In this course we will study the history, emergence, and theoretical works of anti-colonial feminism in Latin America. “Anticolonial feminism is a theoretical and a political project that challenges imperialist and colonizing practices, past and present” (Mendoza 2016, pg.1). Anticolonial feminist theory in Latin America is constituted through a plurality of feminist theoretical approaches: women of color feminisms, intersectional feminisms, postcolonial feminisms, as well as decolonial feminisms, that aim to contribute to the project of decolonization and have – in theory and in politics – generated “distinctive critiques of colonialism, modernity, Eurocentrism, capitalism, nationalism, and racism.” (Mendoza 2016, pg.1).

This course will begin with an overview of the emergence and history of anticolonial feminism in Latin America beginning around the 1960’s as a response to political and theoretical projects of decolonization. Participants will then engage in deep reading of the works of anticolonial feminist theorists such as: Gloria Anzaldúa, Ofelia Schutte, Chela Sandoval, Maria Lugones, Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, and Rita Segato, among others. Through engaging with these texts, participants will learn about how the aforementioned feminist approaches (women of color, intersectional, postcolonial, and decolonial) formulate critiques, methodologies, epistemological frameworks, and concepts for decolonial feminist theorizing (e.g.: “mestiza consciousness,” or “mestizaje,” (Anzaldúa 1987), the “coloniality of gender,” (Lugones 2007) and “pedagogies of cruelty” (Segato 2018) as well as for and in the praxis of feminist activism in Latin America.