(Un)safe Space in the Borderlands: Writing Queer Women of Color into History

This article intends to analyze how Xicana literature navigates (un)safe spaces in the Borderlands. As women, who, more often than not, are also queer, the literature of Xicana authors constantly struggles to find safe spaces in the Borderlands. The historical novel Forgetting the Álamo (2009), by...

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Main Author: Thayse Madella
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 2025-06-01
Series:Ilha do Desterro
Subjects:
Online Access:https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/103775
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author Thayse Madella
author_facet Thayse Madella
author_sort Thayse Madella
collection DOAJ
description This article intends to analyze how Xicana literature navigates (un)safe spaces in the Borderlands. As women, who, more often than not, are also queer, the literature of Xicana authors constantly struggles to find safe spaces in the Borderlands. The historical novel Forgetting the Álamo (2009), by Emma Pérez, illustrates the mobilization of spaces into (un)safe ones. The novel, by remembering the presence of queer Xicanas in history (in the aftermath of the battle of the Alamo), constructs (un)safe spaces in a constantly changing geographical location. The pervasiveness of coloniality is always already endangering the safety of one’s existence. The instability of these “safe spaces” renders them, at the same time, unsafe. This paradoxical relationship opens the possibility of the fractured locus, where colonial and non-colonial discursive practices meet and are rearticulated.
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spelling doaj-art-b34ab24fb0bc4b6599e76ac9d751b8df2025-08-20T02:40:10ZengUniversidade Federal de Santa CatarinaIlha do Desterro0101-48462175-80262025-06-0178110.5007/2175-8026.2025.e103775(Un)safe Space in the Borderlands: Writing Queer Women of Color into HistoryThayse Madella0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0954-6953Federal University of Sergipe This article intends to analyze how Xicana literature navigates (un)safe spaces in the Borderlands. As women, who, more often than not, are also queer, the literature of Xicana authors constantly struggles to find safe spaces in the Borderlands. The historical novel Forgetting the Álamo (2009), by Emma Pérez, illustrates the mobilization of spaces into (un)safe ones. The novel, by remembering the presence of queer Xicanas in history (in the aftermath of the battle of the Alamo), constructs (un)safe spaces in a constantly changing geographical location. The pervasiveness of coloniality is always already endangering the safety of one’s existence. The instability of these “safe spaces” renders them, at the same time, unsafe. This paradoxical relationship opens the possibility of the fractured locus, where colonial and non-colonial discursive practices meet and are rearticulated. https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/103775Decolonial Studies(Un)Safe SpaceXicana LiteratureForgetting the ÁlamoChicana Studies
spellingShingle Thayse Madella
(Un)safe Space in the Borderlands: Writing Queer Women of Color into History
Ilha do Desterro
Decolonial Studies
(Un)Safe Space
Xicana Literature
Forgetting the Álamo
Chicana Studies
title (Un)safe Space in the Borderlands: Writing Queer Women of Color into History
title_full (Un)safe Space in the Borderlands: Writing Queer Women of Color into History
title_fullStr (Un)safe Space in the Borderlands: Writing Queer Women of Color into History
title_full_unstemmed (Un)safe Space in the Borderlands: Writing Queer Women of Color into History
title_short (Un)safe Space in the Borderlands: Writing Queer Women of Color into History
title_sort un safe space in the borderlands writing queer women of color into history
topic Decolonial Studies
(Un)Safe Space
Xicana Literature
Forgetting the Álamo
Chicana Studies
url https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/103775
work_keys_str_mv AT thaysemadella unsafespaceintheborderlandswritingqueerwomenofcolorintohistory