Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review“
Latina Activists across Borders is a significant contribution to research on gender and grassroots social movements. Milagros Peña’s analysis of the tensions between faith-based organizing, different types of feminisms, and class-centered ‘popular’ social movements challenges ahistorical paradigms of women’s grassroots activism. And her narratives of women self-consciously developing gendered senses of self are remarkable illustrations of the ways feminism and spiritual agency interact on both sides of the border.”—Denise A. Segura, coeditor of
Women and Migration in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands: A Reader“Through powerful narratives and context, Milagros Peña finds a common and collective voice for Mexican, Mexican American, and Latina women. This work is groundbreaking because it provides a new vista by which to understand and assess the local and the global women’s movements from a feminist perspective. Peña tells a story that has never been told and tells it very well.”—Alberto López Pulido, author of
The Sacred World of the Penitentes“
Latina Activists across Borders: Women’s Grassroots Organizing in Mexico and Texas provides a window into neglected aspects of Mexican and Mexican-American women’s activism on behalf of themselves and their communities.” -- Benita Roth * Contemporary Sociology *
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Latina Activists across Borders is a must read for anyone interested in feminist theory, grassroots social movements, transnational feminist networks, and Latina communities. Engaging and lively, this book is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate seminars.” -- Nancy López * NWSA Journal *
“Peña’s book is a rich addition to the growing literature on Latinas’ political participation, organizations, leadership, and influence in the policymaking process. . . . Her work adds an interesting cultural dimension to the study of comparative politics by contrasting the organizing activities and feminisms women who share a similar cultural, linguistic, historic, and colonial heritage but straddle a national border.” -- Diane-Michele Prindeville * Gender & Society *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Nongovernmental Organizations Studies xi
Introduction. Mexican and Mexican American Women’s Activism in NGOs: Background on the Michoacán and El Paso/Cuidad Juárez Communities 1
1. Women’s Activism in Michoacán 31
2. Women’s Activism in Greater El Paso/Cuidad Juárez 70
3. The Religious Connection 108
4. Are NGOs a Panacea? Some Observations on the Future of NGOs 134
5. Despite Limitations Women’s NGOs Push Forward 146
Notes 153
Bibliography 157
Index 163
