Latina/o/x Feminist Philosophers

by

Emma Velez

• LAST REVIEWED: 26 May 2022
• LAST MODIFIED: 26 May 2022
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199913701-0270

Introduction

Hailing from myriad philosophical traditions and subfields as well as from various disciplinary and interdisciplinary backgrounds, Latina/o/x feminist philosophers offer a unique tradition of philosophical reflection on a range of issues including the complex intersections of race, sexuality, gender, colonialism and coloniality, the body, knowledge production, aesthetics, and the ethico-political. This annotated bibliography provides an entry point into the richness and depth of this work, which is often under-considered and under-engaged within mainstream philosophy. At the outset, it is important to attend to the key terms that comprise the title of this entry, i.e., “Latina/o/x” and “feminist.” Following the understanding of the term “Latina/o/x” by Latinx scholars, this entry assembles writings that are by and about people of Latin American descent (broadly conceived) by authors with a variety of gender identities including women, men, gender non-conforming, and trans people. Further, this entry adopts self-naming conventions that are actively being negotiated, like Latinx, as well as other iterations used by authors in the texts included here (e.g., Chicana, Xicana, Latin@, etc). Though these collected writings pursue a wide range of philosophical modes of inquiry all issue from explicitly feminist commitments and concerns. Which is to say, in some capacity all the pieces gathered here are concerned with the dismantling and transformation of conditions that produce sexism as well as sexist and gender-based exploitation and oppression. This entry aims to provide a robust engagement with the scholarship of US-based Latina/o/x feminist philosophers. While much of this work is in deep dialogue with feminist philosophies emerging from Latin America (and, indeed, many of the thinkers included here are themselves located in the United States or are connected to Latin American diasporas), this entry is limited in scope to consideration of work produced in the context of the United States. The organization of this annotated bibliography illustrates not only the depth and breadth of Latina/o/x feminist thinking on complex philosophical issues that are of particular concern to peoples of Latin American descent and Latina/o/x communities, but also the philosophical trends that emerge from such a grouping together. In particular, in what follows, scholars and students will gain invaluable resources for thinking with Latina/o/x feminist philosophers in areas such as critical philosophies of race, phenomenology, epistemology, and decolonial theory. In keeping with the multiplicity of approaches and disciplinary traditions of Latina/o/x feminist philosophers and philosophies, the texts collected here survey a range of sources that include philosophical and theoretical works, edited collections, and journal special issues and clusters.

General Overview

Despite the long-standing tradition of Latina/o/x feminist philosophies, few monograph-length books or edited volumes exist that attempt to theorize it as such. The five texts here are notable exceptions and each offers both an entry point and overview of the major contours of the philosophical concerns attended to by Latina/o/x feminist philosophers. Moraga and Anzaldúa 2015 and Anzaldúa and Keating 2002 exemplify the ways in which Latina/o/x feminist philosophy has been concerned with both the intersectional experiences of Latinx peoples along issues of race, gender, socioeconomic class, ability, and citizenship status as well as coalitional and transnational thinking with Black, Indigenous, and other feminists of color. These interweavings are also present in Rivera Berruz 2019, which specifically focuses on the complicated nexus of Latin American and Latinx feminisms. Pitts, et al. 2019 and Pitts 2021 seek to reflect on Latinx and Latin American feminist thinking as its own rich philosophical tradition, providing excellent overviews that offer an entry point for those looking to introduce themselves to the work of Latina/o/x feminist philosophers. Significantly, Pitts, et al. 2019 also constitutes the first edited collection that explicitly seeks to gather important philosophical work specifically from Latinx and Latin American feminists (rather than, say, a broader focus on Latin American philosophy or Latinx philosophies).

• Anzaldúa, Gloria, and Analouise Keating. This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation. New York: Routledge, 2002.

  Conceived of as a continuation of the conversations opened by Moraga and Anzaldúa 2015, this text is a significant anthology of works by queer, trans, and feminists. This anthology contains entries by Latina/o/x feminists like Renée Martínez, Hector Carbajal, Irene Lara, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, and Anzaldúa. Essays gathered in this anthology seek to enact bridge work, to find commonality in intersectional difference, prescient themes for contemporary Latinx feminist philosophers.

• Moraga, Cherríe, and Gloria Anzaldúa, eds. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. 4th ed. New York: Kitchen Table, Women of Color Press, 2015.

  First published in 1981, this foundational text that remains one of the most influential and widely cited anthologies conceived by and for women of color. The anthology includes several key entries by Latina feminists like Moraga, Anzaldúa, Levins Morales, and Alarcón. This Bridge also demonstrates both the intersectional and coalitional concerns that remain central for Latina/o/x feminist philosophers and their engagements with Black, Indigenous, and other women of color.

• Ortega, Mariana. “Latina Feminism, Experience and the Self.” Philosophy Compass 10.4 (2015): 244–254.

  DOI: 10.1111/phc3.12211

  This paper provides an overview of Latina/x feminist philosopher’s debates on selfhood and identity, a major issue within this tradition. The author provides an accessible overview of the role of Chicana feminism in the development of Latina/x feminisms, such as the influence of Gloria Anzaldúa as well as consideration of contemporary Latina/x philosophers writing on issues of selfhood and experience.

• Pitts, Andrea J., Mariana Ortega, José Medina, eds. Theories of the Flesh: Latinx and Latin American Feminisms, Transformation, and Resistance. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.

  This anthology is significant because it is one (if not the) first edited collection of Latin American and Latinx feminist philosophy qua philosophy. Organized around important themes in this rich tradition, the volume considers issues such as selfhood, epistemologies of resistance, aesthetic, and decoloniality by established and up-and-coming Latinx philosophers. The volume also contains an original translation of a key essay in Latin American feminism written by Francesca Gargallo.

• Pitts, Andrea. “Latina/x Feminist Philosophy.” In The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Philosophy. Edited by Kim Q. Hall and Ásta, 120–135. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.

  This overview of Latina/x feminist philosophy is a resource for students and scholars looking to familiarize themselves with the major currents and motivations of Latina/x feminist philosophy. The author highlights US Latina/x feminist philosophers’ strategic philosophical practice that confronts embodied, professional, and structural forms of oppression such as racism, sexism, and assimilationism; contributes to philosophical inquiry on issues such as the self; and new currents in this area.

• Rivera Berruz, Stephanie. “Latin American and Latinx Feminisms.” In Latin American and Latinx Philosophy. Edited by Robert Sanchez, 161–179. New York: Routledge, 2019.

  This essay provides an excellent introduction to both the historical contexts of Latin American and Latinx feminisms (including key ideas and figures) as well as contemporary currents of Latin American feminisms in the 20th century and US Ch/Xicana and Latina/x feminisms. The author provides a compelling argument that the lack of uptake of these thinkers does not diminish the longstanding tradition of Latina/x and Latin American feminist thinking.