Guilt, shame, anger and the Chicana experience: Cherríe Moraga’s Native Country of the Heart as voice of resistance

Abstract

ABSTRACT Much scholarly attention has been paid to Latinx fiction. Less scholarship has focused on Latinx nonfiction, especially in the contemporary period. This essay focuses on the affective and political function of the Chicana memoir, particularly Cherríe Moraga’s Native Country of the Heart (2019). I explore how the emotions evoked by such a memoir aid in resisting dominant narratives of oppression. Counteracting such narratives of constraint and discrimination, Moraga creates a new conceptualization of empowering cultural imaginaries. I propose that the emotionalizing strategy of Native Country will provide new insight into how Chicana memoirs can function as and are voices of resistance against the marginalization of Mexican American women. Indeed, mentally and emotionally sharing such narratives might decelerate the constant fueling of a system of intersectional racism as Native Country exemplifies how even the memory of the unlettered can act as powerful means of resistance against the colonialization of the mind.