Description

De Campesina a Internacionalista (From Farmworker Girl to Internationalist): Encuentros y Desencuentros

The author, a veteran Chicana activist and former political prisoner, describes her journey from child farm laborer to international human rights activist, feminist, and LGBT rights advocate. Talamante traces the origins of her political consciousness to the fields of California’s Santa Clara Valley, and she describes how she discovered at the University of California, Santa Cruz, some of the terminology that explained her observations, feelings, fears, and expectations: Chicana consciousness, class rage, equality, and fairness. Being a member of UCSC MECHA sparked her interest in the counterpart Mexican student movement of the 1960s and she became part of the first forays of Chicano/Mexicano encuentros. Talamante also identifies some desencuentros, or failures to connect, during her journeys across borders, struggling with sexual identity, political loyalties, and movement and social expectations.

political biography, Olga Talamante, Chicana activism, LGBT rights

Citation: Social Justice Vol. 42, Nos. 3-4 (2015): 67-73