Calling the Soul Back: Embodied Spirituality in Chicanx Narrative

233 Pages·2019·4.547 MB·English

by  Christina Garcia Lopez

CALLING THE SOUL BACK

C A L L I N G T H E S O U L B A C K
Embodied Spirituality in Chicanx Narrative
CHRISTINA GARCIA LOPEZ
The University of Arizona Press
www .uapress .arizona .edu
© 2019 by The Arizona Board of Regents
All rights reserved. Published 2019
ISBN-13: 978-0-8165-3775-4 (cloth)
Cover design by Leigh McDonald
Cover art: Lift Me Up © 2008 Maya Gonzalez
Publication of this book is made possible in part by the proceeds of a permanent endowment
created with the assistance of a Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the
Humanities, a federal agency.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data are available at the Library of Congress.
Printed in the United States of America
♾
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
For the struggling souls, trying to find their way back
For Joaquin, who lights my way

C O N T E N T S
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Approaching Narrative as Healing Work 3
1 The Body in Trauma: Healing a Collective Susto 31
2 The Ritual Body: Feminism and Spiritual Inheritance 65
3 The Grieving Body: Radical Reorientation 86
4 The Body Rooted and Flowing: Toward a Decolonized Spirituality 121
5 The Dreaming Body: Resituating Time, Space, and Knowledge 151
Epilogue 187
Works Cited 195
Index 205

I L L U S T R A T I O N S
1. Gloria E. Anzaldúa, “Woman Falling” 41
2. Virginia Grise performing “Panza Brujería” at
The Panza Monologues world premier 62
3. Ester Hernández, Have You Seen Marie?:
woman standing on cypress roots 115
4. Ester Hernández, Have You Seen Marie?:
woman wrapped in stars 118
5. Maya Christina Gonzalez, I Know the River
Loves Me / Yo sé que el río me ama: girl underwater 137
6. Maya Christina Gonzalez, I Know the River
Loves Me / Yo sé que el río me ama: girl on bridge 139
7. Maya Christina Gonzalez, Call Me Tree /
Llámame árbol: child as seed 143
8. Maya Christina Gonzalez, Call Me Tree /
Llámame árbol: tree-children 147