Anzaldúa, Gloria (1942-2004)

Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa is one of the most globally eminent and controversial Chicana writers and theorists of the 20th century. She was born on September 26, 1942, into extreme poverty in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, where she experienced sexism, racism, and classism while growing up as a Mexican American. She died on May 15, 2004, at age 62, in Santa Cruz, California. Gloria Anzaldúa obtained her BA from Pan American University and her MA from the University of Texas at Austin and worked as a teacher prior to receiving her MA in Austin and moving to California to live for the rest of her life.

Anzaldúa worked at universities throughout California as a visiting professor or invited guest speaker during most of her career. She often taught classes at the University of California in Santa Cruz for Women's Studies and other departments. As a Chicana lesbian feminist, she transformed and multiplied subjectivity for women of color, while challenging the way in which race and race relations between women of color and white women should be analyzed through her evolving notion of the “New Mestiza.” Her theories and observations about race and ethnicity have impacted many academic fields and led to the evolution of other paradigms and theories. She coedited along with Cherrie Moraga This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color in 1981 (another major Chicana lesbian writer critic and activist).

Anzaldúa wrote the revolutionizing Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987), which single-handedly changed the way in which subjectivity and identity are viewed in America and the world at large, particularly underlining issues of classism and gender and controversially highlighting and embracing her American identity. She poetically and philosophically united women of color and white feminists in her discussion about “The New Mestiza,” expanding the notion of sisterhood to a new level. She also quite successfully edited one of the most popular anthologies for women of color in 1990, Making Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Cams: Creative and Critical Perspectives by Women of Color (1990), and coedited along with Analouise Keating This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation (2002). She was also a prolific writer of books for children. Her children's books include Prietita Has a Friend (1991), Friends from the Other Side—Amigos del Otro Lado (1993), and Prietita y La Llorona (1996).

Anzaldúa is one of the most renowned and anthologized poets and creative writers in the United States. Her quotes about “the border” are ubiquitous and recognized widely, in particular her discussion about the land between the United States and Mexico being an open wound that continually rubs against the other side. Her use of the Spanish and English languages is both creative and sophisticated, inventing neologisms and Spanish words for nonexistant theoretical notions that define identity, particularly for Chicana women.

Although she was one of the most quoted American intellectuals of the 20th century, Anzaldúa died of complications from her diabetes and without institutional health insurance in 2004, on the verge of receiving her PhD from the University of California in Santa Cruz. After her passing, various Chicano organizations, such as MALCS (Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social), dedicated conferences and altars to her.

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