The Presence and Development of Transnational Feminism in Latin America

Curated by Hulda Flores

Course Overview

“We women have a similar nightmare, for each of us in some way has been both oppressed and the oppressor” (Morage 32). From the movement of ideas through increased global connections, the results raise concerns of inequality experienced worldwide. These concerns raise questions about the development of transnational feminism and its impacts on different locations as necessary to analyze and deeply think about.

This class is meant to be an introductory course focusing on Latin America and debates that have entered and formed on their own about transnational feminism and international influences. Readings will focus on the intersectionality of identities that many align themselves with factors such as race, gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality, and religion. Furthermore, the identities mentioned will be analyzed to showcase the inequalities and challenges that cross borders in Latin America and in other parts of the world. This class will build over time to introduce transnational feminism and the debates concerning the body, representation, hypermasculinity, neo-liberalism, colorism, and revolutions. Likewise, the class will focus on the lives of people in Latin America and how they have fought against inequality, imperialism, and western influence. Culture is an important factor to understand the lives, beliefs, and actions of people practicing their own agency, leading to the rejection of western influence and the tension for women to claim the title of being a feminist in their location. The sources to be analyzed will vary from scholarships, poetry, works of fiction, and visuals that are Latnix-based or theory-based. As a class, the goal is to engage in interesting discussions that expand on previous knowledge and introduce new thoughts that challenges one’s thinking.

Course Schedule

Week 1

Introduction to Transnational Feminism and Key Concepts

  • Abeysekera, S, “Transnational Feminisms.” Gender: The Key Concepts, edited by Mary Evans and Carolyn Williams. Routledge Key Guides,2012, pp. 208-215
  • Crenshaw, Kimberlé, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.” Stanford Law Review, vol. 43, no. 6, 1991, pp. 1241–1299


Week 2

The Development of Latin America Feminism

  • Alarcon Norma, “Chicana’s Feminist Literature: A Re-Vision Through Malintzin/ or Malintzin: Putting Flesh Back on the Object” Moraga, Cherríe, and Anzaldúa, Gloria. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. 2nd ed., Kitchen Table, Women of Color Press, 1983, pp.182-190
  • Gargallo Francesca, “Multiple Feminism: Feminist Ideas and Practices in Latina America” Femenías, María Luisa., and Oliver, Amy. Feminist Philosophy in Latin America and Spain. Rodopi, 2007, pp.73-86


Week 3

Interactions with the Western World and Voices of Women

  • Grewal Kiran, “RECLAIMING THE VOICE OF THE ‘THIRD WORLD WOMAN’”, Interventions, 14:4, 2012, pp. 569-590
  • Inderpal Grewal & Kaplan Caren (1994) “Introduction: Introduction: Transnational Feminist Practices and Questions of Postmodernity” Scattered Hegemonies: Postmodernity and Transnational Feminist Practice, University of Minnesota Press, 1994, pp. 1-36


Week 4

The Influence of Machismo Culture & Hypermasculinity

  • Díaz, Junot, “Ysrael” Drown, Riverhead Books, 1996, pp.3-20
  • Díaz, Junot “Drown” Drown, Riverhead Books, 1996, pp.91-97
  • Gutmann, Matthew, The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City (Men and masculinity) Berkeley, Calif. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1996, pp.221-242


Week 5

The Movement of Women and Labor Crossing International Borders

  • Anderson, Bridget “Just Another Job? The Commodification of Domestic Labor.” Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy, Henry Holt, 2004, pp.104-114.
  • Nigorizawa Holly, Hua, and Julietta, “US Sex Trafficking, Women’s Human Rights and the Politics of Representation”, International Feminist Journal of Politics, 12:3-4, 2010, pp. 401-423
  • MAID IN AMERICA, Directed by Anayansi Prado, Perf. Eva, Telma and Judith, Producer Kevin Leadingham, Independent Lens, PBS, 2005


Week 6

The State and Control over Bodies

  • Htun, Mala, “Reforming Women’s Rights Under Military Dictatorship” Htun, Mala. Sex and the State: Abortion, Divorce, and the Family under Latin American Dictatorships and Democracies. Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp.58-77
  • Htun Mala, “Why Hasn’t Abortion Been Decriminalized in Latin America?” Htun, Mala. Sex and the State: Abortion, Divorce, and the Family under Latin American Dictatorships and Democracies. Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp.142-171
  • MILES CHILE, Abortion Tutorial "Stairs" #LEYabortoTERAPÉUTICO, YouTube, April 11, 2015


Week 7

Color and Representation of Women in Latin America

  • Storni Alfonsina, “Tú Me Quieres Blanca” (You Want Me White)
  • Translation of “Tu Me Quieres Blanca”: Espaillat, Rhina P., translator. "Translation by Rhina P. Espaillat." String Poet, 27 May 2001, www.stringpoet.com/2011/05/translation-by-rhina-espaillat/.
  • Bueno Paulino Eva, “Race, Gender, and the Politics of Reception of Latin American Testimonios” Amireh, Amal, and Majaj, Lisa Suhair. Going Global: the Transnational Reception of Third World Women Writers. Garland, 2000, pp.115-147


Week 8

The Multiple Identities of Latin American Women & LGBTQ+ acceptance

  • Anzaldúa Evangelina Gloria, “Fear of Going Home: Homophobia” Borderlands: the New Mestiza = La Frontera, Fourth edition, 25th anniversary. ed., 2012, pp.41-42
  • Moraga Cherríe, “La Güera” Moraga, Cherríe, and Anzaldúa, Gloria. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, 2nd ed., Kitchen Table, Women of Color Press, 1983, pp.27-34
  • Quintanales Mirtha, “I Paid Very Hard for My Immigrant Ignorance” Moraga, Cherríe, and Anzaldúa, Gloria. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, 2nd ed., Kitchen Table, Women of Color Press, 1983, pp.150-156


Week 9

Latin America Revolutions: Female Agency and Rights

  • GÓMEZ, ALAN ELADIO. “PUENTE DE CRISTAL (CRYSTAL BRIDGE): MAGDALENA MORA, THE 1975 TOLTECA STRIKE, AND INSURGENT FEMINISM.” The Revolutionary Imaginations of Greater Mexico: Chicana/o Radicalism, Solidarity Politics, and Latin American Social Movements, University of Texas Press, Austin, 2016, pp. 173–200
  • Kampwirth Karen, “From Feminine Guerrillas to Feminist Revolutionaries” Feminism and the Legacy of Revolution: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chiapas Ohio University Press, 2004, pp.1-18
  • Kampwirth Karen, “Feminism and Revolutionary Movements in Comparative Perspective” Feminism and the Legacy of Revolution: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chiapas Ohio University Press, 2004, pp.165-196


Week 10

Closing Class: Moving Ahead and Goals of Transnational Feminism in Latin America

  • Anzaldúa Evangelina Gloria, “To live in Borderlands means you” Borderlands: the New Mestiza = La Frontera, Fourth edition, 25th anniversary. ed, 2012, pp.216-217
  • Klarén-Castro Sara, “Writing with his thumb in the air” Colonialism past and Present Reading and Writing about Colonial Latin America Today, 2007 pp. 261-287
  • Schutte Ofelia, “Postmodernity and Utopia: Reclaiming Feminist Groups on New Terrains” Femenías, María Luisa., and Oliver, Amy. Feminist Philosophy in Latin America and Spain, Rodopi, 2007, pp. 137-148