A Dialogical View of the Emergence of Chicana Feminist Discourse1

Abstract

I argue that a convergent dialogical approach to the understanding of social movement discourse drawn from sociology and feminist studies is best suited for understanding challenges made by dissenters within social movements. I analyze “second wave” Chicana feminism which arose in the 1960s and 1970s. I first discuss two dialogical approaches in social movement and feminist theory to understand the strategies that challengers within already oppositional movements use to confront locally hegemonic discourse. Chicana feminists built their arguments on established Chicano movement practice and values, but transformed/inverted the meanings of movement concepts and appropriated movement practices to their own newly forming feminist ends. In conclusion, I explore what the case of discursive strategies in Chicana feminism tells us about the creation of blind spots in movement discourse and what dialogical approaches can offer vis-à-vis an understanding of discourse's role in movement fragmentation.