Borderlands, La Frontera, The New Mestiza (Gloria Anzaldua)

Writing about her childhood along the Texas-Mexico border, Anzaldua in prose and poetry, describes the experience of being caught between two cultures, an alien in both. Bordelands/La Frontera traces the migrations of pre-Aztec Indians from what is now the U.S. Southwest to central Mexico and, then, back centuries later as mestizos, blood mixed of Indian and Spanish Conquistadors. On this historical and mythic journey we meet ancient gods and goddesses like Coatlicue, Serpent Skirt, before they split into light and dark, good and evil. We learn of the Aztec War of Flowers and of blood sacrifices. We witness the recent crossings of "illegal immigrants," unsure what awaits them on the "the other side." And we are given a firsthand look into the mind of a Chicana writer trying to make new worlds on both sides. Anzaldua sets the stage on for shaping a poetic vision out of the shadowy space of the borderlands. Interspersing Spanish phrases that English readers will understand in context, she gives us a powerful and cohesive book. Borderlands/La Frontera is a meeting ground for all people who, like herself, realize that the work of the 21st Century will be about the coming together if diverse cultures.