Cherre Moraga

Cherre Lawrence Moraga[1] (born September 25, Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of
1952) is a Chicana writer, feminist activist, poet, essayist, Color, which would be published in 1981.
and playwright. She is part of the faculty at Stanford
University in the Department of Drama and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. Her works explore 2 Biography
the ways in which gender, sexuality and race intersect in
the lives of women of color.
Moraga was one of the few writers to write and introduce
the theory on Chicana lesbianism. Her interests include
the intersections of gender, sexuality, and race, partic1 Early life
ularly in cultural production by women of color. There
are not many women of color writing about issues that
Moraga was born of mixed blood parentage on Septem- queer women of color face today: therefore, her work is
ber 25, 1952 in Whittier, California located approxi- very notable and important to the new generations. In the
mately 10 miles southeast from Los Angeles.[2] Raised 1980s her works started to be published. Since she is one
in Californias San Gabriel Valley, Moraga felt the ef- of the rst and few Chicana/Lesbian writers of our time,
fects of her mixed ethnicityMexican and Anglofrom she set the stage for younger generations of other minority
an early age. Her early writing acknowledges the com- writers and activists.[6]
plex relationship of being able to pass for white, while
emotionally deeply identifying with the non-white part of
her identity and her extended Chicano (Mexican Ameri- 3 Lesbianism
can) family. In her article, La Guera, she compares the
dierence between her life being fair-skinned, with her
mothers life as an easily identiable Hispanic woman. After her college years, Moraga openly accepted her lesbianism, after hiding it from others and herself, and it
For a long time, she used her Anglo looks to her advantage, until she realized that, it is frightening to ac- was then that she compared the feelings and emotions
she was experiencing to her mothers feelings. She was
knowledge that I have internalized a racism and classism, where the object of oppression not only someone making a connection between the way that the society
was discriminating her by being a lesbian and the feeloutside of my skin, but the someone inside my skin.
[3]
In those moments, she realized that she herself had ings her mother faced by the oppression of being poor, a
been undermining her Chicana culture, by conforming women of color and with a lack of education. My lesto an Anglo culture, as she calls it. Her family has re- bianism is the avenue through which I have learned the
mained a large focus of her writingher Mexican Amer- most about silence and oppression, and it continues to be
ican mother, specically, who was forced to leave school the most tactile reminder to me that we are not free huat an early age to support her younger siblings. As a work- man beings describing lesbianism as poverty, just as being class writer, Moragas acknowledges that the main in- ing dark, women or simply poor. Her own acceptance as a
spiration to become a writer was her mother, who was an lesbian made her embrace her ethnic background and sexeminent storyteller.[4] Moraga earned her Bachelors de- ual orientation, which later helped and guided her through
gree from Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, Cal- the struggles she faced. She understood that even in her
ifornia, a nonsectarian college, which Moraga describes generation, women continued to be discriminated against
as Radical Catholic. She graduated in 1974 earning a and were not free since there are still many standards that
has constructed and strengthen throughBachelors Degree in English. Soon after attending Im- the U.S society
[4]
out
the
years.
maculate Heart College, she enrolled in a writing class
at the Womens Building and produced her rst lesbian Moraga began writing early in her life, but did not get sepoems.[2][5] In 1977 she moved to San Francisco where rious until after she came out as a lesbian. She then got
she supported herself as a waitress, became politically ac- involved with the feminist movement. She writes about
tive as a burgeoning feminist, and eventually found her having to choose between referring to herself as a Chiway to women of color feminism. She earned her Mas- cana lesbian or a lesbian Chicanalinguistically, only
ters Degree in Feminist Writings from San Francisco one of these two identities can serve as the essential part
State University in 1980. This was the same period of her of her being, while the other can only serve as a modiassociation with Gloria Anzalda, and the project of This er. Knowing and being proud of her sexuality was eas1

2
ier for Moraga to express her feelings and thoughts on
writing. Her work has been part of who she is a women
that identies as a Chicana and a lesbian. In Loving in
the War Years, Moraga cites Capitalist Patriarchy: A Case
for Social Feminism as an inspiration when realizing her
intersecting identity as a Chicana lesbian, saying, The
appearance of these sisters words in print, as lesbians of
color, suddenly made it viable for me to put my Chicana
and lesbian self in the center of my movement. [7]

WORK

past in all of us. It is important because during this time,

the civil rights movements were at its climax. Integrating
all womens issues into one and cooperating in solidarity.
She published A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousness: Writings, 2000-2010, in 2011.[11][12] Her
play New Fire: To Put Things Right Again had its
world premiere January 1129, 2012, in San Francisco,
California.[13][14][15] Cherrie Moraga was named a 2007
USA Rockefeller Fellow and granted $50,000 by United
States Artists, an arts advocacy foundation dedicated to
the support and promotion of Americas top living artists.
She won a Creative Work Fund Award in 2008, and
the Gerbode-Hewlett Foundation Grant for Playwriting
in 2009.[13] The Last Generation (1993) is a politicized
and intensely personal collection of poetry and prose that
argues for a reconceptualization of on gender, sexuality,
and ethnic identity, race, art and nationalism and the politics of survival.[16]

Moragas perspective on most of her work and writings exploring multiple intersecting identities as a Xicanadyke in the U.S., which composes the raza identity and sexual orientation, and how this has shaped her
interactions with both the gay and lesbian movement and
the Chicano movement. Nevertheless, the oppositional
consciousness that she brings in her work has served as
one of her most important characteristics. This oppositional consciousness is in stark contrast to the assimilationist core of many of the activist movements that Mor- From 1994 to 2002, she published a couple of volumes
aga criticizes.[8]
of drama through West End Press of Albuquerque, NM.
The rst one was Heroes and Saints (1994), which won
an award. This play focuses on the issues faced by the
large immigrant population working in the elds poi4 Books
soned by pesticides.[17] The Hungry Woman (2001) she
makes the links between the mystical and the Chicano
She is perhaps best known for co-editing, with Gloria politics with her own perspective as a lesbian feminist.
Anzalda, the anthology of feminist thought This Bridge Watsonville/Circle in the Dirt (2002) these plays bring toCalled My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color in gether the struggles of farmworkers and their resistance
1981; which was one of her most successful books that to cultural domination as well as the threat of economic
won the Before Columbus Foundation American Book enslavement. Her plays have been shown throughout the
Award in 1986.[9] Along with Ana Castillo and Norma Southwest, in Chicago, Seattle and New York. Another
Alarcon, she adapted this anthology into the Spanish- work was done in 1995, Heart of the Earth, where her
language Esta puente, mi espalda: Voces de mujeres ter- adaptation of the Popol Vuh, the Maya creation myth,
cermundistas en los Estados Unidos. Writings in the an- opened at the Public Theatre and INTAR Theatre in New
thology, along with works by other prominent feminists York City.[18]
of color, call for a greater prominence within feminism
for race-related subjectivities which included her complex bicultural position to Anglo and Chicano culture,
and ultimately laid the foundation for third wave femi- 5 Work
nism or Third World Feminism in the USA. Her rst soleauthored book, Loving in the War Years: lo que nunca
pas por sus labios (1983), a combination of autobio- Moraga has taught courses in dramatic arts and writing at
graphically modulated prose and poetry, is also an inu- various universities across the United States and is curential critical work among Chicana feminists and other rently an artist in residence at Stanford University. Her
feminists of color, and among scholars working in Chi- play, Watsonville: Some Place Not Here, performed at
cano Studies.In this book she establishes the connections the Brava Theatre Company of San Francisco in May,
between her mother and herself, her sexuality and the in- 1996, won the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
from the Kennedy
uence her mother had on her life[10] Her play Giving up Fund for New American Plays Award,
[19]
center
for
the
Performing
Arts.
Barbara
Smith, Audre
the Ghost, published in 1986, focuses mainly on Chicana
Lorde
and
Moraga
started
Kitchen
Table:
Women of
lesbianism and the main heroine embracing her lesbianin
1983,
a
group
which
did
not
discriminate
Color
Press
ism rather than denying it. The play was presented and
premiered at the Theater Rhinoceros in San Francisco against homosexuality, class, or race. it is the rst pubto the writing of women of color in the
from February 10 to March 12 in 1989; it was directed lisher dedicated
[20]
United
States.
by Anita Mattos and Jose Guadalupe Saucedo. In a plug
for the show, political activist Angela Davis recently said, Moraga is currently involved in a Theatre communica"[Ghost] is an emotionally haunting encounter that asks tions group and was the recipient of the NEA Theatre
us as women to look back over our shoulders and face the Playwriting Fellowship Award[9] Her plays and publiunforgettable. Cherrie Morgan drums up the pulse of the cations have won and received national recognition in-

3
cluding a TCG Theatre Residency Grant, a National Endowment for the art fellowship for play writing and two
Fund for New American Plays Awards in 1993. She was
awarded the United States artist Rockefeller Fellowship
for literature in 2007.In 2008 she won a Creative Work
Fund Award. The following year, in 2009 she received a
Gerbode-Hewlett foundation grant for play writing.[4][6]

Selected bibliography
A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousness: Writings 2000-2010 (2011). Durham: Duke University
Press. ISBN 0-8223-4977-9
Watsonville: Some Place Not Here; Circle in the dirt:
el pueblo de East Palo Alto (2002). Albuquerque:
West End Press. ISBN 0-9705344-5-0.
The Hungry Woman (2001). Albuquerque: West
End Press. ISBN 0-9705344-0-X
Waiting in the Wings: Portrait of a Queer Motherhood (1997) Ithaca: Firebrand Books. ISBN 156341-093-1.
Art in America Con Acento (1994). Anthologized
in Women Writing Resistance: essays on Latin America and the Caribbean (2003). Cambridge, Massachusetts: South End Press. ISBN 0-89608-708-5.
Heroes and Saints and Other Plays (1994). Albuquerque: West End Press. ISBN 0-931122-74-0.
The Last Generation: Prose and Poetry (1993).
Boston: South End Press. ISBN 0-89608-467-1
The Sexuality of Latinas (co-editor, 1993). Berkeley: Third Woman Press. ISBN 0-943219-00-0.
Shadow of a Man (1992)
Giving Up the Ghost: Teatro in Two Acts (1986). Los
Angeles: West End Press. ISBN 0-931122-43-0.
Cuentos: Stories By Latinas (co-editor, 1983). New
York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. ISBN
0-913175-01-3.
Loving in the War Years: Lo que nunca pas por sus
labios (1983). Boston: South End Press. ISBN 089608-195-8.
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical
Women of Color (co-editor, 1981). Watertown,
Massachusetts: Persephone Press. ISBN 0-94321922-1
Esta puente, mi espalda: Voces de mujeres tercermundistas en los Estados Unidos (co-editor, 1988).
San Francisco: ism press. ISBN 978-0-910383-196.

7 Selected critical works on Cherre Moraga

Alarcn, Norma. The Theoretical Subject(s) of
This Bridge Called My Back and Anglo-American
Feminism. Criticism in the Borderlands: Studies in
Chicano Literature, Culture and Ideology. Eds. Hctor Caldern and Jos David Saldvar. Durham and
London: Duke University Press, 1991. 28-39.
Allatson, Paul. I May Create a Monster: Cherre Moragas Hybrid Denial. Antpodas: Journal of
Hispanic and Galician Studies 11-12 (1999/2000):
103-121.
Allatson, Paul. Cherre Moraga. The Greenwood
Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature.
Ed. Emmanuel S. Nelson. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005. Vol. 3: 1520-23.
Gilmore, Leigh. Autobiographics: A Feminist Theory of Womens Self-Representation. Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 1994.
Ikas, Karin Rosa. Chicana Ways: Conversations
with Ten Chicana Writers. Reno: University of
Nevada Press, 2002.
Negrn-Muntaner, Frances. Cherre Moraga.
Latin American Writers on Gay and Lesbian Themes:
A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Ed. David William Foster. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. 25462.
Vivancos Perez, Ricardo F. Radical Chicana Poetics.
London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
Yarbro-Bejarano, Yvonne. Cherre Moraga. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol. 82: Chicano
Writers First Series. Eds. Francisco A. Lomel and
Carl R. Shirley. Detroit: Gale/Bruccoli Clark Layman, 1989. 165-77.
Yarbro-Bejarano, Yvonne. De-constructing the
Lesbian Body: Cherre Moragas Loving in the War
Years. The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Ed.
Henry Abelove, Michle Ana Barale and David M.
Halperin. New York: Routledge, 1993. 595-603.
Yarbro-Bejarano, Yvonne. The Wounded Heart:
Writing on Cherre Moraga. Austin: University of
Texas Press, 2001.

8 Awards
National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies Scholars Award, 2001.

11 NOTES
David R. Kessler Award. The Center for Lesbian
and Gay Studies, City University of New York. (In
honor of contributions to the eld of Queer Studies),
2000.
The First Annual Cara Award. UCLA Chicano
Studies Research Center/ Cesar Chavez Center
for Interdisciplinary Instruction in Chicana/Chicano
Studies, 1999.
The Fund for New American Plays Award, a project
of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts, 1995 and 1991.
Lifetime Achievement Award, Ellas in Accin, San
Francisco, 1995.
Lesbian Rights Award, Southern California Women
for Understanding (for Outstanding Contributions
in Lesbian Literature and for Service to the Lesbian
Community), 1991.
The National Endowment for the Arts Theater Playwrights Fellowship, 1993.
The PEN West Literary Award for Drama, 1993.

(Spanish) Pignataro, Margarita Elena del Carmen

(Arizona State University PhD thesis). Religious
hybridity and female power in Heart of the Earth:
A Popol Vuh Story and other theatrical works by
Cherrie Moraga. (Spanish: El hibridismo religioso y la fuerza femenina en Heart of the Earth: A
Popul Vuh Story y otras obras teatrales de Cherre Moraga) (Dissertation/Thesis). 01/2009, ISBN
9781109102925. UMI Number: 3353695. - This
work has an abstract in English and is written in the
Spanish language.

11 Notes
[1] Pignataro, p. 1. Cherrie Lawrence Moraga: Introduction
[2] Cherrie Moraga. University of Illinois at Chicago. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
[3] Moraga, Cherrie.
La Guera (PDF). jonescollegeprep.engschool.org.

The (Bay Area Theatre?) Critics Circle Award for

Best Original Script, 1992 (Heroes and Saints).

[4] Moraga, Cherrie (September 1979). La Guera (PDF).

Retrieved 2013-12-22.

The Will Glickman Playwriting Award, 1992.

[5] Cherre Moraga & The Welder"". Literature of Working Women. Workingwomen.wikispaces.com. Retrieved
2013-12-22.

The Drama-logue Award for Playwriting, 1992.

The Outlook Foundation, Literary Award, 1991.
The California Arts Council Artists in Community
Residency Award, 1991-2 /1993-5.
The American Book Award, Before Columbus
Foundation, 1986.
The Creative Arts Public Service (CAPS) Grant for
Poetry, New York State, 1983.
The Mac Dowell Colony Fellowship for Poetry, New
Hampshire, 1982.

10 References

See also
Black feminism
Chicana feminism
Third-world feminism

[6] Cherrie Moraga: Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies. Stanford

University. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
[7] Moraga, Cherre L. (1983). Loving in the War Years.
Boston: South End Press. p. 123. ISBN 0-89608-1958.
[8] Cherrie Moraga: Assimilation and Activism. Introduction to Comparative Queer Literary Studies. 2013-03-10.
Retrieved 2013-12-22.
[9] Cherrie Moraga. Voices From the Gaps. University of
Minnesota. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
[10] Yarbro-Bejarano, Yvonne. The Wounded Heart: Writing
on Cherre Moraga. Austin: University of Texas Press,
2001.
[11] A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousness: Writings,
20002010
[12] Manus, Willard (March 13, 1998). Giving Up the Ghost,
About a Chicana Lesbian, Opens Mar. 13 in San Diego.
Playbill.

List of Mexican American writers

[13] Ivan Villanueva (December 13, 2011). Cherrie Moraga

Aims to Ignite a New Fire. The Advocate. Retrieved
2011-12-18.

List of women writers

[14]

[15] Cspedes, Erika Vivianna (2012-01-13). Moraga Returns With A New Fire; To Put Things Right Again. Silicon Valley De-Bug. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
[16] Cherrie Moraga Biography - (1952 ), This Bridge
Called My Back: Radical Writings by Women of Color.
JRank Articles. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
[17] Moraga, Cherre L.: Heroes and Saints. NYU School
of Medicine. 1998-02-19. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
[18] THE HUNGRY WOMAN - Cherrie Moraga. Small
Press Distribution. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
[19] VG/Voices from the Gaps Project: Merideth R. Cleary
and Erin E. Fergusson
[20] Short, Kayann. Coming to the Table: The Dierential Politics of This Bridge Called my Back, Genders 19 (1994):
pp. 4-8.

12

External links

Ocial site
Cast Out: Queer Lives in Theater (University of
Michigan Press, edited by Robin Bernstein) includes
Moragas essay, And Frida Looks Back: The Art of
Latina/o Queer Heroics.
Esta puente, mi espalda: Voces de mujeres tercermundistas en los Estados Unidos (co-editor, 1988).
San Francisco: ism press. ISBN 978-0-91038319-6 (paperback); ISBN 978-0-910383-20-2 (hardcover)

13

13
13.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Cherre Moraga Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherr%C3%ADe_Moraga?oldid=668326345 Contributors: Kingturtle, WhisperToMe, Bearcat, David Gerard, OldakQuill, Jossi, D6, Rich Farmbrough, Stephen, Nklatt, Bgwhite, Pigman, Bruxism, Jaxl, Driskil3,
Rockero, SmackBot, Evanreyes, Wizardman, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, BrownHairedGirl, Gobonobo, Irn, CmdrObot, Cydebot, Bcpots,
Treybien, Aristophanes68, Alaibot, Berria, Dugwiki, Natalie Erin, Zigzig20s, Rachelnt, Xeno, Danedouard00, Waacstats, Mrathel, Kootenayvolcano, Johnpacklambert, Ryan Postlethwaite, Aboutmovies, Danslation, Lawrlafo, Dakinijones, Sennen goroshi, Solar-Wind, Writer9,
Kbdankbot, Addbot, Download, Yobot, Sulair.speccoll, AnomieBOT, Vilartatim, Wikignome0529, Omnipaedista, Ulaapstonall, DrilBot,
Pensativa, RjwilmsiBot, Eve27 2009, Helpful Pixie Bot, JohnOFL, BZTMPS, BG19bot, Seergenius, Henriettapussycat, Mdy66, Americasstudies, Myxomatosis57, Smashenhurst, VIAFbot, Rebecca1990, Awesomeness2013, Patria23, MoragaAuthor, Rfvperez, Kboeckl,
Thelittlemuse, Richard Giddens Jr, KasparBot and Anonymous: 27

13.2

Images

File:Books-aj.svg_aj_ashton_01.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Books-aj.svg_aj_ashton_01.svg

License: CC0 Contributors: http://www.openclipart.org/cgi-bin/navigate/education/books (note: the link no longer works since reorganization of the OpenClipArt website). Original artist: Original author: AJ Ashton (on OpenClipArt). Code xed by verdy_p for XML
conformance, and MediaWiki compatibility, using a stricter subset of SVG without the extensions of SVG editors, also cleaned up many
unnecessary CSS attributes, or factorized them for faster performance and smaller size. All the variants linked below are based on this
image.
File:Edit-clear.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg License: Public domain Contributors: The
Tango! Desktop Project. Original artist:
The people from the Tango! project. And according to the meta-data in the le, specically: Andreas Nilsson, and Jakub Steiner (although
minimally).

13.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0