Ecosystems of Resistance: Mexican-American Lesbian Zines as Agents of Transnational Solidarity

Rachel Salcido

Advisor: Dr. George Flaherty

Abstract

In this thesis, I examine and present La ciénaga (1984), a queer Chicana feminist zine produced in Austin, TX, as an inherently radical medium of survival and solidarity. La ciénaga is part of the U.S. Latinx Zines and Graphic Novel Collection at the LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections. Created by the anonymous figure Spyderwoman, the zine participates in a longer lineage of feminist print cultures, and community-based publishing traditions that reject institutional polish in favor of accessibility, immediacy, and community-building. Produced following decades marked by the AIDS crisis, civil rights movements, and state violence, La ciénaga illustrates how zines functioned as tools of solidarity and cultural archive for communities systematically erased from dominant historical narratives. La ciénaga functions simultaneously as a community archive, a manifesto, and a tool of mutual aid. I argue that La ciénaga articulated a transnational politics of care and defiance across borders, which was particularly reinforced by the medium of choice: the zine. I analyze Spyderwoman’s editorial choices like her rejection of typographic polish, her use of handwritten corrections, and her open invitation for submissions, which position the zine as both a community archive and a manifesto. I then situate La ciénaga in relation to its transnational context, arguing that it responds simultaneously to the U.S. state’s neglect during the AIDS epidemic and to Mexico’s climate of repression in the wake of the Tlatelolco Massacre. Lastly, by analyzing zine practices and La ciénaga’s sociopolitical context, I argue that the zine functioned as an ecosystem of resistance, specifically as a swamp-like cultural space that thrives on interdependence and community growth. Ultimately, I position La ciénaga as a site of radical cooperation that challenges established frameworks of publishing and legitimacy while highlighting the ways zines make survival grassroots movements possible despite their ephemeral nature.