Chicanas and Latin American Women Writers Exploring the Realm of the Kitchen as a Self-Empowering Site

Description

This volume of essays critically studies the innovative discourse introduced by Latin American and Chicana writers who claim the kitchen space as a room of their own, not only as an essential space for womens intellectual and spiritual advancement, but as a self-empowering site where gender and sexual identities may be explored and transformed. . . . this is both a popular and a learned text. On the scholarly side, it is very sound, drawing from psychoanalysis and from cultural studies and generating superb intersections. A text such as this could be of great use to introductory undergraduate courses as well as more advanced graduate seminars. One of its effects is that it engages cooking as a wedge through which to access and transform other disciplines. . . . it is well written, and successful in making a double move: joining critical practices just opening up on the American landscape and important Latin American texts that might not be readily accessible to a North American audience. . . . the introduction makes a deft incision into the topic, binding the essays and giving them a precise and substantive direction. Helen Regueiro Elam . . . a salient and original contribution to the study of Spanish American women writers. It advances critical frameworks that are necessary for the development of further studies in the field of culinary writing. . . it will be well received by critical audiences. Patricia Rubio