Latina New York: Feminist poetics and the Empire City
Abstract
"Latina New York: Feminist Poetics and the Empire City" examines the ways in which a diverse group of Latinas have written about and written themselves into New York's physical, political, and literary landscapes. The dissertation examines the works of women poets who self-identify as Puerto Rican, Chicana, and Dominican, and/or Latina, including Julia de Burgos, Sandra María Esteves, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Josefina Báez. Drawing upon theoretical frameworks from feminist and transnational studies, this project posits that their literary articulations of "The Empire City" draw attention to the gendered processes of im/migrating, place-making, and inhabiting transnational social fields. While many comparative studies consider thematic trends across texts, this dissertation considers a specific place, New York City, as the unifying thread that connects interlingual works written by Latina poets of diverse backgrounds. By situating these Latina poets within the context of broader New York City literary histories, this study foregrounds the ways in which their works--both poetic and political--represent critical Latina feminist interventions in literatures of the Americas. Ultimately, by examining the ways in which Latina poets of different nationalities and birthplaces deploy New York City in their poems, this examination highlights what happens at the intersections of various transnational and intranational circuits, while simultaneously placing texts rarely read together into conversation for the first time.
Subject Area
Latin American literature|Womens studies|American literature|Hispanic American studies
Recommended Citation
Alvarado, Li Yun, "Latina New York: Feminist poetics and the Empire City" (2015). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI3727397.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI3727397
