This book, Nosotras: Latinas in Idaho, includes fifty short autobiographical stories of women of Mexican descent in Idaho. The book has two simple goals: to celebrate the journeys of the women profiled within and to inspire the next generation of Latinas to continue on their own paths and contribute their talents to improving their communities. These biographies give vibrancy to the past and depth to the many ways Latinas have shaped the political sphere, economic vitality, and educational landscape of Idaho. Acknowledging the many influences of three different generations of Latinas gives the entire community strength and enriches understandings of the world creating more compassionate and inspired citizens.
The women featured here demonstrate change over time. Sometimes enormous leaps, others tiny footsteps. The book is organized into roughly three generations over the past fifty years. The first generation, women largely in their fifties and sixties today, came to Idaho in the 1970s and 1980s, often forging a series of firsts for the state. The second generation is largely the daughters of the first, coming of age in Idaho in the 1990s and 2000s. The third generation is women in their twenties or early thirties, many still on educational journeys and charting their career paths. All the women featured are still alive, although many wrote to honor their predecessors and relatives. They represent enormous, if syncopated, progress over these decades. Many women included photographs and three maps examine their routes of arrival to Idaho.
Nosotras is a bilingual text written for and with a bicultural community. This approach allows abuelas (grandmothers) to be able to read to their nietas (granddaughters) in whatever language they prefer. There is richness in celebrating linguistic diversity and the vivid experience of sitting English and Spanish alongside each other as a human endeavor.
All proceeds from book sales will be donated to the Idaho Latino Scholarship Foundation., Women, Latinos, Testimony, Mexico, Texas, Idaho, Maria Gonzalez Cardenas| 9798990139602 | 398PAGES