Sa'amacca Women: From Talking Back to Writing Back

• In Event: Feminist Tapestries: Building, Weaving, and Writing Community

Abstract

Sa'amacca women constantly reinvent themselves, and are not afraid to dialogue across the boundaries that their children and their sisters must cross. Increasing migration from traditional villages in the interior to urban areas, necessitates documentation of their stories, in order to make alternative histories available which can help subvert dominant narratives. “Writing back” can ensure that young women see the stories of themselves and other great women of color in print as validation of their experiences in a community. This is necessary to ensure that the “mental universe of the colonized” is properly deconstructed to provide further opportunity for self-determination.

Presenter

• Vanessa Dale Austin, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras