Lexington Books Communal Feminisms: Chicanas, Chilenas, and Cultural Exile

Product Description Communal Feminisms explores identity and exile from three different perspectives: theory, interviews, and imaginative literature. The first part of this book describes and defines exile within identity; the second part delivers ten interviews and examines the socio-historical construction of exile through feminine Chicano literature and Chilean literature created and circulated during the Pinochet regime; and the third part contains a collection of unpublished, original works from each author interviewed. Including the interviews and creative works in both English and Spanish, Dr. Gabriella Gutierrez y Muhs emphasizes the need to publish bilingual works, without alienating English readers. This uniquely crafted collection will appeal to scholars across disciplines. Review An accessible, enjoyable collection of interviews and creative pieces. The previously unpublished interviews are dynamic and illuminating, and the creative work (also previously unpublished) speaks for itself. Recommended.--CHOICE Communal Feminisms breaks new ground in the breadth of issues covered and implications across disciplinary fields. One of these fields is psychology, with the issues on identity and self and other perception, issues that are part of psychology in general, but which often lack a global and intercultural perspective within that field. It has implications for Women's Studies, a discipline in which the word 'women' usually refers to the experiences and perceptions of white women and the experiences of Women of Color, especially in the United States, are often ignored. In the fields of Literature, Rhetoric, and English the stories of racial identity and of the rhetoric of diversity still follow a mainstream perspective; this book will challenge that perspective. In the field of Ethnic Studies, this book will facilitate discussions on the intersections of race and gender. The book also crosses fields of sociology, political science, and communication. It is a good resource for scholars and students.--Yolanda Flores Niemann, Washington State University Dr. Gutierrez y Muhs' book is an amazing representation of what it means for women of Hispanic descent to experience a gendered version of what W.E.B. DuBois referred to as double-consciousness . . . [that] sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. It might be posited that Dr. Gutierrez renders narratives more befitting the label 'triple-consciousness' in relation to her contributing authors. The true gift of this book is that readers are able to live experientially what Dr. Gutierrez calls 'extentity' by placing themselves within the narratives of the contributing authors. This is an amazing must-read book that has important cultural import at the helm of the twenty-first century.--Mary-Antoinette Smith, Seattle University About the Author Gabriella Gutierrez y Muhs is professor of modern languages and literatures and women's studies at Seattle University.