Haciendo de tripas, corazones: The creative ethos of Latina women

by Yara González-Justiniano

(Spring, 2014)

“Pero yo estaba hecha de presentes, y mis pies planos sobre la tierra promisoria no resistían caminar hacia atrás, y seguían adelante, adelante, burlando las cenizas para alcanzar el beso de los senderos nuevos.” Julia de Burgos- Yo misma fui mi ruta

As many other Latina women, I grew up with the expression “hay que hacer de tripas, corazones” (we have to make hearts out of tripe). If you can get past the literary imagery of the expression and into the metaphor, you will get to the core of lo cotidiano of many Latin@ families; where achieving what was needed, only came by using what you had. This is one of the reasons why familial ties are so important for a majority of the Latin@ community in and outside of the United States. These same family models are being transported into the academic sphere and transforming academia from an individualist environment to a communal endeavor.

Colorado State University ran a study which showed that by the year 2006-2007 only 3.08% of Latinas had received a doctoral degree; this in contrast with 61.9% of White women who received it.[i] It adjudicated these numbers due to the broken educational pipeline Latina women go through which devalues their cultural upbringing and reinforces social inequality all within the school system; the same can be said for Latino men on a different scale than women. This underrepresentation of Latinas limits their possibilities of acquiring a degree in higher education, thus, limits their possibilities in broader areas of society.

In the kyriarchal[ii] society that we live in, Latinas have found a way of hacer de tripas, corazones by maintaining a network of support and mentorship of other Latina scholars who have gone through it already. It not only helps them achieve their ultimate goal, but furthermore, achieving it while keeping their sanity and embracing their cultural identity. Dr. Loida Martell-Otero[iii] argues that they learn how to “negotiate the structures of power and privilege in the academia” while becoming a community as it “challenges both the Church and the academy in prophetic ways.” One, of many examples of this, is within the work of Rev. Dr. Cristian De La Rosa, as she is currently the mentor of the BU STH Hispanic/Latino Student Association. De La Rosa, is the embodiment of our Familia Latina at BU School of Theology. It is women like her, who use their position within the Academy to empower other women to achieve a greater level of education who make a monumental difference in the academic ethos through creativity and affirmation. She shows there are other ways of looking into our contextual realities while using whatever tools we manage to gather in order to build better and sustainable systems. Thus, we honor our roots and our mentor, not only by recognizing her work, but by continuing in her foot steps in bridging the gaps, affirming all identities and using what we have to make what the community needs.

“…silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you.” Acts 3:6

[i] Johanna B. Maes. “Latinas and the Educational Pipeline”. Mayor’s office for Education and Children. (Denver: Colorado State University), 2010.

[ii] Term coined by  Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza to describe the relationships of oppression.

[iii] Loida Martell-Otero. “Doctoral Studies as Llamamiento, or How we all need to be Ugly Betty”. Perspectivas. New Jersey: Princeton Theological Seminary. Fall 2009. 84-106.