Anzaldúa Handout

CRTW 201

Dr. Fike

Epigraph: “The kind of action meant here is the kind that involves the whole person.”

                                                            Nosich, chapter 5 (3^rd ed.)

DAY ONE

You must have Anzaldúa's texts today. If you do not have them, you must go print them out at the computer center downstairs. You may rejoin the discussion in progress.

Professor's remarks.

SEE-I Exercise

What is Anzaldúa’s key concept? Do an SEE-I for it.

S: ____________ is/means. . . .

E: In other words,

E: For example,

I: It’s like

Today's texts are especially well-suited to the Method from Writing Analytically, page 26:

• What repeats? (patterns like the word "snake")

• What goes with what? (strands like things that are psychological)

• What is opposed to what? (binaries, T chart below)

• What doesn't fit? (anomalies like multiple languages and poetry)

• Re. all of these questions: So what?

"'The Method' is our shorthand for a systematic procedure for analyzing evidence by looking for patterns of repetition and contrast." That is what we are going to do in the first part of our discussion of this week's text.

T-Chart Exercise

                                                                                   >

Here are the terms to plug in: tribal society, black, European, pagan, Chicano, non-Western, Spanish, male, American, class system, empirical, psychic, body, New world, Western, reason/rationality, Aztec, light, female, human, mind, nomadic tribes, spirituality, Mexican, Christian, imagination, dark, animal.

 Aztecs>______________::Spanish>_______________::Americans>______________

Writing Analytically asks, "So what? Nosich puts it this way: what is your interpretation?

Key concept: feminist deconstruction

DAY TWO

You must have with you today Anzaldúa's texts. If you do not, please go get them. You may rejoin the discussion in progress.

Group Exercise Beginning with Point of View

Work in four groups for 20 minutes to answer the following Q @ I: What argument is Anzaldúa making regarding borderlands?  Develop your answer within a specific point of view. That is, look for information and other elements that flesh out an answer to the Q @ I from your group’s assigned vantage point. Groups 1-3 will deal mainly with “Entering into the Serpent.” Group 4 should begin with “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” and branch out to the earlier chapter as time allows. I suggest that you proceed as follows:

10 minutes: Try to develop a basic understanding of your section. Then go deeper--be more analytical. It is very okay to call your classmates' attention to a key passage or passages.

·       Come up with a sub-Q @ I for your group to ponder. It should be specific to your assigned section (see below).

·       Identify Anzaldúa’s purpose for that section.

·       Then identify information and concepts within your section. 

·       Look for other elements, especially context, conclusions, interpretations, implications.

·       It is okay to omit assumptions (we will deal with them on day 2).

You and your group members will make a brief presentation to the class next time.

Here are your groups:

Group 1: Biological point of view. Consider information on snakes, tongues, bodies, sexuality, and the title of the first chapter. Your job includes the opening poem on 72 and the cobra on 79.

Group 2: Mythological, anthropological, religious point of view. Consider information on Guadalupe/Coatlalopeuh, history, religion, etc., especially pages 73-78. See below for the translation of the poem on 74.

Group 3: Psychological point of view. Consider information on the psyche, the mind, psi, Freud, Jung, etc. Your job includes 79-83.

Group 4: Literary, linguistic point of view. Consider academic, languages, texts, genres, etc. Your job is to focus on the second chapter, 85-93.

Translation of the poem on page 74:

On the ninth of December in the year 1531

at four in the morning
a poor Indian that they called Juan Diego
was crossing the Tepeyác hill
when he heard a bird’s song.
He raised his head and saw that the summit of the hill
was covered with a bright white cloud.
Standing in front of the sun
on a crescent moon
held by an angel
was an Aztec woman
dressed in Indian clothes.
Our Lady Maria of Coatlalopeuh
appeared to him.
“Dearest Juan Diego, He-who-speaks-like-an-eagle,”
the Virgin said to him in the Aztec language.
“I choose this hill to make my altar.
Tell your people that I am the mother of God,
I will help the Indians.
This he told Juan Zumarraga
but the bishop didn’t believe him.
Juan Diego returned, filled his coat
with roses from Castile 
growing miraculously in the snow.
He took them to the bishop,
and when he opened his coat
the portrait of the Virgin
was painted there.