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New tribalism is a theory by queer Chicana feminist Gloria E. Anzaldúa to disrupt the matrix of imposed identity categories that the hegemonic culture imposes on people in order to maintain its power and authority. Anzaldúa states that she "appropriated" and reused the term from David Rieff, who had "used it to criticize [her] for being 'a professional Aztec' and for what he saw as [her] naive and nostalgic return to indigenous roots." Rieff stated that Anzaldúa should "think a little less about race and a little more about class." In response, Anzaldúa developed the concept in order to form an inclusive social identity that "motivates subordinated communities to work together in coalition."[1]
New tribalism has been referred to as "a provocative alternative to both assimilation and separatism" by building identity on affinity-based terms which keeps the formation of alliances against oppression in mind. Anzaldúa also developed the theory in response to critics who referred to her imagining of mestizaje "as narrow nationalism or essentialism," and instead urges readers to think about existing categories differently so that new language may be repeatedly formed and reformed.[2] Scholars acknowledge that this work may be uncomfortable, confusing, and chaotic, but argue that this cannot be a reason to abandon the path forward.[3][4] Although developed from her own perspective, the theory was not created to only contextualize the Chicana or Latina experience.[3]
- ^ Anzaldua, Gloria; Keating, AnaLouise (2009). The Gloria Anzaldúa Reader. Duke University Press. p. 283. ISBN 9780822391272.
- ^ Anzaldúa, Gloria (2015). "Glossary". In Keating, AnaLouise (ed.). Light in the Dark/Luz en Lo Oscuro: Rewriting Identity, Spirituality, Reality (E-book). Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822375036.
- ^ a b Saavedra, Cinthya M.; Nymark, Ellen D. (2008). "Borderland-Mestizaje Feminism: The New Tribalism". In Tuhiwai Smith, Linda; Denzin, Norma K.; Sessions Lincoln, Yvonna (eds.). Handbook of Critical and Indigenous Methodologies. SAGE Publications. pp. 255–69. ISBN 9781412918039.
- ^ Keating, AnaLouise (2012). "Speculative Realism, Visionary Pragmatism, and Poet-Shamanic Aesthetics in Gloria Anzaldúa—and Beyond". WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly. 40 (3–4): 55–56. doi:10.1353/wsq.2013.0020. S2CID 84745269.
I'm afraid that Chicanas may unknowingly help the dominant culture remove Indians from their specific tribal identities and histories. Tengo miedo que, in pushing for mestizaje and a new tribalism, I will "detribalize" them. . . . Yet I also feel it's imperative that we participate in this dialogue no matter how risky.