Teaching Late-Twentieth-Century Mexicana and Chicana Writers

 Xánath Caraza

 

Teaching Late-Twentieth-Century Mexicana and Chicana Writers

Edited by Elizabeth Coonrod Martínez (Modern Language Association of America, 2020)

 

“What are the similarities and differences among Mexicana writers, Chicana writers, and other Latin American women writers?” (Elizabeth Coonrod Martínez)

 

“Mexicana and Chicana authors from the late 1970s to the turn of the century helped overturn the patriarchal literary culture and mores of their time. This landmark volume acquaints readers with the provocative, at times defiant, yet subtle discourses of this important generation of writers and explains the influences and historical contexts that shaped their work.

Until now, little criticism has been published about these important works. Addressing this oversight, Teaching Late-Twentieth-Century Mexicana and Chicana Writers starts with essays on Mexicana and Chicana authors. It then features essays on specific teaching strategies suitable for literature surveys and courses in cultural studies, Latino studies, interdisciplinary and comparative studies, humanities, and general education that aim to explore the intersectionalities represented in these works. Experienced teachers offer guidance on using these works to introduce students to border studies, transnational studies, sexuality studies, disability studies, contemporary Mexican history and Latino history in the United States, the history of social movements, and concepts of race and gender.”

 

“A treasure trove of approaches to teaching Mexicana and Chicana writers. . . . This collection of essays adds pedagogical strategies to any professor’s tool kit.”

—Norma E. Cantú, Trinity University

 

Elizabeth Coonrod Martinez served as Professor and Director of the Center for Latino Research at DePaul University, 2010-20, and before that Professor at Sonoma State University in upper California, from 1995-2010. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico, and before that was a newspaper journalist. Her prior academic books include, Josefina Niggli, Mexican American Writer: A Critical Biography (2007), Lilus Kikus and Other Stories, by Elena Poniatowska (2005); introduction and translation), and Before the Boom: Latin American Revolutionary Novels of the 1920s (2000). She also published a history and three biographies of Latinos, for children reading level.