Telling to Live

In 1995, a group of Latina feminists began meeting to share life experiences. The group included oral historians, activists, literary scholars, poets, ethnographers, and psychologists. They were the daughters of field, domestic, factory, and service workers, of secretaries, military officers, technicians, and artists; and they reflected an equal variety of religious and national backgrounds. Together, these women found - in the process of "testimonio" -a means of grasping the larger political and cultural meanings of their personal experiences. Telling to Live is the product of this five-year encounter. In this rich and complex tapestry of narrative, we are introduced to Latina women who struggle with "Spanglish," with being Latina and yet not knowing Spanish, or with attending a school where the teachers speak an unintelligible language. We meet women of the monumental Puerto Rican migration to the United States in the 1950s, as well as those who remained in Puerto Rico under the mandate of "operation bootstrap." In still other "testimonios", we encounter sexual and physical abuse, discrimination, and workplace mistreatment. These are the stories of women who struggle to "make it in America," often against great odds. By presenting their diverse stories and reflections, the Puerto Rican, Chicana, Native American, Mexican, Cuban, and South American contributors provide a new perspective on feminist theorising, one grounded in being Latina American. This sometimes heart wrenching, sometimes playful, yet always informative collection will interest all those who wish to understand the challenges U.S. society poses for women of complex cultural heritages and supposedly marginal backgrounds.