Week 5

      I think I would include Amy Sara Carroll's "Muerte Sin Fin: Teresa Margolles's Gendered States of Exception" with the readings for week 5 as Margolles' work complements this week's plays in a very striking way.  Anzaldua's chapter "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" raised more issues of identity. Is it something we define in terms of language? Where do we draw lines within a language group? She brought up issues between Chicanos regarding who can be considered authentic or legitimate. This search for identity is echoed in Margolles' work, though of course, through a completely different medium. Margolles effectually washes her artistic subjects of any personal status or uniqueness by separating the body from the self. Where is one's own agency and character amidst so much struggle? Both Anzaldua and Margolles explore this question in their own right.
    
      In its own way, Moraga's Hungry Woman has a similar level of shock value to Margolles' art.  Moraga unabashedly and explicitly explores issues of gender as they do or do not fit into cultural norms, expectations, and upbringing. We know from Carroll's text that Margolles, too, intended to explore questions of gender. Yet, her statements on that topic are overshadowed by the visceral images in her the foreground whereas Moraga lands on the other end of the spectrum; placing so much emphasis on gender that perhaps we lose some understanding of the cultural and national context. Which is more effective? I'm not sure, but both artists have given us strong statements regarding the role of gender in this conflict.