Kathryn Quinn-Sánchez - Böcker

This study demonstrates the ways that Latina authors contest how power and space exploit women while simultaneously subverting the Nation-State through reimagining a counter-space where new definitions of the self lie beyond Power’s reach. Moreover, this book delves into how both Power and Space collude to uphold the out-of-date sexist, racist, and classist societal norms that Eurocentrism and history continue to cleave to as the defining qualities of the nation and its citizens. With the proliferation of Latin literature within the United States, an ideological readjustment is taking place whereby several late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century authors contest the State’s role in defining its citizens by exposing the unjust role that Space and Power play. With this in mind,the author examines several literary versions of identity to explore how certain authors reject and subvert the social mores against which present-day citizens are measured—especially within government or State institutions but also within families and neighborhoods. The literary works that are analyzed cover a period of twenty-five years ending in 2010. Several of these texts rewrite the national allegory from the point of view of the marginalized while others demonstrate how an individual successfully renegotiates her identity—gender, social class, or ethnicity—from being a disadvantage to being an identity marker to celebrate. The authors defy the place that women are still relegated to, by representing several characters who consciously decide that it is time to battle the forces that would keep them powerless in the public arena. Above all, these texts are anti-Power; the protagonists refuse to accept the societal forces which constantly barrage them, defining them as worthless. These authors and their characters challenge everything that historically has kept women relegated to a space of weakness.

Non-Normative Sexualities in US Latinx and Latin American Literature Through a Capitalist Lens studies how Latin American and Latinx authors represent non-normative sexualities through a capitalist lens. In our society, heterosexuality manifests as privilege and has been normalized to such an extent that any sexuality that is perceived as different from the dominant cis-gendered, heteropatriarchal norm is considered deviant. Non-normative sexualities continue to be viewed by society as detrimental to the health of the nation. Consequently, how one is perceived by the dominant culture continues to limit one’s ability to thrive. Each chapter serves to analyze how one’s perceived gender identity or sexuality can block access to economic opportunity. Queer, trans, spatial and intersectional theories form the base of the literary analyses. One of the contributors’ goals is to present capitalism as it is intersectionally present in life, identity, and society. The authors studied in this collection come from the USA, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the Southern Cone of Latin America.