Post-Borderlandia: Chicana Literature and Gender Variant Critique

189 Pages·2018·1.254 MB·English

by  T. Jackie Cuevas

Post- Borderlandia
Latinidad
Transnational Cultures in the United States
This series publishes books that deepen and expand our understand-
ing of Latina/o populations, especially in the context of their trans-
national relationships within the Americas. Focusing on borders
and boundary crossings, broadly conceived, the series is committed
to publishing scholarship in history, film and media, literary and
cultural studies, public policy, economics, sociology, and anthropol-
ogy. Inspired by interdisciplinary approaches, m ethods, and theories
developed out of the study of transborder lives, cultures, and expe-
riences, titles enrich our understanding of trans national dynamics.
Matt Garcia, Series Editor, Professor of Latin American, Latino
& Caribbean Studies, and History, Dartmouth College
For a list of titles in the series, see the last page of the book.
Post- Borderlandia

Chicana Literature and
Gender Variant Critique
T. Jackie Cuevas
Rutgers University Press
New Brunswick, Camden, and Newark, New Jersey, and London
978-0-8135-9453-8
978-0-8135-9452-1
978-0-8135-9454-5
Cataloging-in-Publication data is available from the Library of Congress.
A British Cataloging- in- Publication record for this book
is available from the British Library.
Copyright © 2018 by T. Jackie Cuevas
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University
Press, 106 Somerset Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. The only exception
to this prohibition is “fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright law.
c
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48– 1992.
www .rutgersuniversitypress .org
Manufactured in the United States of America
For the antepasadas:
Minnie
Ana
And for the next generation:
Avital

Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Gender Variance and
the Post- Borderlands 1
1.
Chicana Masculinities 27
2.
Ambiguous Chicanx Bodies 56
3.
Transing Chicanidad 77
4.
Brokeback Rancho 100
Conclusion: From a Long Line of Marimachas 118
Notes 141
Bibliography 153
Index 165
vii

Preface and Acknowledgments
The seedlings for this project emerged as poems the year Gloria E.
Anzaldúa died and morphed into the scholarly version of my hope-
ful effort to do what she called “work that matters.” Many pages of
this book were written or revised while I stared out at the waves
from my cherished spot on the Gulf of Mexico amid the laughing
gulls, brown pelicans, roseate spoonbills, and Ridley sea turtles of
Padre Island. The Gulf has always been there for me, through sev-
eral degrees, through unexpected upheavals as well as joys.
During the making of this book, my altar grew increasingly
crowded after the death of several dear friends, including several
writer friends who had urged me to write more. Ana Sisnett, Raúl
Salinas, Camile Pahwa, Chinwe Odeluga, Amy Young, Devin Zim-
merman, Laura Padilla, and Maggie Jochild left indelible marks.
And my colleagues Cynthia Hawkins and Catherine Kasper will
be missed. Ana Sisnett, in particular, would have relished holding
this book in her hands and telling me why it matters.
Ana would have keenly understood how it was not merely my
engagement with literature and queer theory but also my own
engagement with gender variance that certainly informs this work.
Like my own gender journey, this book has had many iterations
and transformations. Perhaps this book grew from being a curious
tomboy to a studious girly teen to a well-m eaning young butch to
a genderqueer butch Xicanx academic with an extensive collection
of guayaberas and wingtips.
During the course of writing this book, shifting terms and
times have made it challenging to attend to the many nuances and
ix