In-Between

Mariana Ortega

Description

This original study intertwining Latina feminism, existential phenomenology, and race theory offers a new philosophical approach to understanding selfhood and identity. Focusing on writings by Gloría Anzaldúa, María Lugones, and Linda Martín Alcoff, Mariana Ortega articulates a phenomenology that introduces a conception of selfhood as both multiple and singular. Her Latina feminist phenomenological approach can account for identities belonging simultaneously to different worlds, including immigrants, exiles, and inhabitants of borderlands. Ortega's project forges new directions not only in Latina feminist thinking on such issues as borders, mestizaje, marginality, resistance, and identity politics, but also connects this analysis to the existential phenomenology of Martin Heidegger and to such concepts as being-in-the-world, authenticity, and intersubjectivity. The pairing of the personal and the political in Ortega's work is illustrative of the primacy of lived experience in the development of theoretical understandings of who we are. In addition to bringing to light central metaphysical issues regarding the temporality and continuity of the self, Ortega models a practice of philosophy that draws from work in other disciplines and that recognizes the important contributions of Latina feminists and other theorists of color to philosophical pursuits.
Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. The New Mestiza and La Nepantlera

2. Being-between-Worlds, Being-in-Worlds

3. The Phenomenology of World-Traveling

4. World-Traveling, Double Consciousness, and Resistance

5. Multiplicitous Becomings: On Identity, Horizons, and Coalitions

6. Social Location, Knowledge, and Multiplicity

7. Hometactics

Afterword
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Épistémologie
• Philosophie de l'esprit
• Epistémologie
• Epistémologie
• Epistémologie
• Ethnic studies
• Philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 14 mars 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438459783
• Langue: English

Extrait

In-Between
SUNY series, Philosophy and Race
——————
Robert Bernasconi and T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, editors
In-Between
Latina Feminist Phenomenology, Multiplicity, and the Self
MARIANA ORTEGA
Cover art: Mortega, Multiple and One , 2014. Corazones Fugitivos series. Acrylic and mixed media, 30 30 in.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2016 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Eileen Nizer
Marketing, Anne M. Valentine
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ortega, Mariana.
In-Between : Latina feminist phenomenology, multiplicity, and the self / Mariana Ortega.
pages cm. — (SUNY series, philosophy and race)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-5977-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4384-5978-3 (e-book)
1. Hispanic American women. 2. Feminists—United States. I. Title. E184.S75O78 2015 305.48'868073—dc23 2015011074
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Para mis familias
Norma, Roberto, Olga, Luis, Brittan y Ed
y los de los mundos zurdos
Somos la orquídea de acero,
florecimos en la trinchera como el moho sobre el filo de la espada,
somos una vegetación de sangre,
somos flores de carne que chorrean sangre …
somos la selva que avanza.
Somos la tierra presente …
—Joaquín Pasos
Voy,
vengo,
y luego pienso.
Que lo mismo
aquí que allá,
no hay
un lugar
conseguido. Que aquí,
como allá,
soy lo que
las gentes llaman
un extranjero.
Y como un extranjero
iré y vendré.
Hasta que aquí
como allá,
ni yo
ni nadie lo sea.
—Clementina Suárez
I remain who I am, multiple and one of the herd, yet not of it. I walk on the ground of my own being browned and hardened by the ages …
—Gloria Anzaldúa
I can take on the cloak of the detached universal, but it is an uncomfortable garment. It is not me, and I do not do my best work wearing it. I seek self-liberation when I write from my particular stance.
—Mary Matsuda
There is no other recourse but to destabilize and displace the subject of modernity from its conceptual throne and to sponsor alternative ways of relating and knowing that no longer shut out from “home” the realities of Latino, Asian, African, and other culturally marginalized peoples.
—Ofelia Schutte
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction Chapter 1 The New Mestiza and La Nepantlera Chapter 2 Being-between-Worlds, Being-in-Worlds Chapter 3 The Phenomenology of World-Traveling Chapter 4 World-Traveling, Double Consciousness, and Resistance Chapter 5 Multiplicitous Becomings: On Identity, Horizons, and Coalitions Chapter 6 Social Location, Knowledge, and Multiplicity Chapter 7 Hometactics
Afterword
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
I am thankful to so many—students, scholars, friends—whose vision, intellectual labor, inspiration, and friendship have made this work possible.
Ellen Feder, thank you for giving me that paper on that curious notion of world traveling—you gave me a work that changed my own travels in philosophy. I remain touched and inspired by your philosophical acuity, your sharp explorations on race and sexuality, your quiet tenacity, as well as your kindness. Linda Martín Alcoff, thank you for being the first philosopher who encouraged me to write and to follow my vision; you philosophize not with a hammer but with a keen attunement to justice, depth, clarity, and philosophical insight that are just as strong—and thank you for that deep generosity that has helped me and other women-of-color philosophers walk on difficult terrains. María Lugones, mil gracias por sus peregrinajes que nos sacan de las penumbras; tanteando y tanteando ha encontrado un espacio filósofico lleno de seres largos y amplios que nos cuentan de teorías impuras, y posibilidades más allá de simples dicotomías y castillos en el aire; al igual que las callejeras que caminan en sus páginas, su trabajo filosófico es original, atrevido y siempre un paso por delante. Ofelia Schutte, thank you for leading the way, for vital work that put Latin American and Latina feminism on the map of academic philosophy; cómo aprecio saber que entiende la dolorosa pero transformadora nostalgia de los exiliados que siempre viven con un pie aquí y otro allá y con memorias difusas de lo que fue. Gail Weiss, thank you for your invaluable philosophical work on embodiment; your intelligence, wit, and zest for life are inspiring. Laura E. Pérez, thank you for understanding what I do with color, for sharing your deep spiritual sense of life; not only do you have a brilliant mind for theory, you also have a sharp eye for color, form, and what lies beneath them. I am so glad that you get Pasos’s Canto de Guerra de las Cosas , a poem that is always walking on the corridors of my mind and body. Namrata Mitra, thank you for our many philosophical as well as personal conversations; I am constantly learning something new from your keen philosophical analyses and your incredible wit. Thank you, Gloría Anzaldúa, if you could hear my words, I would softly tell you gracias gracias gracias—your borderlands have alleviated the pain of so many of us whose journeys have taken us to lands in the middle; your courage to write yourself in the pages of your book and to defy conventions from all of your worlds continues to inspire and transform. Frederick Olafson is no longer with us, but I will always be thankful to him for teaching me Heideggerian phenomenology; I will always remain indebted to Judy Patel, a committed teacher who has helped so many learn a new language in a new land.
Amazing Latina feminists have helped me see phenomenology anew—thank you, Edwina Barvosa, Theresa Delgadillo, Carmen Lugo-Lugo, Jacqueline Martinez, Paula Moya, and Chela Sandoval. Meetings of the Roundtable on Latina Feminism, a small conference that I organize yearly and that is devoted solely to discussions on Latina feminist issues have been of the utmost importance for my intellect, for my soul, and for community building. Special thanks to Dianna Taylor in her role of Shula Chair in the John Carroll University Philosophy Department for her generous funding of the Roundtable. I thank all of the participants for their wonderful contributions, and for their spirit of cooperation. In Roundtable meetings I have gotten to know the new generation of Latina/o philosophers: Mariana Alessandri, Natalie Cisneros, Pedro DiPietro, Cynthia Paccacerqua, Andrea Pitts, Stephanie Rivera Berruz, Ernesto Rosen Velásquez, Elena Ruiz, and Gabriella Veronelli; I am impressed by their intelligence and encouraged by their commitment to justice. I look forward to reading more of their work. I am also indebted and inspired by the intelligence, strength, and perseverance of a group of women-of-color philosophers and scholars; it would indeed be very lonely without them: Alia Al Saji, Yoko Arisaka, Kristie Dotson, Kathryn T. Gines, Namita Goswami, V. Denise James, Emily S. Lee, Kyoo Lee, Donna-Dale Marcano, and Falguni A. Sheth. Whether through conversation, the printed word, or conference presentations, I have been fortunate to get to know and learn from a number of philosophers, including Emmanuela Bianchi, Alison Bailey, Talia Mae Bettcher, Robert Bernasconi, Helen Fielding, Jonathan Gunderson, David Kim, Eva Feder Kittay, Bonnie Mann, Jennifer McWeeny, José Medina, Kelly Oliver, Monique Roelofs, Ronald R. Sundstrom, Julie Sushystska, Paul C. Taylor, Cynthia Willet, and Kelli Zaytoun. Thanks to Dana Foote, Andrew Kenyon, and Eileen Nizer for helpful editorial advice. Mil gracias to Andrea Pitts for a great job with the index and to Elisabeth Paquette for her help with it. I thank John Carroll University for a generous Grauel Fellowship which helped me complete Chapter 6 .
My friends provide constant support and joy. Thanks to Kate Catanese, Diana Chou, Kellee Davis, Catherine Gunderson, Karen Gygli, Bob Kolesar, María Marsilli, Jeannette Mohr, Adriana Novoa, Jessica Pfeifer, Salomon Rodezno, Nicolás León Ruiz, Lisa Salamon-Handel, Sara Schiavoni, Gloria Vaquera, Regina Webb, and Paula Woods. The Sistah Sinema crowd is an amazing group of queer women of color who are smart, creative, defiant, and loving. Thank you Karla Anhalt, Kaylan Baxter, Kirby Broadnax, Shaundra Cunningham, Nicole Harris, Lisa Hopps, Mo Jackson, Carmen Lane, Jessica Lewis, Deidre McPherson, Gabi Mirelez, Maudisa Meroe, Mercedes Noble-Reyes, Senoria Page, and Phyllis Seven Harris.
I am grateful to my family, whose constant love sustains me. Norma, Roberto, Olga, Luis, Hugo, Hugo Roberto, and Ronald—you are in Miami and Los Angeles, but I always carry you with me; I admire your endurance and your courage. I am so, so grateful for your love. I have many good memories of those in California and Managua whom I do not see often but are part of me: Nohelia, Gabriela, Celeste, Nohelita, Martha, Mario, Roberto José, Mario, and Cristiana. Edward Alix, you are now part of the Ortegas. I cannot thank you enough for all you have done to make life easier as I sat in front of the computer for long periods of time. I am charged by your positive energy, love of Euclid, kindness, and incredible humor. Lastly, I would like to thank my partner, Brittan Davis, whose strength, intelligence, and perseverance always leaves me in awe. Our conversations on psychology, philosophy, feminism, and art, as well as our moments of joy nourish me; your love and support have nourished this book as well—my love to you and our Kokoro.
Earlier versions of parts of chapte