SOURCE: Rotger, Antònia Oliver Maria. “‘Sangre Fértil’/Fertile Blood: Migratory Crossings, War and Healing in Gloria Anzaldúa's Borderlands/La Frontera.” In Dressing Up for War: Transformations of Gender and Genre in the Discourse and Literature of War, edited by Aranzazu Usandizaga and Andrew Monnickendam, pp. 189-211. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2001.

In the following essay, Rotger uses the term “sangre fértil” to describe Anzaldúa's ability to speak from a borderland position between a variety of cultures, languages, and perspectives and discusses the author's creation of a new consciousness as a feminist and political activist.

In her elegy “Para los Californios Muertos” (“To the Dead Californios”)¹ the Californian poet of Mexican origin Lorna Dee Cervantes conjures up the vague historical memory of the destruction of the towns and culture of Californios during the US occupation of former Mexican territory. This occupation began around the 1820s and culminated...