Anzaldua

In her piece, "Towards a New Consciousness" Borderlands La Frontera Gloria Anzaldúa deconstructs our presumptions surrounding identity. She argues that identity should be “flexible,” it should “shift out of habitual formations” (Anzaldúa 101). She continually reaffirms that it is a fluid movement of ideas that cannot be restricted. Her “mestiza consciousness” (99) stands between two cultures, straddling the fault lines between them. It also stands outside of both cultures. Her multifaceted identity as a queer woman somwehere between Mexican, Indian and American culture places her at a crossroads of selfhood. Anzaldúa writes, “All countries are mine because I am every woman’s sister or potential lover. (As a lesbian I have no race, my own people disclaim me; but I am all races because there is the queer of me in all races.)” (102). Her identity not only stands at the border of two sets of people, but also between conflicting ideas. In effect, Anzaldúa’s reaffirmation of her own identity breaks down the dualities which restrict her and others like her.
Contradiction is critical in this piece. She writes, “The new mestiza copes by developing a tolerance for contradictions, a tolerance for ambiguity” (101). Anzaldúa plays with the paradoxes of identity, something that is used to classify and group people, but is also personal and unique to everyone. The goal of self-identifying is to grapple with these paradoxes. She argues, “A mestiza consciousness—and though it is a source of intense pain, its energy comes from continual creative motion that keeps breaking down the unitary aspect of each new paradigm” (102). An inclusive perception of identity invites and sustains contradictions. It’s perpetually in motion, and, therefore, impossible to truly restrict. It is in constant movement between borders, which, eliminates the borders that formed the identity in the first place. The paradox of the mestiza is that the more mixed with different ideas it becomes, the more whole it becomes. 
Anzaldúa continues by showing what this mestiza consciousness looks like in the practical pursuit of social justice. Intersectionality is critical. She writes, “It is imperative that mestizas support each other in changing the sexist elements in the Mexican-Indian culture. As long as woman is put down, the Indian and the Black in all of us is put down. The struggle of the mestiza is above all a feminist one” (106), echoing Martin Luther King’s sentiment: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Also like Dr. King, she presents compassion as instrumental to real change. “Many feel that whites should help their own people rid themselves of race hatred and fear first. I, for one, choose to use some of my energy to serve as mediator. I think we need to allow whites to be our allies” (107). Anzaldúa doesn’t judge the reservations of black and brown peoples towards communicating injustices to white people, but she does resist pessimism. The poems Anzaldúa includes reflect the reality of the mestiza experience, pain and unsurety. Yet, she exudes hope in her own defiance.

In the end she predicts “El retorno,” (110) the final stage of identifying where home and justice is found. 

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