9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Esperanza Shines, Ruth Reflects, July 19, 2003
This review is from: Translated Woman: Crossing the Border with Esperanza (Paperback)
Esperanza, a poor Mexican street peddlar, is befriended by Ruth, an American anthropologist with Cuban-Jewish roots during the course of Ruths fieldwork in Mexico. They become friends, comadres, and Ruth decides to tell Esperanzas story. Questions arise. Why does Esperanza want to tell Ruth the whole story of her life ? Why does Ruth decide to record it? In what format will Ruth present that story so that North American readers can understand it ? How will Ruth place that story into the framework of the anthropological profession or into the feminist discourse ? Does she have to do that in a traditional way ? Does Ruth have the right to Esperanza's story ? Is she exploiting Esperanza, who, after all, can never come to the USA in person except, in the most unlikely of circumstances, as a servant ? (Ruth can drive down to Mexico more or less at will.) Yes, of course it is Ruth who poses all these questions and then answers them.
The result of these questions is a very interesting and iconoclastic book, which, though at times difficult to read, clearly raises many questions. TRANSLATED WOMAN might be called the archetype of a modern anthropological creation because 1) the author does not hide behind the curtains, but places herself in the center along with the subject and 2)like current Anthropology as a field, it is so full of self-doubt, both personal and professional, that a reader perceives more questions than answers, the main one being, if Ruth were so full of guilt and indecision about the merits of such a study, why didnt she just drop it ? I, for one, thought that if she felt it were wrong, then she shouldnt have continued, but if she did continue, then hand-wringing and meek self-castigating sentences were unnecessary. Nearly every interaction in our world has either class, race, or sexual components. Are we to refrain from communicating with all but our class, racial, or sexual doubles unless we worry that we are abusing some kind of power ? Exploitation exists, many anthropologists have severely exploited their subjects (as have people of every kind) but it does not follow that all relationships across cultures, from rich to poor society, are therefore exploitative. Common humanity is what counts the most between individuals. The USA certainly exploits Mexico, but that does not make Ruth Behar an exploiter. Collective guilt ? I thought wed seen the end of that, at least in anthropological circles. With a strong, independent woman like Esperanza, it is very unlikely she would have pursued the connection if she did not feel she also benefitted from it. Ruth,however,persisted in swimming in the pool of uncertainty. She faulted herself for driving to poor Mexquitic village in a new car and then worrying about possible damage. She dressed inappropriately as she accompanied her comadre around the streets and bemoaned her incongruity. She notes how intrusive her photography must have been, but she took the photos. She shopped in expensive stores that her neighbors could never afford and then agonized. Why ? Either you drop the guilt or you dont do these things. My guilty gringa thoughts indeed ! You have to be the person you can live with. These are some things that irritated and puzzled me in what, nevertheless, is a fine book---more than that, a REALLY fine book, which translates autobiography into anthropology, anthropology into literature, and two strange women into friends. I concluded that Ruth needed to grow up a little.
Esperanza tells her life story in her own words, as far as is humanly possible in the translation from Spanish to English. Ruth is so determined to keep Esperanzas voice present (and I admire Ruth for this) that she allows some considerable repetition and confusion to remain and does not translate a large number of Spanish words. In other sections, Ruth places Esperanzas story in the context of Mexican culture, relates it to the fascinating cult of Pancho Villa, and to the context of the anthropological discourse in general. These chapters are very insightful, as are the sections in which Ruth talks about the nature of social science writing on Latin American women and of how North American feminists have tended to take control of feminist agenda in Third World countries, seeing women from those nations as sexually-constrained, ignorant, and controlled. She writes. One of the limitations of North American feminism has been its narrow definition of the kind of knowledge and practice that can be counted as feminist. Can I not speak of Esperanza as engaging in feminist thinking and practice in the way I have ?(p.297)
Esperanzas actions and beliefs are translated, not only into English, not only across the physical frontier, but into cultural terms that educated Americans can understand. In other words, Ruth becomes an interpreter, and---typically for her---worries that she might become a Malinche (a betrayer of Indian people to the Conquistadores). Finally, Ruth puts her own life into the picture, how she came to Anthropology, how she benefitted from her work, and her own ambivalence. If you have read to this point, you realize that TRANSLATED WOMAN is a highly complex work which can be read for many different purposes, discussed in endlessly different ways. One of the best anthropology books I have read in a long time, despite my criticism. Read it.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
translated book, November 15, 2004
This book was amazing. It was a very easy read, not like many ethnographies. It was so refreshing to have the author sit back and let someone else (Esperanza) talk for the first part, to tell us her historia. I also enjoyed the last part, her reflejo, because it showed the reader that she, indeed, is a real person. In doing this I came to see the real process it takes to write an ethnography, all the dillemmas, situations and problems that arrise. Wonderful overall.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Crossing the Border, February 1, 2001
This review is from: Translated Woman: Crossing the Border with Esperanza (Paperback)
This is a beautiful narrative that crosses the boundaries of culture, class and gender to let the reader see life through the eyes of an uneducated Mexican woman. The authors tells the extraordinary story of Esperansa's life and the friendship she developed with her. (The author is a professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan).
In spite of the authors background, the style is rich and unique. The book would be easy read and very entertaining for people able to appreciate women's perceptions and spirituality in unprejudiced manner. I have very different backgound from both the writer and the main character and yet could relate to the story and the experience. It made me re-think my own cross cultural experiences and identity of a woman.
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