The Chicana Motherwork Anthology

by Cecilia Caballero (Editor), Yvette Martínez-Vu (Editor), Judith Pérez-Torres (Editor), Michelle Téllez (Editor), Christine X Vega (Editor)

Overview

The Chicana M(other)work Anthology weaves together emerging scholarship and testimonios by and about self-identified Chicana and Women of Color mother-scholars, activists, and allies who center mothering as transformative labor through an intersectional lens. Contributors provide narratives that make feminized labor visible and that prioritize collective action and holistic healing for mother-scholars of color, their children, and their communities within and outside academia.

The volume is organized in four parts: (1) separation, migration, state violence, and detention; (2) Chicana/Latina/WOC mother-activists; (3) intergenerational mothering; and (4) loss, reproductive justice, and holistic pregnancy. Contributors offer a just framework for Chicana and Women of Color mother-scholars, activists, and allies to thrive within and outside of the academy. They describe a new interpretation of motherwork that addresses the layers of care work needed for collective resistance to structural oppression and inequality.

This anthology is a call to action for justice. Contributions are both theoretical and epistemological, and they offer an understanding of motherwork through Chicana and Women of Color experiences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780816537990
Publisher:	University of Arizona Press
Publication date:	03/19/2019
Series:	The Feminist Wire Books
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	975,241
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Cecilia Caballero is a PhD candidate in the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.

Yvette Martínez-Vu is the assistant director of the University of California, Santa Barbara, McNair Scholars Program. She is an interdisciplinary scholar with a PhD in theater and performance studies from University of California, Los Angeles.

Judith Pérez-Torres is an adjunct faculty member at California State University, Fullerton, in the College of Education. She is an interdisciplinary scholar with a PhD in educational leadership and policy from University of Utah.

Michelle Téllez is an assistant professor of Mexican American studies at the University of Arizona. She is an interdisciplinary scholar with a PhD in community studies in education from Claremont Graduate University.Christine Vega is a PhD candidate in the Social Sciences and Comparative Education Division at the University of California, Los Angles.

Table of Contents

Foreword Ana Castillo ix

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction: Una Ofrenda para las Madres 3

Part I Separation, Migration, State Violence, and Detention

1 Gang-Affiliated Chicana Teen Momma Against Systemic Violence: A Testimonio Challenging Dominant Discourse Through Academic Bravery Katherine Maldonado 29

2 Aquí Se Respira Lucha: A Mother-Daughter Herstory of Amor, Dolor, y Resistencia Gabriela Corona Valencia 47

3 Coordinates: A Testimonio on Urban Migration, Mothering, and Teaching Gretel H. Vera-Rosas 58

4 Fierce Mamas Rising: Navigating the Terrain of Motherhood as Formerly Incarcerated or Convicted Women Grace Gámez 77

5 Herstories of Sobrevivencia: Chicanx/Latinx Community College Student-Mothers (Re)claiming and (Re)defining the Educational Pipeline and CalWORKS Nereida Oliva Hortencia Jiménez 94

Part II Chicana/Latina/Women of Color Mother-Activists

6 Ain't I a Mama?: A Black Revolutionary Mother in the Women's Rights Movement Trina Greene Brown 117

7 Mothering the Academy: An Intersectional Approach to Deconstruct and Expose the Experiences of Mother-Scholars of Color in Higher Education Monica Hernández-Johnson Shahla Fayazpour Sandra L. Candel Ravijot Singh 129

8 MALA: Mama Academic Liberadora Activista Victoria Isabel Durán 146

9 Chicana M/other Alliances: Making Alianzas from Scratch Cristina Herrera Larissa Mercado 160

10 Madres en Lucha: Forging Motherhood as Political Movement Building Across Borders Verónica N. Vélez 171

Part III Intergenerational Mothering

11 A Chicana Mother-Daughter Spiritual Praxis Alma Itzé Flores 195

12 Enseñanzas de Mi Madre: Chicana Mother-Daughter Digital Conexiones Andrea Garavito Martínez 212

13 Abrazos de Conocimiento Across the Generations: Chicana Mothering and Daughtering in the Borderlands Irene Lara 223

14 Decolonial P'urhépecha Maternalista Feminist Motherwork and Pedagogy Gabriela Spears-Rico 243

Part IV Loss, Reproductive Justice, and Holistic Pregnancy

15 No Gracias por fa Lástima: My Chicana Mother of Adoption Truth Corina Benavides López 265

16 Birthing Healing Justice: My Journey Through Miscarriage, Healing Conocimientos, and Decolonizing My Womb Mara Chavez-Diaz 272

17 Mothers of Color in Academia: Fierce Mothering Challenging Spatial Exclusion Through a Chicana Feminist Praxis Nora Cisneros Leigh Anna Hidalgo Christine Vega Yvette Martínez-Vu 288

18 My Forever Sleeping Baby: On Research, Stillbirth, and Remembrance Rose G. Salseda 309

Contributors 319

Index 329

Interviews

Scholars of Chicana studies and women's studies, as well as activists and social justice advocates and allies and administrators and students in higher education.

Editorial Reviews

The scholar-activist contributors to this groundbreaking collection challenge gendered, racialized, and classist notions of mothering, and show the power of Mothers of Color to love, exercise their agency, and demonstrate collective resistance.”—C. Alejandra Elenes, Arizona State University

“This unique volume dismantles the idea of mothering and authentically and unapologetically uncovers Mother of Color experiences in academia. Its call for revolutionary change via ancestral knowledge, self-mothering, and vulnerability makes it unlike anything I have had access to as a Chicana mother and scholar.”—Reyna Anaya

From the Publisher