Ortega - In-between: Latina feminist phenomenology, multiplicity, and the self

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

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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. FeministsUnited States. I. Title.

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 orqudea de acero,

florecimos en la trinchera como el moho sobre el filo de la espada,

somos una vegetacin de sangre,

somos flores de carne que chorrean sangre

somos la selva que avanza.

Somos la tierra presente

Joaqun Pasos

Voy,

vengo,

y luego pienso.

Que lo mismo

aqu que all,

no hay

un lugar

conseguido. Que aqu,

como all,

soy lo que

las gentes llaman

un extranjero.

Y como un extranjero

ir y vendr.

Hasta que aqu

como all,

ni yo

ni nadie lo sea.

Clementina Surez

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 Anzalda

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

I am thankful to so manystudents, scholars, friendswhose 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 travelingyou 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 Martn 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 strongand thank you for that deep generosity that has helped me and other women-of-color philosophers walk on difficult terrains. Mara Lugones, mil gracias por sus peregrinajes que nos sacan de las penumbras; tanteando y tanteando ha encontrado un espacio filsofico lleno de seres largos y amplios que nos cuentan de teoras impuras, y posibilidades ms all de simples dicotomas y castillos en el aire; al igual que las callejeras que caminan en sus pginas, su trabajo filosfico 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; cmo aprecio saber que entiende la dolorosa pero transformadora nostalgia de los exiliados que siempre viven con un pie aqu y otro all 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. Prez, 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 Pasoss 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, Glora Anzalda, if you could hear my words, I would softly tell you gracias gracias graciasyour 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 anewthank 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 Velsquez, 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, Jos 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 .