How to Tame a Wild Tongue - Gloria Anzaldúa Amina abuthahir

Gloria Anzaldúa (26 Sept. 1942-15 May 2004) Author, Cultural and queer theorist, and Feminist philospher Born in the south Texas town, Raymondville Oldest of four children Diagnosed with premature puberty, monthly menstruation from age of 6 University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas Pan-American, University of California, Santa Cruz Died at 62 years old in Santa Cruz

How do you tame a wild tongue The beginning of the text is about Anzaldua at the dentist and how she kept getting in trouble because she kept pushing out the cotton balls with her tongue. This scenario leads to Anzaldua explaining how her tongue, or language has gotten her in trouble many times before. Talking Spanish in class instead of English, and having an accent

Overcoming the tradition of silence In this section she talks about how she was raised and how she was always punished for talking. All the little sayings she was raised with to keep quiet: En boca cerrada no entran moscas : “Flies don’t enter a closed mouth” Hocicona, repelona, chismosa : having a big mouth, questioning, carrying tales are all signs of being mal criada (not a good girl) She talks about how all the derogatory words are applied to women and not to men. “Language is a male discourse” nosotras example Also being a “traitor” by talking English and not Spanish by other Latinxs She also introduces and explains the different types of dialects that Chicanos speak (based on location, family, work, education)

Chicano Spanish Anzaldua explains what chicano spanish is, “border tongue that developed naturally”. Some consider it a mutilation of Spanish

Linguistic terrorism Some call Chicano Spanish, illegitimate and poor. She explains the reasons why there is this divide in the culture. She also goes into the first time she read Chicano literature. She talks about the music she grew up with and how it shaped who she became. “Yet the struggle of identities continues, the struggles of borders is our reality still”

Thoughts Lots of code switching Very interesting that she wrote about all of these topics 30 years ago Gave me a lot to think about and connect to pertaining my own culture and language