Chasing Miss Jimenez: Rereading the Chicana Vendida through Colonial Affect-Culture

Abstract:This article brings a new reading of Luis Valdez’s 1967 one-act play, Los Vendidos, that highlights the problematic gendering of selling out depicted through the character of Miss Jimenez. I read Miss Jimenez and the resentment directed at her for her assimilation as indicative of the larger gendered affect of resentment that Chicana feminists experienced during the Chicana/o movement. I trace how this resentment is directly related to colonial legacies and reproduces colonial hierarchies that continue to devalue women of color. As Chicana feminists voiced their concerns about male-centered activism, they were labeled as vendidas and agringadas (assimilated or “Anglocized”). I detail how, in response to this gendered resentment, Chicana feminists created an activist pedagogical strategy that did not abandon middle-class assimilated Chicana/os but rather validated their lived experiences as part of the Chicana/o experience even if it was not working class.