Reclaiming and reconstructing Our Lady of Guadalupe: A symbol of transformation and empowerment for Latina/Chicana lesbians.

摘要

Our Lady of Guadalupe was reported to have appeared to an Aztec, Juan Diego, in 1531 on Tepeyac Hill, outside Mexico City, during the height of the Spanish invasion of Mexico. According to the traditional Catholic version of the apparition, she was the Virgin Mary, an intercessor with her son, Jesus, and an asexual model for women. She has become a major symbol of culture, identity, and spirituality for Mexicans and people of Mexican descent living in the American Southwest.I interviewed eleven prominent Latina/Chicana lesbians (academics, writers, artists, and activists) to learn how these women came to reclaim or reconstruct Our Lady of Guadalupe as a meaningful symbol in their lives. I selected these women to participate in my study because I wanted to learn how a group who might be marginalized and distant from some aspects of their culture and religion might still find their way to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Pseudonyms were used to protect the identities of all participants, although many are open in their sexual identity as well as in their views about spiritual and faith traditions.This study concludes by describing the themes and the transformation processes that emerged during my interviews and specifically how my collaborators reclaimed/reconstructed Our Lady of Guadalupe as a symbol of Latina/Chicana lesbian empowerment and affirmation. While most of my collaborators had distanced themselves from the Catholic Church and believe that Guadalupe does not belong exclusively to the Church, their Catholic upbringings are reflected in many of the ways they reclaimed/reconstructed Our Lady of Guadalupe. Distancing themselves from the Church appears to have been a necessary prelude to their vision of Guadalupe as a symbol of lesbian empowerment and affirmation. My study offers a new or different perspective of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the basis of these interviews because the artists, writers, scholars, and practitioners believe, as one of the participants so beautifully stated, "She becomes whatever we need her to be, mother, empress, nurturer, and liberator."