World Making in Nepantla
Feminists of Color Navigating Life and Work in the Pandemic
Published on 6. January 2026
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-1-4773-3299-3 (ISBN)
Description
Writings from feminist scholars of color about their experiences during the pandemic.
Bringing uncertainty, fear, and change, the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world, altered people's lives, and sparked a wave of introspection. Underserved communities-people of color, women, and queer people among them-were affected the most, and their experiences, in turn, reflected hope and opportunities to reinvent themselves individually and collectively. Drawing on Gloria AnzaldUa's use of nepantla-the NAhuatl word meaning "in-between space," the en medio and a liminal space between worlds imbued with change-World Making in Nepantla collects writings about the hurdles feminist scholars of color faced during the pandemic years.
Contributors explore how COVID affected feminist scholars of color while recognizing the ways in which inequality influences experience and also celebrating the resilience of communities all over the world. Dispatches from classrooms and quarantined homes and introspective essays on disability, mutual aid, and borders are included among the essays here. These pieces serve as a concrete record, capturing an ephemeral time already being lost to memory. Created during the heart of the pandemic, World Making in Nepantla is an honest and intimate recording of how feminist scholars of color navigated struggles and found strength during an era that forever changed the modern world.
Bringing uncertainty, fear, and change, the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world, altered people's lives, and sparked a wave of introspection. Underserved communities-people of color, women, and queer people among them-were affected the most, and their experiences, in turn, reflected hope and opportunities to reinvent themselves individually and collectively. Drawing on Gloria AnzaldUa's use of nepantla-the NAhuatl word meaning "in-between space," the en medio and a liminal space between worlds imbued with change-World Making in Nepantla collects writings about the hurdles feminist scholars of color faced during the pandemic years.
Contributors explore how COVID affected feminist scholars of color while recognizing the ways in which inequality influences experience and also celebrating the resilience of communities all over the world. Dispatches from classrooms and quarantined homes and introspective essays on disability, mutual aid, and borders are included among the essays here. These pieces serve as a concrete record, capturing an ephemeral time already being lost to memory. Created during the heart of the pandemic, World Making in Nepantla is an honest and intimate recording of how feminist scholars of color navigated struggles and found strength during an era that forever changed the modern world.
Reviews / Votes
"World Making in Nepantla is a balm. It demonstrates the seismic shifts that COVID has wrought and the damage done as many institutions behave as though the shifts have not occurred. The fierce trio of coeditors has gathered a range of truth tellers, across genres, generations, and geographies, who make space for soul-deep expressions of solidarity, grief, and-importantly-improvisation/innovation. The essays, photographs, poems, and critical personal narratives housed here do much to remind us that truths must be expressed in the forms they demand. The tenderness and grit, the clarity and possibility offered in World Making in Nepantla bodes well for a world where we can confront the hard and fragile places with wisdom, love, and generosity. This book can guide us there." - Omi Osun Joni L. Jones, University of Texas at Austin, author of Theatrical Jazz: Performance, Ase, and the Power of the Present Moment"For the academics in the house, we have this essential new collection of essays on how feminist scholars of color experienced and navigated COVID-era changes and legacies in their worlds."- (Ms. Magazine)
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
21 b&w photos
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
544 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4773-3299-3 (9781477332993)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Gloria GonzAlez-LOpez is an award-winning author and a professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin.
Sharmila Rudrappa is professor and head of the department of sociology at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Christen A. Smithis an associate professor of anthropology and African American studies at Yale University. She is a Black feminist and African diaspora anthropologist.
Sharmila Rudrappa is professor and head of the department of sociology at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Christen A. Smithis an associate professor of anthropology and African American studies at Yale University. She is a Black feminist and African diaspora anthropologist.
Content
Introduction (Sharmila Rudrappa, Gloria GonzAlez-LOpez, and Christen A. Smith)
Part I. 2020 Unmade Our World: Arrebato .?.?. Days Running Together, Death, Fear, Isolation
1. A Letter to ?M?y Younger Self (Ada Cheng)
2. The In-Between: Transitional-Pandemic Times (Judy Cervantes)
3. The Pandemic Let Us Breathe (Faith M. Deckard)
4. Resisting the Horror: Hope as an End in Itself During COVID-19 (Nohely GuzmAn )
5. Toward a Slowness-Centered Life in a Post-Pandemic World (Meztli Yoalli RodrIguez Aguilera)
6. An Invitation to Pivot (Briana Barner)
7. Sista Circle: COVID and Community Care as Warfare (Dominique Garrett-Scott)
8. Rest (ShenEe L. Simon)
Part II. Academia Exposed: Resistance and Inner Reinventions
9. Mis reflexiones durante la cuarentena (Katie L. Acosta)
10. Global Geographies of COVID-19 (MarIa Luisa Amado)
11. Seeking Rest and Restoration: Toward the Eradication of Academic Capitalism (Karina Santellano)
12. The PhD Candidate as an Essential Worker: Negotiating Dignity and Stigma During COVID-19 (Fatima Suarez)
13. Episodes: Letters to Myself (Kiana T. Murphy)
Part III. Beyond Virtual Classrooms: Education Reimagined
14. Compassionate Pedagogies in a Pandemic: Reflections from Latina Scholars (Leisy J. Abrego, Andrea GOmez Cervantes, Briceida Hernandez-Toledo, Leigh-Anna Hidalgo, Lucia P. Leon, Joanna B. Perez, and Iris M. Ramirez)
15. Pedagogies of a Black Feminist Quarantine: Rituals of Womanist Teaching in the Wake of 2020 (reelaviolette botts-ward)
16. Imperfect Critical Love: The Shadow-Beast During Pandemic Times (Gema Cardona)
17. Feminist Theory, Disability Justice, and the COVID Classroom (Michelle Velasquez-Potts)
Part IV. Immigrant Hearts: "Stay Home" .?.?. but Where Is Home?
18. On Becoming My Own Refuge: A Palestinian in the US-Mexico Borderlands During Pandemic Times (Maissa Khatib)
19. From Tokyo Subway to Berlin U-Bahn: A Radical Rethinking from Intersectional Womanness to Interconnected Humanness (Jingqiu Ren)
20. Gathering Ourselves in the COVID Era: Revisiting Fear and Attachment Toward a Horizon of Spiritual Activism (Ana LOpez Hurtado)
21. Between Epicenters: Mapping Anger in the Waves of a Pandemic (Paola Cossermelli Messina)
22. Pandemic Diaries: Immigrant Perspectives (Jyoti Puri)
23. On Behalf of My Sisters: Exposing the Invisibility of Latina Immigrants During the COVID-19 Crisis (AnahI Viladrich)
24. World Making in Times of Revolts and Disease: An Observation in Four Parts (Sara Rezvi)
Part V. Motherhood Is Radical Love: On Being a Mother During COVID-19
25. Reflections of an Afro-Latina Mothering Through Crisis (Michaela A. Machicote)
26. Pandemic Borderlands: Between la Academia and la Familia (Liliana V. Rodriguez)
27. Remote Reflections: The Pandemic and Its Impact on Mothers in Academia (Mercedes Valadez)
28. MyMother.doc (Rachel Yim)
29. Grounded with Mi Ama and Other Verses (Jessica L. SAnchez Flores)
Part VI. The Wisdom of Our Wounds: Inner Transformation Through Community
30. Reimagining Therapy in Pandemic Times: Collective Healings, Inescapable Enmeshments (Alicia Chatterjee)
31. Shifting Toward the Sacredness of Life (Nathalia P. Hern?A?ndez Ochoa)
32. Radical Love in Nepantla: Latina PhD Holistic Support, Validation, Community Building, and Organizing (The Latina PhDs at USC: Cassandra Flores-MontaNo, Olivia GonzAlez, Mabel E. Hernandez, Theresa Elpidia Hernandez, Divana Olivas, Blanca A. Ramirez, Karina Santellano, and Cynthia D. Villarreal)
33. The Language of Love (Wesley Stevens)
34. A World Where Many Worlds Fit: Don't Let the Future Be Written for You (Gizem N. Iscan)
Part VII. Utopia: "The Language of Love .?.?. Will You Speak It with Me?"
35. Feminist Intervention: Black Children for "Alternate Nows" and Futures (Nnenna Odim)
36. The Survivor's Breath (Amira Yaem Trevino)
37. Queer Collective Care in Pandemic Times (Jessennya Hernandez)
38. Abolition: A Joyous Rebirth from the Flames (Joseph E. Tibiru)
39. Immeasurable (Kiana T. Murphy)
40. Ascendance (Sara Rezvi)
Postlude (Christen A. Smith, Gloria GonzAlez-LOpez, and Sharmila Rudrappa)
There Are So Many Lessons I Would Have Rather Learned (Pavithra Vasudevan)
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Part I. 2020 Unmade Our World: Arrebato .?.?. Days Running Together, Death, Fear, Isolation
1. A Letter to ?M?y Younger Self (Ada Cheng)
2. The In-Between: Transitional-Pandemic Times (Judy Cervantes)
3. The Pandemic Let Us Breathe (Faith M. Deckard)
4. Resisting the Horror: Hope as an End in Itself During COVID-19 (Nohely GuzmAn )
5. Toward a Slowness-Centered Life in a Post-Pandemic World (Meztli Yoalli RodrIguez Aguilera)
6. An Invitation to Pivot (Briana Barner)
7. Sista Circle: COVID and Community Care as Warfare (Dominique Garrett-Scott)
8. Rest (ShenEe L. Simon)
Part II. Academia Exposed: Resistance and Inner Reinventions
9. Mis reflexiones durante la cuarentena (Katie L. Acosta)
10. Global Geographies of COVID-19 (MarIa Luisa Amado)
11. Seeking Rest and Restoration: Toward the Eradication of Academic Capitalism (Karina Santellano)
12. The PhD Candidate as an Essential Worker: Negotiating Dignity and Stigma During COVID-19 (Fatima Suarez)
13. Episodes: Letters to Myself (Kiana T. Murphy)
Part III. Beyond Virtual Classrooms: Education Reimagined
14. Compassionate Pedagogies in a Pandemic: Reflections from Latina Scholars (Leisy J. Abrego, Andrea GOmez Cervantes, Briceida Hernandez-Toledo, Leigh-Anna Hidalgo, Lucia P. Leon, Joanna B. Perez, and Iris M. Ramirez)
15. Pedagogies of a Black Feminist Quarantine: Rituals of Womanist Teaching in the Wake of 2020 (reelaviolette botts-ward)
16. Imperfect Critical Love: The Shadow-Beast During Pandemic Times (Gema Cardona)
17. Feminist Theory, Disability Justice, and the COVID Classroom (Michelle Velasquez-Potts)
Part IV. Immigrant Hearts: "Stay Home" .?.?. but Where Is Home?
18. On Becoming My Own Refuge: A Palestinian in the US-Mexico Borderlands During Pandemic Times (Maissa Khatib)
19. From Tokyo Subway to Berlin U-Bahn: A Radical Rethinking from Intersectional Womanness to Interconnected Humanness (Jingqiu Ren)
20. Gathering Ourselves in the COVID Era: Revisiting Fear and Attachment Toward a Horizon of Spiritual Activism (Ana LOpez Hurtado)
21. Between Epicenters: Mapping Anger in the Waves of a Pandemic (Paola Cossermelli Messina)
22. Pandemic Diaries: Immigrant Perspectives (Jyoti Puri)
23. On Behalf of My Sisters: Exposing the Invisibility of Latina Immigrants During the COVID-19 Crisis (AnahI Viladrich)
24. World Making in Times of Revolts and Disease: An Observation in Four Parts (Sara Rezvi)
Part V. Motherhood Is Radical Love: On Being a Mother During COVID-19
25. Reflections of an Afro-Latina Mothering Through Crisis (Michaela A. Machicote)
26. Pandemic Borderlands: Between la Academia and la Familia (Liliana V. Rodriguez)
27. Remote Reflections: The Pandemic and Its Impact on Mothers in Academia (Mercedes Valadez)
28. MyMother.doc (Rachel Yim)
29. Grounded with Mi Ama and Other Verses (Jessica L. SAnchez Flores)
Part VI. The Wisdom of Our Wounds: Inner Transformation Through Community
30. Reimagining Therapy in Pandemic Times: Collective Healings, Inescapable Enmeshments (Alicia Chatterjee)
31. Shifting Toward the Sacredness of Life (Nathalia P. Hern?A?ndez Ochoa)
32. Radical Love in Nepantla: Latina PhD Holistic Support, Validation, Community Building, and Organizing (The Latina PhDs at USC: Cassandra Flores-MontaNo, Olivia GonzAlez, Mabel E. Hernandez, Theresa Elpidia Hernandez, Divana Olivas, Blanca A. Ramirez, Karina Santellano, and Cynthia D. Villarreal)
33. The Language of Love (Wesley Stevens)
34. A World Where Many Worlds Fit: Don't Let the Future Be Written for You (Gizem N. Iscan)
Part VII. Utopia: "The Language of Love .?.?. Will You Speak It with Me?"
35. Feminist Intervention: Black Children for "Alternate Nows" and Futures (Nnenna Odim)
36. The Survivor's Breath (Amira Yaem Trevino)
37. Queer Collective Care in Pandemic Times (Jessennya Hernandez)
38. Abolition: A Joyous Rebirth from the Flames (Joseph E. Tibiru)
39. Immeasurable (Kiana T. Murphy)
40. Ascendance (Sara Rezvi)
Postlude (Christen A. Smith, Gloria GonzAlez-LOpez, and Sharmila Rudrappa)
There Are So Many Lessons I Would Have Rather Learned (Pavithra Vasudevan)
Acknowledgments
Contributors