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Populär Culture Review
M aria Herrera-Sobek, professor o f Chicana studies at the
University o f California, Santa Barbara, pointed out the measure o f La
M alinche’s resilience. “She survived all the indignities o f being a slave
as a young child traded from one master to another. Later she survived as
best she could the many years she served the Spaniards” (131).
The Chicana movement is inclusive, vibrant, and employs the
Services o f a variety o f muses: poetry, art, literature, and commentary.
Chicana poets see Malinche as a woman who struggled to be heard in a
male dominated world. Dr. Carmen Tafolla, poet laureate o f San
Antonio, in her poem “M alinche” (Women in W orld History website)
Starts with the declaration “Yo soy La M alinche” (“I am Malinche”) (1).
She continues:
But Chingada I Was not
N ot tricked, not screwed, not traitor.
F o r i was not a traitor to m y self—
I saw a dream
And I reached it
Another world
...la ra z a
La raaaaa-zaaaaa...
(51-58)
Rosario Castellanos, the Mexican poet and author, spoke
eloquently about issues o f cultural and gender oppression using
M alinche’s point o f view. “I was sold to the merchants, on my way as a
slave, a nobody, an exile“ (Castellanos). In her book, El Etemo
Femenino (1975), Castellanos credits Malinche for telling Cortes to wear
his armor because it gave him the aura o f a god, and advising him to bum
his ships to strengthen the resolve o f his soldiers (Cypess, La Malinche
127).
Claribel Alegria, a Nicaraguan poet activist and winner o f the
prestigious Neustadt International Award for Literature, in her poem
“M alinche” asks this question:
To whom must I render accounts?
To whom?
Teil me
To whom? (38-41)
The answer is obvious, “only to yourself’ (Romo 151). Artists ask and
answer sim ilar probing questions.
Santa Barraza, a Chicana artist from Texas, portrays a beautifiil
life-giving image o f Malinche. It is small, 8” x 9”, painted on metal, and