I've been meaning to revamp this page for months now, but my life is in such flux, I really don't know how to start....it will have to suffice to say that my name is Susana L. Gallardo and I am:

a third/fifth generation chicana from East L.A. / Yorba Linda / Palo Alto,

a doctoral candidate at Stanford University where i am continuing to work on my dissertation on chicana/o catholic religious history,

a part-time research assistant at the Stanford Learning Lab working on pedagogy and the use of technology in teaching the humanities,

a proud chicana and a proud feminist, and a proud chicana feminist,

an adjunct instructor of Religious Studies, most recently at Occidental College in Los Angeles,

a proud daughter to two wonderful parents, Herman & Dorothy Gallardo.
 

This website is my beloved personal and professional project. I chose the site name, "Making Face, Making Soul: A Chicana Feminist Website," specifically to reflect an inclusive feminist vision of humanity's possibilities.  The phrase comes from a pivotal anthology of works by women of color, Making Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Caras: Creative and Critical Perspectives by Feminists of Color, edited by Gloria Anzaldua. In the book's introduction, Gloria writes

In this anthology and in our daily lives, we women of color strip off the mascaras others have imposed on us, see through the disguises we hide behind and drop our personas so that we may become subjects in our own discourses.  We rip out the stitches, expose the multi-layered 'inner faces,' attempting to confront and oust the internalized oppression embedded in them, and remake anew both inner and outer faces.... We begin to acquire the agency of making our own caras.  'Making faces' is my metaphor for constructing one's identity.  'Usted es el modeador de su carne tanto como el de su alma.'  You are the shaper of your flesh as well as of your soul....
this is a site where the chicana subject is assumed, and central, a tiny piece of the 'net where you, mujeres, are the norm and where you can let that mascara slip.  i hope this site excites you, challenges you, angers you, makes you think.  i hope it feeds you, gives you stuff to chew on in your head as you think about how race, class, gender, and sexuality take shape in your own life, and in your relationships with others.

and for those visitors who are not chicana or latina, i hope you take advantage of the chance to stand with latinas, to learn from chicana experience, and to think about how all our lives are shaped by race, class, gender, and sexuality.

If you have any suggestions, and especially if you'd like to volunteer to write or add something, please just let me know. 

Enjoy your visit!

best,
s.
 

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