Unmaking Colonial Fictions: Cherríe Moraga’s Rhetorics of Fragmentation and Semi-ness

Abstract

Throughout Cherríe Moraga’s publications (1979 to present), we see her writings pivot from expressions of cohesive oneness to articulations of generative fragmentation. Moraga’s emerged attention to metaphorical woundedness participates in Chicanx rhetorics of fragmentation, which undermines colonial fictions that the self is whole and unified. Such rhetoric emphasizes potentials of semi-ness and creative energy of shame as strategies to confront Chicanx realities, and to engage contemporary theories of decolonialism, biopower, and embodied language. Moraga’s writings provide a lens through which we investigate how confirmation and ownership of rhetorics of fragmentation might nurture rhetorical homelands, particularly for Chicanx student writers.

Notes

1 To superb mentors at the University of California, Irvine who launched my queries into rhetorics of fragmentation, I thank you. Daniel M. Gross, you gave me freedom to explore but never to become lost. I am also grateful to my Rhetoric Review readers Christina Cedillo and Jaime Armin Mejia for astute and engaged advice. To Elise Hurley, I appreciate the support and opportunity that you offer. Finally, to those who refuse to be “fixed,” you inspire me.

2 See Grosfoguel.

3 See Ndlovu-Gatsheni.

4 See Klein; Klein and Quilter.

5 See Sigal; Brumfiel.

6 See Sharpe 22.

7 See Saldaña-Portillo for examination of constructed notions of indigeneity to negotiate Chicanx identity.

8 See Locke, et. al.

9 See Valadez, et. al. for discussion on semilingualism in educational contexts.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Loretta Victoria Ramirez

Loretta Victoria Ramirez is an Assistant Professor of Latinx Rhetoric and Composition at California State University, Long Beach in the Chicano and Latino Studies Department. Her research explores historical and visual rhetorics, emphasizing Chicana writing, decolonial theory, and composition pedagogy. Loretta is a recipient of a 2020 Scholars for the Dream Award, conferred by the Conference on College Composition & Communication. She is currently preparing for publication her monograph, The Stitch and the Wound: Chicana Rhetorics from Medieval Iberia to SoCal Art and Life. Loretta invites questions, comments, and discussions at [email protected].