1st Edition
Latinas and the Politics of Urban Spaces
This book illuminates the ways in which Chicanas, Puerto Rican women, and other Latinas organize and lead social movements, either on the ground or digitally, in major cities of the continental United States and Puerto Rico. It shows how they challenge racism, sexism, homophobia, and anti-immigrant policies through their political praxis and spiritual activism. Drawing from a range of disciplines and perspectives, academic and activist authors offer unique insights into environmental justice, peace and conflict resolution, women’s rights, LGBTQ coalition-building, and more—all through a distinctive Latina lens. Designed for use in a wide range of college courses, this book is also aimed at practitioners, community organizers, and grassroots leaders.
Contributor Biographies
Acknowledgments
Introduction:
Sharon A. Navarro and Lilliana Patricia Saldaña
Chapter 1: Semillas de Justicia: Chicana Environmentalism in Chicago
Teresa Irene Gonzales
Chapter 2: Brujas in the Time of Trump: Hexing the Ruling Class
Norell Martinez
Chapter 3: Intersectional Synthesis: A Case Study of the Colectiva Feminista en Construcción
Fernando Tormos-Aponte and Shariana Ferrer-Nunez
Chapter 4: Place, Space, and the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center
Sara DeTurk
Chapter 5: The Good the Bad and the Ugly: Amigas Latinas’ Pláticas as a Site of Transformative
Knowledge Production
Lourdes Torres
Conclusion
Index
Biography
Sharon A. Navarro is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the author most recently of Race, Gender, Sexuality, and the Politics of the American Judiciary (2018), Latinas in American Politics (2016), and Latino Urban Agency (2013).
Lilliana Patricia Saldaña is an Associate Professor of Mexican American Studies (MAS) at UTSA and co-director of the UTSA MAS Teachers’ Academy. She has published in various edited volumes and in nationally recognized journals, including Latinos & Education, Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, and Association of Mexican American Educators Journal.
Latinas and the Politics of Urban Spaces has a wealth of knowledge to offer the student and scholar of Latina issues in the United States today. By using intersectional and interdisciplinary approaches, Latinas and the Politics of Urban Spaces allows for a first-time truly comprehensive understanding of the lives of Latinas in urban areas. The authors’ rich application of feminist, intersectional, indigenous, and queer theories to the range of Latina experiences provides an excellent richness and depth to the study of Latinos/as in the United States in general.
—Julia Marin Hellwege, University of South Dakota
This innovative collection on community organizing and social movements among Latina feminists inspires! It motivates new writing, theorizing, and organizing. The authors deepen our understanding of the multiple forms of Latina resistance by writing about Chicana environmentalism, bruja feminism, intersectional praxis, and Queer Latinas’ pláticas. When read together, these clear, on-the-ground chapters also offer frameworks for activism for those of us committed to creating more just spaces and communities.
—Gilda L. Ochoa, Pomona College
In Latinas and the Politics of Urban Spaces, Sharon A. Navarro and Lilliana Patricia Saldaña bring together diverse scholarly voices to share case studies of how Latinas occupy, reclaim, and transform political spaces in urban centers, through collectives, non-profits, neighborhood groups, and digital networks. We meet Latinas who draw upon intersectionality, queer epistemologies, feminist theory, and decolonial thinking in their political praxis to create social change in urban spaces, from Chicago to San Antonio to Puerto Rico, and digital spaces in-between. This volume brings needed recognition to the political work of urban Latinas and helps us all to imagine the work of building more just and emancipatory futures.
—Susanne Beechey, Whitman College
