The New Mestiza

“Cradled in one culture, sandwiched between two cultures, straddling all three cultures and their value systems, la mestiza undergoes a struggle of flesh, a struggle of borders, an inner war.” -Gloria Anzaldua, Borderlands What does it mean to be Mexican American, to come from two cultures that are constantly rejecting or contradicting one another? Before Mexicans were deemed Mexican or Chicano, they were mestizos (of mixed-race) acknowledging their Indigenous and Spanish ancestry. My identity has been a mix all along. In this project I choose to accept all the contradictions, all the history of both my cultures. I take different symbols and icons from Mexican history and American history to create something new that blends two worlds together. In doing so, I construct a new culture, new myths, new icons, new images. Here there is no longer Mexican or American, there exists the new mestiza.