her developing these ideas further, drawing from a comprehensive understanding of Western philosophy and occultism, as well as her understanding of both traditional and modern forms of Mexican shamanism to form a distinct philosophy of self. This Anzaldúan self is not immutable, but instead composed of a community of smaller spirits, which at once resemble Jungian archetypes or Freudian complexes, as well as animistic spirits which interact with and in many cases come from the wider environment outside of the individual or even outside of humanity altogether. This thesis seeks to explore the working and implications of both the Anzaldúan self, and the ecosystem in which this self exists, hence my employ of the term, “nepantlería,” used by Anzaldúa to refer to the art of navigating colliding worlds, after the Nahuatl “nepantla,” or space in between worlds. This thesis is, in Anzaldúan fashion, a work of nepantlería, as it attempts to take seriously, and make sense of this complex, dynamic, animistic ecosystem of selves which Anzaldúa herself observed. Acknowledgements I would like to first extend my thanks to the members of my graduate committee; Bill Parsons, who within an hour of meeting me told me that I had a future in this field, and that I should pursue it, and who since then has offered continual support in forms ranging from thorough essay commentaries, to kind words during accidental coffee shop encounters; Claire Fanger, the first professor I ever spoke to at Rice, who as both Director of M.A. studies and course instructor poured unthinkable amounts of time into familiarizing herself with the works of Anzaldúa, and the basic concepts of Mexican shamanism generally in order to provide round- the-clock support for my writing process at every conceivable level; and finally Jeffrey J. Kripal, who took me under his wing and encouraged me to pursue academically the strangest and most intellectually difficult aspects of my cultural background and chosen materials without prejudice. I am additionally indebted to April DeConick, who in my first semester at Rice listened to my every question and concern, sat through long conversations about my interests and source materials, and asked the precise questions I needed to be asked in order to figure out exactly what I wanted to do in my time in the M.A. program. I must also acknowledge the early and continual support of my good friend Thomas Millary, who read nearly every section of this thesis in its original conception, and spent more time than anyone discussing the base concepts that ultimately formed the thesis with me, on both academic and personal terms. His presence both as a colleague and as a friend has been invaluable in both my academic and personal growth in the last two years, and I look forward to similar progress on both fronts in the future of what is sure to be a long-lasting friendship. ii I give special thanks to my friends and colleagues Benjamin Mayo and Kyle Smith, as well as author Lupa, who provided their extended theoretical commentary and moral support throughout my writing process, and who have all fundamentally reshaped my understanding of these materials. Finally, I thank my ancestors from both Europe and the Americas, whose circumstances both good and bad ultimately allowed the authorship of this thesis, and to the memory of Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa herself, whose writing changed my life, and whose posthumous final publication has become something akin to my personal bible. To all of you, and to my readers, Contigo en la Lucha Stefan Ray Sanchez Table of Contents Introduction: Abre los Ojos .......................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1. The Power of Language: Mythic Rebellion ........................................................... 10 Chapter 2. Dismembering the Eternal: Meditations on Kierkegaard and the Anzaldúan Self ................................................................................................................................................ 22 2.1. Enter Anti-Climacus ........................................................................................................ 22 2.2. The Relation of the Self to Itself: the universal trauma ................................................ 24 2.3. A New Vision of Dismemberment ................................................................................... 34 2.4. Moving Forward in the World of Motion: the Coyolxauhqui Imperative to Heal, and the Nonhuman ......................................................................................................................... 39 Chapter 3. The Beastly, the Godly, and the In-Between ......................................................... 43 3.1. The Shadow Beast ............................................................................................................ 47 3.2. Goddesses .......................................................................................................................... 53 3.3. Ambiguity, the Nonhuman, and the human as Nonhuman .......................................... 59 Conclusion: Bolt Cutters for the Cage ...................................................................................... 66 Table of Figures Figure 1: "Santa Gloria de La Frontera" by Alma R. Gomez ....................................................... 21 1 Introduction: Abre los Ojos I’ll tell you how I became a healer. I was sick, my leg had turned white.1 --Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa, excerpt from La Curandera “Abre los ojos, North America; open your eyes, look at your shadow, and listen to your soul.”2 This is the call that author and activist Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa put out to her readership in her 2015 posthumous publication Light in the Dark/Luz en lo Oscuro: Rewriting Identity, Spirituality, Reality in response to the political and social complacency and ignorance that she observed of North American culture in the wake of 9/11. Anzaldúa passed from diabetic complications in 2004, and the book was written in the final decade of her life; she would have been writing this section, which ended up being her first chapter, shortly after the attack on the world trade center, while the cultural wounds and psychic traumas of the event were still fresh upon the American mind. Though, while this wake-up call is addressed to 9/11-era North America, this demand may sum up the general flavor of Anzaldúa’s politico-spiritual voice. She is known for her interaction with the concept of the “borderlands,” the zone along the border of the U.S. and Mexico, where she is from. Of this cultural backdrop, Anzaldúa has this to say: A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary. It is in a constant state of transition. The prohibited and forbidden are its inhabitants. Los atravesados live here: the squint-eyed, the perverse, the queer, the troublesome, the mongrel, the mulato, the half-breed, the half dead; in short, those who cross over, pass over, or go through the confines of the “normal.”3 1 Gloria E. Anzaldúa Borderlands/LaFrontera: The New Mestiza (San Francisco: Spinsters/Aunt Lute, 1987), 176. 2 Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Light in the Dark/Luz en lo Oscuro: Rewriting Identity, Spirituality, Reality, ed. AnaLouise Keating. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015), 11. 3 Gloria E. Anzaldúa Borderlands/LaFrontera: The New Mestiza (San Francisco: Spinsters/Aunt Lute,1987), 3. 2 She describes a world in turmoil, one which is constructed by hostile outside forces to stigmatize and destroy the agency of those who live within it. The hostile force, the enemy that constructs this world and the institutions which keep it in place are the principle “us” of the U.S., and indeed of North America, the people who are thought of when envisioning North America: As a starting point, Anzaldúa’s political and cultural enemies are “the whites,” or more specifically the institutional identity of white Americans as the only legitimate inhabitants of the New World.4 However, for Anzaldúa, it would be a mistake to believe that everything simply gets fixed if we simply get rid of the white-dominant culture of the US. She takes issue with the state of not just Mexican culture, but seemingly all present-state culture as machines which keep those in power in power, and keep those out of power out of power. In her words “culture is made by those in power—men. Males make the rules and laws; women transmit them.5” She describes her own cultural