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Where We Split

Nearly 30 years after its publication Gloria E. Anzaldúa's book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza remains more relevant than ever, particularly her discussion of borderlands as more than physical boundaries. In her book, she theorizes and explores how borders can possess psychic, social, and geopolitical qualities, and in order to articulate the nuances and challenges of border-culture, she invents a new language for underrepresented poets to discuss their poetics. The goal in crafting this essay is to reclaim Anzaldúa as an author worthy of consideration for her poetics. History and bloodlines are central to Anzaldúa's argument that poetry allows for language to transform violence, or historical and bloodline traumas, into one's own new myth-making. The capacity to redefine a border and make it borderless is discussed through the works of Natalie Scenter-Zapcio and Vanessa Angélica Villarreal's poems, in addition to a few key anthologies and my own collection, which seeks to sit in ambiguities and to reclaim and affirm histories. Ultimately, conversations about the poetics of Anzaldúa and her influence on other poets should expand our discussion of American poetics. Her focus on "psychic unrest" gives power to language over ambiguity and could be greatly useful to other poets beyond the border.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1707333
Date08 1900
CreatorsParamo, Sebastian Hasani
ContributorsBond, Bruce, 1954-, Dubrow, Jehanne, Marks, Corey, 1970-
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formatvi, 91 pages, Text
RightsPublic, Paramo, Sebastian Hasani, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved.

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