Mythical Performativity: Relocating Aztlan in Chicana Feminist Cultural Productions

The term "Aztlán" redefines space. Its discursive configurations, ranging from ancient mythology to land annexation, are engaged repeatedly in Chicano cultural studies and Chicana feminist practices. From the "manifesto" of the nationalist Chicano movement to the radical feminist perspectives in Cherríe Moraga's queer configurations of space and bodies, 1 the genealogy of Aztlán affects cultural identity, shaping the ongoing modifications--and sometimes, commodifications--of the collectivity. According to myth, Aztlán is the ancestral homeland in the north that the Aztecs left in 1168 when they journeyed southward to found the promised land, Tenochtitlán (Mexico City), in 1325.