For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color

by Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez

Overview

The founder of Latina Rebels’ “electrifying debut” (LA Times) arms women of color with the tools and knowledge they need to find success on their own terms  

For generations, Brown girls have had to push against powerful forces of sexism, racism, and classism, often feeling alone in the struggle. By founding Latina Rebels, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez has created a community to help women fight together. In For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts, she offers wisdom and a liberating path forward for all women of color. She crafts powerful ways to address the challenges Brown girls face, from imposter syndrome to colorism. She empowers women to decolonize their worldview, and defy “universal” white narratives, by telling their own stories. Her book guides women of color toward a sense of pride and sisterhood and offers essential tools to energize a movement.

May it spark a fire within you.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541674875
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	09/07/2021
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	25,722
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 5.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez is a writer and activist working to shift the national conversation on race. She is the founder of Latina Rebels, which boasts over 350,000 followers across social media platforms, and she has appeared on NPR, Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Huffington Post Latino Voices, Telemundo, and Univision. She was invited to the Obama White House in 2016 and has spoken at over 100 universities in the past three years, including Princeton, Dartmouth, and Wesleyan. She earned her Masters of Divinity from Vanderbilt University and lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Table of Contents

Author's Note ix

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Voluntourism 9

Chapter 2 Colorism 29

Chapter 3 Impostor Syndrome 47

Chapter 4 Myth of Meritocracy 63

Chapter 5 Politics of Respectability 89

Chapter 6 Toxic Masculinity 113

Chapter 7 Intersectionality 137

Chapter 8 The Male Gaze 161

Chapter 9 White Fragility 183

Chapter 10 Decoloniality 201

Conclusion 217

Acknowledgments 221

Notes 225

Bibliography 251

Editorial Reviews

07/05/2021

Latinx activist Rodríguez debuts with an impassioned and accessible guide to dismantling the “systemic oppressions” that hold back women of color. Aiming to redistribute knowledge she gained during her graduate studies to young women who may not have access to higher education, Rodríguez interweaves her life story with primers on such concepts as colonialism, the myth of meritocracy, the male gaze, and intersectionality. Born in Nicaragua and raised in Miami, Rodríguez was encouraged at age 13 by her fundamentalist Christian parents to pray for a “God-fearing” husband. But after scoring well on the SATs and realizing that her poor grades did not reflect her academic potential, Rodríguez set her sights on college, and eventually obtained a Master’s in Divinity from Vanderbilt University. She draws on incidents from her early life and academic career to discuss how “voluntourism,” even if it’s “dressed in the semblance of goodness,” obscures how the “current state of so-called developed countries is the result of greed and exploitation from developed countries”; how women of color are socialized to believe that success comes from luck (“imposter syndrome”); and how brown and Black women internalize “colorism.” Marked by its candidness and earnest commitment to the power of self-belief, this is an inspiring and well-informed call to action. Agent: David Patterson and Aemilia Phillips, Stuart Krichevsky Literary. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Required reading...A celebration of brownness at a vital moment [and] a manual for tapping into brown girls’ power... Mojica Rodríguez’s electrifying debut channels mesmeric prose to heal the wounds of white supremacy.”
 —Jean Guerrero, Los Angeles Times

“Impassioned and accessible… Aiming to redistribute knowledge she gained during her graduate studies to young women who may not have access to higher education, Mojica Rodríguez interweaves her life story with primers on such concepts as colonialism, the myth of meritocracy, the male gaze, and intersectionality… this is an inspiring and well-informed call to action.”—Publisher's Weekly

“Rodriguez’s life has been challenging, which is why, she says, she wrote this powerful book: to connect to other BIPOC women and girls who understand her background and to show those readers that they are seen and important…Highly recommended.”
 —Library Journal

“Anyone who has ever felt stepped on or pushed aside could benefit from reading [this book]... in her manual for fighting generations of sexism, racism and classism, Mojica Rodriguez pushes readers to step outside their comfort zone, sit in someone  else’s seat and understand the struggle."—CNBC.com


“Through her intimate storytelling and warm embrace of the Black and brown girls she writes for, Rodríguez also gently holds the reader as she invites them on the painful path toward freedom.”
 —POPSUGAR Latina

“Thought-provoking and enlightening… beautifully and earnestly written to reach the hearts of women of color working toward justice and equity. The book may also be instructional for non-Latinx folks: it offers a valuable lesson in decentering our world view, so we may humbly listen and understand.”
 —Seattle Book Review

"Prisca works to empower women of color by sharing her own experiences and stories of decolonizing her mentality. With vulnerable insight into her hopes and fears, her words will undoubtedly motivate you to fight for your own voice."—BE Latina

“This memoir/guide/educational resource is ultimately a love letter to brown girls that’s also a testament to the power of reclaiming your identity in the face of white supremacy.”—HipLatina

”Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez writes about her own life story, colonialism, imposter syndrome, colorism, meritocracy, intersectionality, and how women can break free from systemic oppressions that hold them back. Part memoir, part empowering guide.”—People en Espanol - September Issue

"Tackles racism, colorism, classism, the immigrant experience, and more in ways that are honest, relatable, refreshing, and inspiring"
 
 —Reader's Digest

“Searing and revolutionary, this book blazes a trail towards liberation.” —Diane Guerrero, author of In the Country We Love

"This is the Brown girl manifesto I've been waiting for my whole life." 

—Erika L. Sánchez, author of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

"Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez perfectly balances the art of memoir with a biting critical eye, offering an understanding of Latina womanhood bursting with intellect, but grounded in real-life experience. With her carefully chosen words, she invites readers into a deeper relationship with themselves, their communities, and the world at large."—Melissa A. Fabello, PhD, author of Appetite

“Prisca has crafted a fierce and vibrant book that brings to life the secret fears and profound hopes of so many brown girls, across so many communities of color. She is a brilliant storyteller with a stunning voice. This is a book for brown girls to hold close.”—Sonalee Rashatwar LCSW MEd, Co-owner of Radical Therapy Center

"I wish I had found this book as a sixteen-year-old, then as a twenty-six-year-old, and again now. Prisca writes with the familiar voice of an older prima that wants to teach you everything she's learned. This book is beyond a love letter. It a reckoning and an affirmation that there is power beyond the fear of our fearlessness.  This book has fed me what I did not know I hungered for.”—Yesika Salgado, author of Corazón

“In this book, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez shares truths with precision and unapologetic vulnerability, and teaches us—through her stories and insights. Her book is a deep and profound gift for her readers. A necessary—and treasured read for generations to come.” 

—Johanna Toruño, Salvadoran Multi Media Artist & Founder of The Unapologetic Street Series

“Prisca is a Latinx voice who calls for accountability, healing, and growth in her book. Her writing will connect with our communities, who are seeing themselves represented for the first time. A breath of fresh air."

—Curly Velasquez, Queer Actor and Writer

"I will never forget when Prisca sent me the kindest of messages about the outlet I had founded in 2011 and how it inspired her to set her own course as a influential writer, voice and author. Prisca has the unique talent to speak to her generation with honesty, fearlessness and truth. Her latest work is foundational in understanding what it means to be a Brown girl today."
 —Julio Ricardo Varela, award-winning journalist and founder, Latino Rebels

"Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez is among the most brilliant Latina thinkers of our generation… Here, she explores the inequalities of race, class and gender, discussing issues of code-switching, colorism, intersectional feminism, decolonization and more."—Mitu

From the Publisher

10/22/2021

As a young girl in her native Nicaragua, Rodriguez, founder of the Instagram community Latina Rebels, had her first encounter with toxic practices such as voluntourism: tourists disguised as well-intentioned volunteers. Voluntourism tends to be religious-leaning and makes broad promises of facilitating community betterment—all of which is usually far from the reality, Rodriguez writes. American voluntourists in Nicaragua were the author's first glimpse of American racism and white privilege, which she further experienced after her family moved to Miami. Over the years, she faced racism, classism, and sexism while traveling throughout the Southeast United States— all the while grappling with and dismantling her pre-conceived notions of American success. Her life journey is one in which she addresses her family's generational trauma, and learns how to openly express self-love. In a word, Rodriguez's life has been challenging, which is why, she says, she wrote this powerful book: to connect to other BIPOC women and girls who understand her background and to show those readers that they are seen and important. VERDICT Highly recommended for readers with an interest in social issues impacting Black, Indigenous, and other people of color; immigrant stories; and sociology.—Monique Martinez, Univ. of North Georgia Lib., Dahlonega

Library Journal