2.  What are the key elements of the new
mestiza consciousness Anzaldúa proposes in
Borderlands?
 What nurtures Anzaldúa's mestiza
consciousness?
 The new mestiza consciousness born in the
borderlands

3. The mestiza consciousness is a survival strategy:
 “Indigenous like corn, like corn, the mestiza is a
product of crossbreeding, designed for
preservation under a variety of condition”
(Anzaldúa 103)
 Mestiza consciousness is “a consciousness of
duality” (Anzaldúa 59), embracing ambiguity
and contradiction.

4. Flexibility: “Rigidity means death… La mestiza
constantly has to shift out of habitual formations”
(Anzaldúa 101)
Inclusion instead of exclusion:
 “she operates in a pluralistic mode” (Anzaldúa 101)
 Beyond oppositional consciousness (Anzaldúa
101-2)

5.  How does Anzaldúa envision social justice and
an alternative world to live?
 How can the new mestiza consciousness be a
useful concept for coalition building across
gender, race and sexuality toward social
justice?

6.  Coalition is built on creation of a common
culture: “Other than a common culture we will
have nothing to hold us together” (Anzaldúa 109)
 The creation of a common culture depends on
mutual knowledge.
 “Ignorance splits people, creates prejudices. A
misinformed people is a subjugated people…our
history of resistance” (See Anzaldúa 108).

7.  Coalitions with men: machismo (Anzaldúa
105), inventing a new masculinity and not
homogenizing men (Anzaldúa 106)
 Coalitions with sexual minorities (Anzaldúa 106)
 Coalitions with white people (Anzaldúa 107-8):
“I think we need to allow whites to be our allies”
(Anzaldúa 107)