Fleshing the spirit: spirituality and activism in Chicana, Latina, and indigenous women ’ s lives (original) (raw)
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Fleshing the Spirit: Spirituality and Activism in Chicana, Latina, and Indigenous Women's Lives, 2014
This anthology foregrounds scholarly, activist, and creative refl ections on spirit, spirituality, and "spiritual activism" (Anzaldúa 2002a) from the perspectives of Chicana, Latina, and Indigenous women. We, the coeditors Elisa Facio and Irene Lara, have been studying Chicana, Latina, and Indigenous women's spiritualities and, just as significantly, living our own spiritualities since the 1990s. Through our distinct yet interweaving paths as spiritually identified Chicana scholar-activists from working-class backgrounds, we are committed to decolonizing the academy that largely devalues or misunderstands spirituality, both as a serious academic topic and as an integral aspect of being alive. We have encountered many others who are also committed to a life of inquiry , teaching, writing, cultural activism, or social justice that values a spiritual perspective and praxis grounded in the decolonial histories, politics, and dynamic cultures of our Indigenous and mestiza/o ancestors and in solidarity with Indigenous people and people of color, across constructed "races" and "nations." Built on the supposition that spirituality often plays a decolonizing role in creating meaning, inspiring action, and supporting healing and justice in our communities, this anthology contributes to an emerging body of knowledge focused on voicing and understanding spirituality through an intersectional, interdisciplinary, and nonsectarian lens. Although they are widely perceived to be a religious or spiritual group, until recently there have been few works that address the gendered, sexualized, classed, and racialized spiritualities of Chicanas, Latinas, and Indigenous women, particularly through their own voices.
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A Chicana Mother-Daughter Spiritual Praxis
The Chicana Motherwork Anthology , 2019
When I started my dissertation work on Chicana mother-daughter pedagogies, I was looking for Chicana first-generation college students who considered their mothers to be integral to their educational success. 1 I was interested in documenting the teaching and learning practices of immigrant mothers who had little formal education but had raised high-achieving daughters who were now professors or in doctoral programs. I wanted to disrupt the narrative that Chicana immigrant mothers do not care about their children's education by showing how these mothers envisioned higher education for their daughters, despite never being part of that world themselves. This was my story after all; my mother did not attend college, yet I know that without her, I would not have gone on to pursue higher education. The daughters in my research were all raised in predominantly Latinx working-class communities in Los Angeles, and the mothers were all immigrants from Mexico. 2 They immigrated to escape poverty or abusive relationships, or to support their families financially. When I sat down with the mothers, they all spoke about the substantial role religion played in raising their daughters. Many attributed their daughters' educational success to Dios. 3 The daughters ranged in