Intersecting Worlds in Mexican American Philosophy

About this book

One of the few Mexican American women philosophers across the United States and Mexico redefines philosophy and pedagogy through a groundbreaking exploration of identity, culture, and language. For more than two decades, Manuela Alejandra Gomez has been teaching on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. In the first book of its kind to critically analyze how Mexican Americans connect to philosophy she draws on a five-year study, her experience, ethnographic observations and testimonios to show a constant navigation between two nations, two cultures, and two languages. Leading us through this complex negotiation of intersecting worlds, Gomez explores how to teach and learn philosophy from a Mexican American perspective. She makes us question what it means to be a philosopher, challenges conventions about what it truly means to philosophize and redefines the boundaries of philosophical thought: her aim is to add a new chapter in the narrative of academic inclusion and diversity that makes more room for Mexican American perspectives. Reimagining and broadening the parameters of philosophy, she offers invaluable pedagogical insights, providing a rich and practical roadmap to more effective teaching methods, while empowering students through the recognition of their identities. In the United States, more women and students of color are going to college than ever before, but philosophy as an academic field continues to be one of the least diverse and untouched by their vantage points. This much-needed book marks an important contribution to local and culturally informed ways of teaching and learning.