Forced by Circumstance: Chicana Feminist Essays (1981-2024) [Paperback]

Forced by Circumstancegathers in one volume foundational essays by, and interviews with one of the most highly esteemed intellectuals in Chicana/o, Latina/o, and Feminist Studies. Reading Alarcón’s essays—from her early work on Mexican feminist writer Rosario Castellanos to her recent reflections on the carceral state and the political debacle that our contemporary situation presents—not only offers readers a sense of the intellectual trajectory of one of our most important Chicana feminist thinkers but also brings to a new generation of scholars and readers classic essays in Chicana/o Studies, Cultural Studies, Feminist Studies, and Literary Studies.

Norma Alarcónis Professor Emerita in the Departments of Ethnic Studies, Spanish and Portuguese, and Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She was the founder and publisher of Third Woman Press, which began as a journal and gave voice to many Latina writers. She is the author ofNinfomanía:el discurso feminista en la obra poéticade Rosario Castellanos (1992) and co-editor, among others, ofBetween Woman and Nation: Nationalisms, Transnational Feminisms, and the State(1999). Her writings have had an impact across disciplines in the humanities and social sciences and range from Chicana feminism and Chicana literature to topics such as gender, race, feminist politics, the U.S.-Mexico border, women of color feminisms, and contemporary social justice issues. 

Norma E. Cantú, is a Professor Emerita from the Department of English, University of Texas at San Antonio, and currently serves as Murchison Professor of the Humanities at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, where she teaches Creative Writing and Latinx/Chicanx Studies. Her most recently published anl/