User:Kmartinez137/sandbox

Lead Section
Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza [1987] is a semi-autobiographical work by Gloria E. Anzaldúa that examines the Chicano and Latino experience through the lens of issues such as gender, identity, race, and colonialism. Borderlands is regarded as Anzaldua’s most well-known work and is as a pioneering piece of Chicana literature.

In an interview, Anzaldúa claims to have drawn inspiration from the ethnic and social community of her youth as well as from her experiences as a woman of color in academia. Scholars argue that Anzaldúa re-conceptualized the theory of the "mestiza" from the Chicano Movement.

Borderlands details the invisible "borders" that exist between Latinas/os and non-Latinas/os, men and women, heterosexuals and homosexuals, and other groups. Each of the essays and poems draws on the author’s life experiences as a Chicana and lesbian activist. Anzaldúa challenges the conception of a border as a simple divide and ultimately calls for the majority, especially those from the Western culture, to nurture active interest in the oppressed and change their attitudes that foster the growth and sustenance of borders.

Borderlands is a semi-autobiographical account that contains a mixture of pose and poetry. Anzaldúa alternates between Spanish and English using a technique such as “code-switching.” Additionally, Anzaldúa ’s frequent usage of metaphors and imagery has been described as “poet-sham aesthetics.”

Scholars have analyzed Borderlands/La Frontera from a variety of perspectives. Professor María  L. Amado describes Anzaldúa’s Borderlands and her theory of the “the new mestiza” as one of racial inclusivity. Critical race scholar Miriam Jiménez Román contends that Anzaldúa’s emphasis on intermixing identities through the “mestiza consciousness” reifies current racial hierarchies and racial inequality. Through the lens of queer theory, scholar Ian Barnard argues that Anzaldúa universalizes the queer experience by incorporating various identity categories her theory of the borderlands. Literary scholar Hsinya Huang examines Borderlands through the lens of indigenous studies, arguing that Borderlands forefronts narratives of Indigenous people. Scholar AnaLouise Keating argues that Anzaldúa appropriates Indigenous by referring to herself as “shaman." In the context of immigration, Professor Amy-Reed Sandavol argues that Anzaldúa’s Borderlands contains early portrayals “socially undocumented identity” by depicting the deportation of U.S. Citizens.

Borderlands has been a subject of controversy due to House Bill 2281 passed by the Arizona legislature, which banned the teaching of ethnic studies courses and literature that were thought to “promote resentment towards a race or class of people,” resulting in the banning of Borderlands. However, Borderlands has also been promoted in educational spaces by Professor Cati V. de Los Ríos, who describes its role in affirming student identity. Borderlands also received recognition as one of the 38 Best Books of 1987.

Background[ edit]
Born in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas on September 26, 1942, Gloria Anzaldúa grew up on a ranch where her parents worked as farmers(Reuman0. In an interview with Professor of Literature Ann E. Reuman, Anzaldúa expresses that her ethnic background and childhood experiences in a southern Texas farming culture both heavily influenced her work in Borderlands(Reuman).

In 1969 Anzaldúa received her bachelor's degree in English from the University of Texas- Pan American. From there she went onto a master's program at the University of Texas-Austin and graduated with her master's in English and Education in 1972. On May 15, 2004 Gloria Anzaldúa died of diabetes complications(Voices from the Gaps, cite used in article).

As the publication of Borderlands followed the Chicano Movement, Professor of Sociology María L. Amado argues that Anzaldúa drew influence for her concept of the “new mestiza” from that of “la Raza mestiza,” a theory of collective identity predicated on notions of racial purity created by philosopher José Vasconcelos, later adopted by Chicanos (Amado).

Scholar Melissa Castillo-Garsow also lends much of Anzaldúa’s influence to her experiences as a woman of color in academia (Garsow). Rather than having Borderlands maintain adherence to academic norms, Castillo-Garsow argues that Anzaldúa’s work challenges traditional paradigms through her theorization of the “mestiza consciousness” and the intermingling of her own Chicano Spanish with standard academic English, drawing from her background as a Chicana woman (Garsow).

Chapter 1: The Homeland, Aztlán/ El Otro México[ edit]
"El otro Mexico que aca hemos construido, el espacio es lo que ha sido territorio nacional. Este el efuerzo de todos nuestros hermanos y latinoamericanos que han sabido progressar.""The other Mexico that we have constructed, the space is what has become national territory. This is the work of all our brothers and Latin Americans who have known how to progress."In this first chapter, Anzaldúa argues that land is not the property of European descendants but rather is of Indigenous ancestry, "humankind in the U.S.— the Chicanos' ancient Indian ancestors—was found in Texas and has been dated to 3500 B.C." Further, Anzaldúa describes the removal of Mexican and Indigenous populations from their land during the Mexican-American War. She refers to this as “the fiction of White Superiority,” in which the “Anglos” claimed both the territory of and power over its previous Mexican and Indian inhabitants. Anzaldúa contends this displacement of Mexican and Indigenous communities extended beyond the border, as corporations and landowners from the U.S. began to decrease Mexico’s monetary sovereignty.

Chapter 2: Movimientos de Rebeldía y las Culturas que Traicionan[ edit]
Esos movimientos de rebeldia que tenemos en la sangre nosotros los mexicanos surgen como rios desbocanados en mis venas.

Those rebellious movements we Mexicans have in our blood surge like overflowing rivers in my veins. She recognizes that she challenges social norms and her culture in various ways. She wants to be happy with the way she is, but it causes discomfort within society and her family. By being lesbian, she challenges the norms imposed by the Catholic Church. As a little girl, she was raised to keep her mouth shut, respect men, slave for men, marry a man, and not ask questions. Gloria was not allowed to be "selfish" and if she was not doing something for a man, then it was considered laziness. "Every bit of self-faith I'd painstakingly gathered took a beating daily". She felt her culture taught that it was wrong for her to improve herself but despite the setbacks, she continued on her journey.

Anzaldua challenged all norms in her life; she questioned aspects such as religion, culture, homosexuality, and femininity. All presented barriers that forced her to be someone she was not comfortable being. She did not meet these demands because her identity is grounded in Indian women's history of resistance. Instead of moving forward, she feels as if the ideas presented in those circles are regressive and hinder people's growth and happiness. Rebellious actions are a means to disband certain ideologies and show people that some cultural traditions betray their people.

Chapter 3: Entering into the Serpent[ edit]
"Sueño con serpientes, con serpientes del mar, Con cierto mar, ay de serpientes sueño yo. Largas, transparentes, en sus barrigas llevan lo que puedan arebatarle al amor. Oh, oh, oh, la mató y aparece una mayor. Oh, con much más infierno en digestión.""I dream of serpents, serpents of the sea, oh, of serpents I dream. Long, transparent, in their bellies they carry all that they can snatch away from love. Oh, oh, oh, I kill one and a larger one appears. Oh, with more hellfire burning inside!"One of the main symbols of Mexican religious and mythological culture is that of the snake, la víbora. Anzaldúa, in this chapter, thoroughly outlines the different aspects [both negative and positive] of la víbora and how these different characteristics have affected her life as a Chicana. She continues the chapter by identifying the Virgen de Guadalupe, one of Catholicism’s famous pagan entities, through her Indian names Coatlalopeuh and Coatlicue, which translate into “serpent” and “she who wears a serpent skirt,” respectively. In the Aztec-Mexica society, after the trek from Aztlán, women were able to possess property, were gwalees and priestesses, and royal blood ran through the female line. By taking away her Coatlalopeuh, Guadalupe was deleted and no longer had the serpent/sexuality aspect in her personality. Her story was remade by a male-dominated Aztec-Mexican culture that drove female entities underground by placing male entities in their place.

Regardless of the stance she remained after her desexing and the masculinization of religion, she became the largest symbol in Mexican religion, politics, and culture today, surpassing the importance of Jesus and God the Father in the lives of the Mexican population, both in Mexico and in the United States. Chicana culture, according to Anzaldúa, no longer identifies with the Spanish father but with the Indian mother. Continuing with the symbol of the serpent, Anzaldúa claims that the Serpent’s mouth is associated with womanhood, which was guarded by rows of dangerous teeth. She also states that it is a symbol of the dark, sexual drive, the chthonic, the feminine, the serpentine movement of sexuality, of creativity, and the basis of all energy and life. She ends the chapter by identifying and thoroughly describing la facultad or the capacity to see in surface phenomena the meaning of deeper realities.

Chapter 4: La Herencia de Coatlicue/ the Coatlicue State[ edit]
"'The act of being seen, held immobilized by a glance, and 'seeing through' an experience are symbolized by the underground aspects of Coatlicue, Cihuacoatl, and Tlazolteotl which cluster in what I call the Coatlicue state.'"In this chapter, Anzaldúa begins by describing the importance of the mirror and what it can symbolize in different cultures. To her, the mirror is a "door through which the soul may ‘pass’ to the other side and [her mother] didn’t want [her children] to accidentally follow [their] father to the place where the souls of the dead live." Through this personal anecdote, which becomes relevant to the rest of her chapter, she then transitions into the idea of the Coatlicue state and what being a part of that state entails. She describes the Coatlicue state as having duality in life, a synthesis of duality, and a third perspective, something more than mere duality or a synthesis of duality. She concludes this short chapter by describing the moment in which she allowed the Coatlicue state to take control after years of attempting to rule herself. She states that she is never alone and that she is no longer afraid after this moment, when she finally feels complete.

Chapter 5: How to Tame a Wild Tongue[ edit]
"'And I think, how do you tame a wild tongue, train it to be quiet, how do you bridle and saddle it? How do you make it lie down?'"This chapter focuses on language, primarily the different aspects of Spanish and English as people of Mexican descent in the United States speak each. She brings up the struggle of learning a second language as a young girl in school when the educators are attempting to suppress a large part of her culture. She goes as far as saying that the “attack on one’s form of expression with the intent to censor [is] a violation of the First Amendment” and that “wild tongues can’t be tamed, they can only be cut out.”

Anzaldúa also lists eight different varieties of languages spoken by Chicanas/os including:

1. Standard English

2. Working class and slang English

3. Standard Spanish

4. Standard Mexican Spanish

5. North Mexican Spanish dialect

6. Chicano Spanish (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California have regional variations)

7. Tex-Mex

8. Pachuco (called caló)

She reserves a section to talk about Pocho’s, or Anglicized Mexican or Americans of Mexican origin who speak Spanish with an accent characteristic of North Americans and who distort and reconstruct the language according to the influence of English. This person is someone who has betrayed their culture by not properly speaking the language of their homeland. However, Anzaldúa argues that being Mexican is a state of soul, not one of mind, nor one of citizenship. Neither eagle nor serpent, but both.

She ends the chapter with a discourse about Chicano Spanish and its influence on the lives of Chicanas, like Anzaldúa, who grew up believing that they spoke a broken dialect of Spanish. There is an internalization of identification through childhood experiences with culture [language, food, music, film, etc.], which, according to Anzaldúa, means the different experiences the Chicanas/os have growing up influence the manner in which they see the world.

Chapter 6: Tlilli, Tlapalli/ The Path of Red and Black Ink[ edit]
"“My 'stories' are acts encapsulated in time, 'enacted' every time they are spoken aloud or read silently I like to think of them as performers and not as inert and 'dead' objects. Instead, the work has an identity; it is a 'who' or a “what' and contains the presences of persons, that is, incarnations of gods or ancestors or natural and cosmic powers. The work manifests the same needs as a person, it needs to be 'fed,' la tengo que banar y vestir.'"This chapter covers an overall view on her writing. It tells how she used to tell stories to her sister under the covers at night. How she notices a Mosaic pattern (Aztec-like) emerging pattern (66). Starts talking about modern Western cultures and how they behave differently towards work of art from tribal cultures. She explains Ethnocentrism as the tyranny of Western aesthetics and talks about the conscious mind, how black and dark may be associated with death, evil and destruction, in the subconscious mind and in our dreams, white is associated with disease, death and hopelessness (69). She goes on to say about dreams how “awakened dreams” are about shifts. Through shifts, reality shifts, and gender shifts,a person metamorphoses it to another in a world where people fly through the air, heal from mortal wounds (70). She says how her writing produces anxiety and makes her look at herself and her experience at understanding her own conflicts, engendering anxiety within herself. That brings about the notion of shifts to borders.

Chapter 7: La Conciencia de la Mestiza / Towards a New Consciousness[ edit]
"“From this racial, ideological, cultural and biological crosspollenization, an “alien” consciousness is presently in the making- a new mestiza consciousness, una conciencia demujer. It is a consciousness of the Borderlands.”"In this chapter, Anzaldúa speaks about the mestiza. La mestiza, is a product transfer of the cultural and spiritual values one group to another. She goes on to talk about la mestiza as perceiving a vision of reality in a culture that we all communicate. La mestiza gets multiple cultures including the Chicana culture. In the book it is stated that a Chicana culture is the white culture attacking common beliefs of the Mexican culture, and both attack commonly held beliefs of the indigenous culture. This chapter is deep on the thought of the mestiza who constantly has to shift to different problems who constantly include rather than exclude (78-79). Anzaldúa continues the chapter by writing about the work of the mestiza, whose main job is to break down the subject-object duality that keeps one prisoner. It is clear what Anzaldúa is trying to portray the pain of Indigenous people, the mestiza being a crossbreed, and how one is culture-less.

This chapter also speaks about the mestiza way and how we are people. She states that the dominant white culture is killing us slowly with their ignorance. This is the point in which Anzaldua starts to speak about the Indigenous people. It ends with Gloria Anzaldua writing about being back in her home, South Texas. How her valley struggles to survive, her father being dead by working himself to death as a farm labor. This ending to her stories speaks towards the land and how it was once Chicano/a, Mexican, Hispanic, and Indigenous.

PBGM

Genre/Style Section[ edit]
Borderlands/La Frontera is a semi-autobiographical work of prose and poetry, approaching subjects such as race, gender, class, and identity.

Literary scholar AnaLouise Keating conceptualizes Anzaldúa’s writings in Borderlands as a form of “poet-shaman aesthetics,” which argues that Anzaldua’s words are intended to have material implications (Keating). In particular, Keating draws from interviews in which Anzaldúa describes herself as a “shaman,” serving as an intermediary for individuals to connect them with their cultural background (Keating). Keating contends this role manifests in Anzaldúa’s poetry, with its frequent usages of metaphors and imagery as a means to articulate the experiences of oppressed populations and guide them toward emotional healing (Keating).

Another stylistic choice deployed by Anzaldúa in Borderlands is known as “code-switching,” that is, her interchanging usage of Chicano Spanish and English (Garsow). According to scholar Melissa Castillo-Garsow, Anzaldúa utilizes this style to challenge conventional Western writings, while simultaneous maintaining Borderland’s academic legitimacy by limiting the usage of Spanish and Chicano vernacular in the book (Garsow).

Analysis[ edit]
Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera has been critically analyzed by several scholars through the lens of race, sexuality, indigeneity, and immigration.

Race and Sexuality[ edit]
Using a critical race lens, Professor of Sociology María L. Amado argues that Anzaldúa subverts colonial paradigms and oppressive racial categories through her utilization of the term "new mestiza," which relies on the inclusion of racial minorities and queer people (Amado). Amado contrasts this to the concept of "old mestiza,” which relies on notions of racial purity and superiority as conceptualized by philosopher José Vasconcelos (Amado).

Race scholar Miriam Jiménez Román describes Anzaldúa’s “mestiza consciousness” as an extension of the multicultural project within the United States (Roman). Roman argues that due to Anzaldúa’s emphasis on the intermixing of identities and the “elasticity of racial definitions,” the new consciousness that emerges replicates racial hierarchies and dismisses calls for racial equality(Roman).

Through the lens of queer theory, literary scholar Ian Barnard contends that Anzaldúa’s Borderlands re-conceptualizes the binary between “queer” people of color and white “lesbian/gay” people in her theory of the “new mestiza (Barnard).” Through this, Barnard argues that universalizes the queer experience, inviting queer people of all identity categories into this collective consciousness of the borderlands. Barnard notes that this universalization cannot be compared to white-centric depictions of multiculturalism as Anzaldúa references her own experiences as a Chicana and that of other racial minorities(Barnard).

Indigeneity[ edit]
Literary scholar Hsinya Huang highlights Borderlands/La Frontera’s portrayal of indigeneity, arguing that Anzaldúa forefronts narratives of indigenous identity often excluded within diasporic studies (Huang). Through depictions of pandemics nearly eradicating the Native American population, Huang argues that Anzaldúa “remaps the borderlands by following the movement of the diasporic bodies,” subverting colonial paradigms that have historically excluded indigenous narratives (Huang). Huang also notes Anzaldúa's portrayal of the working Indigenous women along the borders facing economic, racial, and sexual oppression as a means to further confront colonialism through narration (Huang).

Professor of Women and Gender Studies at the Texas Woman's University AnaLouise Keating argues that Anzaldúa appropriates indigeneity in Borderlands, particularly in analogizing her experience to Native Americans and her self-depictions as a “shaman,” which she lent from the indigenous culture (Keating).

Immigration[ edit]
Professor of Philosophy Amy-Reed Sandavol contends that Anzaldúa’s Borderlands portrayed “socially undocumented identity,” describing the deportation of an immigrant named Pedro who despite having been a U.S. Citizen, was coded as an immigrant due to his ethnic identity (Sandavol). Sandavol further draws on Borderlands’ descriptions of U.S territorial grabs after the Mexican-American War as a forced removal of the Mexican and Indigenous people to which the land originally belonged (Sandavol).

Reception[ edit]
In 2010, Borderlands/La Frontera was among one of the books banned by the Tucson Unified School System in Arizona when enforcing House Bill 2281, which prohibited the teaching of ethnic studies in the public school system. HB 2281's purpose was to prohibit school districts or other educational institutions from including any courses that were considered to “promote resentment towards a race or class of people” and many other provisions that target the ethnic studies programs that were already in existence (Cabrera).

Professor at the University of California Los Angeles Cati V. de Los Ríos analyzes the impact of Borderlands/La Frontera’s ban in the classroom and its implication for student identity (Rios). Ríos engaged in a case study of 35 eleventh- and twelfth-grade students in California and their experiences Chicano/Latino studies program utilizing a Borderlands-influenced curriculum that centered the experiences of racial minorities. She found that Borderlands and its incorporation into the course helped students confront their various social identities and navigate their educational endeavors (Rios).

Awards[ edit]
The Library Journal recognized Borderlands as one of 38 Best Books of 1987 (Voices from the Gaps).

Borderlands/La Frontera Bibliography
Works Cited Amado, María L. "The “New Mestiza,” the Old Mestizos: Contrasting Discourses on Mestizaje*." Sociological Inquiry, vol. 82, no. 3, 2012, pp. 446-459, doi:10.1111/j.1475-682X.2012.00411.x.

Amado contrasts the “old mestiza” Anzaldua’s conception of the “new mestiza,” indicating that the former relies on notions of racial purity and the latter on inclusivity. Through this, Amado argues, Anzaldua subverts colonial paradigms and oppressive racial categories. I would like to use this article to assist my writing of the summary section, relying more so on its explanation rather than the analysis portion/ The article also touches on critiques of Anzaldua’s “colorblindness” in her theory, which I believe would be well suited in the theme section. It also offers some historical context for the racism within Latin America that was drawn from conceptions of the “old mestiza,” which may be useful for the background section as well. Edit: I also ended up using this piece in the background section, regarding Anzaldua’s influences from the Chicano movement.

Barnard, Ian. "Gloria Anzaldúa's Queer Mestisaje." Melus, vol. 22, 1997, pp. 35-53. Gale Literature Resource Center; Gale, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1100062989/LitRC?u=wash43584&sid=LitRC&xid=ab351d0a.

Barnard argues that Anzaldua’s Borderlands reconceptualizes the binary between “queer” and “lesbian/gay” people through her theory of the “new mestiza.” Through this, Anzaldua universalizes the queer experience, inviting queer people of all identity categories into this collective consciousness of the borderlands. I hope to use this article in the “themes” section of my page as it discusses the intersections between race and sexuality in Anzaldua’s book. Further, it offers a defense of Anzaldua’s rupture of racial categories as a paradoxical attempt to forward a non-homophobic conceptualization of the world.

Castillo-Garsow, Melissa. The Legacy of Gloria Anzaldua: Finding a Place for Women of Color in Academia. vol. 31, University of Texas, San Antonio, College of Education & Human Development, 2012.

Castillo-Garsow discusses Gloria Anzaldua’s role as a woman of color in academia and her lasting influence on the literary community. I hope to use this article to build background and explain Anzaldua’s exigence for her work. In addition, the article discusses her exigence for writing in the particular style that she did, that is, the use of code-switching and Chicano vernacular to disrupt the academic setting.

Huang, Hsinya. "Indigeneity, Diaspora, and Ethical Turn in Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera." CLCWeb, vol. 17, no. 5, 2015. ProQuest, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.2741.

Huang argues that indigenous identity is often overlooked in diaspora studies. However, she argues that Anzaldua confronts this historical exclusion through depictions of Native and Aztec diaspora in Borderlands. I would like to use this work in the themes section because I believe discussions of indigeneity are a prominent theme throughout the book. I also think that this article adds to the historical context of Borderlands, bringing forth Anzaldua’s exigence and efforts to tear down the “hegemonic border” created through Western colonialism.

Keating, AnaLouise. “Speculative Realism, Visionary Pragmatism, and Poet-Shamanic Aesthetics in Gloria Anzaldúa –and Beyond.” Women’s Studies Quarterly, vol. 40, no. 3/4, Fall/Winter 2012 2012, pp. 51–69. EBSCOhost, doi: 10.1353/wsq.2013.0020.

In this article, Keating conceptualizes Anzaldua’s writings as “poet-shaman aesthetics,” that is, the notion that her particular word choice and language intends to have a material impact. I would like to use this article in the background section of my Wikipedia article, as it analyzes Anzaldua’s view of herself as the “shaman,” revealing part of her exigence for Borderlands. I would also like to utilize this source in the style section of my piece as it discusses the role of poetry and the impact of particular phrasing Anzaldua uses within her book.

Reed-Sandoval, Amy. "The Injustice of being Socially Undocumented." Las Vegas Sun (NV), 2020. NewsBank; Access World News, https://m.lasvegassun.com/news/2020/feb/29/the-injustice-of-being-socially-undocumented/.

In this piece, Reed-Sandavol examines the social construction of the undocumented immigrant and the immigration these people face within the United States. She connects this to Anzaldua’s commentary on deportation and its role as an extension of “white superiority.” I would like to use this article in the background section as it describes the historical and contemporary context for the book that is not offered in other articles I have selected. Additionally, it offers insight into the theme of immigration in

Anzaldua’s work, arguing for its role as an influence for her and as a part of her argument regarding race and colonialism. Reuman, Ann E. "Coming into Play: An Interview with Gloria Anzaldua." Melus, vol. 25, no. 2, 2000, pp. 3-45. ProQuest, doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/468217.

This is an interview conducted by Ann Reuman of Gloria Anzaldua regarding her various literary works including Borderlands. Rueman delves into Anzaldua’s influences for Borderlands along with questions regarding the writing process and audience. I would primarily like to use this piece in my background section of my article. While I have many pieces analyzing Gloria’s exigence and the historical context for Borderlands, I believe this piece offers a unique insight into her writing process and influences for the book.

Ríos, Cati. “A Curriculum of the Borderlands: High School Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies as Sitios y Lengua.” Urban Review, vol. 45, no. 1, Mar. 2013, pp. 58–73. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s11256-012-0224-3.

Rios discusses the implementation of a “borderlands pedagogy,” drawing from Gloria Anzaldua’s work, and its implications for student identity. He then relates this to the HB 2281 controversy and its implications for Chicano/Latino studies courses. I would like to use this for my “reception” section as it establishes a core controversy that Borderlands was involved in. I would also like to utilize this article as a way to bridge some of the discussions surrounding Chicano identity in Anzaldua’s work.

Román, Miriam, Juan Flores, and Renato Rosaldo. "Looking at that Middle Ground: Racial Mixing as Panacea?" Blackwell Companions in Cultural Studies: A Companion to Latina/O Studies. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2011, doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405177603.ch29.

In this article, Miriam Roman critiques Anzaldua’s Borderlands and its concepts of the new mestiza as a part of the broader multicultural project within America. She argues that Anzaldua essentially reifies racial hierarchies and demotivates movements toward racial equality with this theory. I would like to use this piece in my analysis section because this is a commonly held critique of Anzaldua’s work. Prior to this, I had a robust defense of Anzaldua’s “multiculturalism” but nothing to the contrary.

Abate article 3b
a.     Return to the Wikipedia article on Drama. How are Abate’s ideas used in the Wikipedia article? Do you think the article utilizes Abate’s ideas fairly and accurately? Does the existing content that utilizes Abate need to be edited in any way? If so, how would you edit it? Find an idea in Abate that could be added to the Wikipedia article. Add your answers to 3b to the evaluation of the Wikipedia article in your sandbox (for an additional 5 points towards Wikipedia Project, Phase 1).

Abate's idea seem to be accurately represented in the Wikipedia article. They are used in several sections throughout the article, including analysis, reception, and genre/style. I do think that the structure of the article seems to place more emphasis on the appraisal of the novel, however, as Abate's criticism of Drama remain toward the end of every section they are included in. I believe that Abate implicitly makes this arguments but I believe making this clear in the analysis section could better convey her argument. Not only does Drama gloss over the horrific conditions of slavery at the time of the play's setting, Moon over the Mississippialso represents a regressive and conflicting stance for the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals. During the time of the play's enactment, LGBTQ+ individuals would have been discriminated against and there was a significant lack of rights for women at the time. While the kiss between Jesse and West attempts to break down some of those barriers, in light of the exclusionary structures at the time, it seems to ignore rather than combat those inequities. Another of Abate's arguments that could be utilized in the Genre and Style section is the depictions of Jesse as Colonel Scrimshaw and its parallels to blackface because it supplements the discussion of race in the design and the comparison is rather striking/can be interpreted as derogatory.

Evaluation of "Drama" (Graphic Novel)
Lead Section: I thought that lead section both provided basic information and summarized the article. However, some of the language such as describing Callie as having 'confusing' crushes can be more neutral.

Background: This seem pretty strong, The background also seems to get at the author's exigence for writing, drawing on her personal experiences. However, I do not think it said when it was written.

Summary: There seems to be several grammatical errors in the summary section of this article. Additionally, I feel that the summary can be a lot more concise and needn't include minor details such as Callie's discussion with Justin about his father.

Genre or Style: Drama is characterized as a graphic novel, which I believe is a correct assessment. After the discussion in class, I am not sure if the word 'praise' is the most appropriate here. I also thought it was interesting how the focus was on the illustration style that Telgemeier uses.

Analysis: I thought this section was well put together and included both support and criticisms for the various ideas developed within Drama such as sexuality, toxic masculinity, and race.

Additionally, there seems to be a citation missing for one of the first few sentences. I added a citation needed tag for it.

Publication: This book was published September 1, 2012 by Scholastic/Graphix

Reception: The reception section seems very well balanced between the positive appraisal for the novel (both for its illustrations and messages of inclusivity) along with the negative reception it received for its LGBTQ+ content.

Others: While I believe that the article remains relatively well-balanced, the topic of race does seem to extend over several sections and perhaps warrants its own separate section as it is a major controversy with the novel. I don't feel this is essential, however, I did notice that it is quite consistently referenced as a major contention with the novel.

Update: I realized I misunderstood this section's purpose. I thought that the award's section was pretty extensive.

Infobox: According to the template for the infobox, it seems as though there are quite a few pieces of information from the box as the article stands.

Evaluation of 'Teaching For Change"
Evaluating content

·      Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you? I do think that the article stays relevant to the topic through, however, I was a bit distracted by the singular sentences as the end of the article because they seemed to be pretty underdeveloped.

·      Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added? Identify content gaps.

This article seems pretty up to date, however, the "Teaching for Change" section seems to be missing some of the recent updates to the program, such as organizing parents of color and low-income families. It also does not mention all of the program's implementation methods, such as its national summer institutes to train parents.

There does some to be a very glaring content gap in terms of reception toward the program very generally. Notably there is almost nothing in the article discussing the response from students or parents and a single sentence about critical feedback, which ignores controversies over the program.

Update: Noticed that these biases are supplemented by a lot of the phrasing within the article.

·      What else could be improved?

Generally, I think there appears to be a lot of information on the programming for "Teaching for Change" but the history the article provides is very brief and doesn't seem to follow up to the program's current state. As mentioned above, I think reception of the program is something that should be incorporated into the article.

·      Review the lead section. Does it follow Wikipedia’s guidelines to provide basic information and summarizes the entire article?

Based off the current content of the article, the lead section does appear to follow Wikipedia's guidelines.

Evaluating tone

·      Is the article neutral? Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?

The article does not seem to have many clear opinions expressed and contains diverse sources, however, I do think it misses a significant discussion of the program's controversies.

·      Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?

Advocates for the program do seem to be overrepresented here with little discussion of its impacts on the communities it is serving or opposition to the program.

Evaluating sources

·      Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?

For the most part yes. However, one of the links I tried for the "Zinn Education Project Section" did not work.

·      Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted? For example, does the writer use signal phrases to clearly identify the source of the information?

The sources do seem somewhat reliable. Some of the information is directly taken from the 'Teach for a Change' website, which is likely the most direct source to learn more about the program itself. In the same vein, however, a lot of the articles drawn from seem to draw from a perspective that is supportive of the article and magazine articles that are heavily opinionated. There does not seem to be much note of this bias from the writer, with no signal phrases present nor acknowledgement of differing views of the program.

Checking the talk page

·      Now take a look at how others are talking about this article on the talk page. Done

·      What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic? How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?

There seem to be a lot of concerns expressing that the article is very promotional rather than neutral and the author's attempts to make it less like advertizing.

The article does not seem to have a rating nor is part of WikiProjects at the moment. It says "This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 9 January 2019 and 8 May 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Assigned peer reviews: Icf17."

·      How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

This article does not seem to get at the core controversies surrounding curriculums like these, which we discussed extensively in class. I also think that it lacks some factual context for the reasons the curriculum was deployed, which the article attempts to circumvent by providing biased perspectives on the curriculum's intentions.