Cultural and Intercultural Issues in Gloria Anzaldúa's Poetry

Abstract

In this paper I aim at looking at some of the themes that Gloria Anzaldúa approaches in her poetry. As all the authors representing and writing on behalf of the American ethnic minorities, she is especially concerned with defining the cultural identity of her people; thus, she focuses on the cultural profile of the American Chicanos and, at the same time, on the relationship of her people with the whites. The poetess is not only interested in exploring her ethnic identity, she is also preoccupied with feminism; actually, she aims at articulating the figure of the New Mestiza, the Chicana woman that fights for liberation from both the whites’ oppression and that of men. One of the recurrent concepts in Gloria Anzaldúa’s poetry is that of the border, which is explored from a(n) (inter)cultural perspective and which is used for defining the identity of the American Chicanos.