Aztlán as a Palimpsest: From Chicano Nationalism Toward Transnational Feminism in Anzaldúa's Borderlands

Abstract

Although it has long been one of the founding concepts of Chicano identity, explored as myth, history and as a cultural utopia to be achieved in works by many Chicano writers, the idea of Aztlan presented by Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales in “El plan espiritual de Aztlan” is not the same as when presented by later Chicano writers, most notably Gloria Anzaldua. In Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, a key work of Chicana feminism, borderlands theory, queer theory and transnational feminism, Anzaldua articulates a politics of Aztlan. Using Daniel Cooper Alarcon's concept of Aztlan as a metaphorical palimpsest, I argue that earlier Chicano movement views of Aztlan resurface in Borderlands, reasserting foundational concepts of Chicano nationalism at the same time that Anzaldua rewrites them in her own feminist critique and reworking of the Chicano Movement to create a space for a transnational feminist practice. Although explicitly denying the utility of latinidad as a unifying concept for achieving political and social change, Anzaldua does argue for a new mestiza consciousness that opens up the nationalist theories of Chicano identity to the space of the transnational.