Chingona

Owning Your Inner Badass for Healing and Justice

By: Alma Zaragoza-Petty

Narrated by: Alma Zaragoza-Petty

In Chingona, Mexican American activist, scholar, and podcast host Alma Zaragoza-Petty helps us claim our inner chingona, a Spanish term for "badass woman." Working for change while preserving her spirit, a chingona repurposes her pain for the good of the world. She may even learn that she belongs to a long line of chingonas who came before her—unruly women who used their persevering energy to survive and thrive.

As a first-generation Mexican American, Zaragoza-Petty narrates in riveting terms her own childhood, split between the rain-soaked beauty of her grandparents' home in Acapulco, and a harsh new life as an immigrant family in Los Angeles. She describes the chingona spirit she began to claim within herself and leads us toward the courage required to speak out against oppressive systems. As we begin to own who we are as chingonas, we go back to where our memories lead, insist on telling our own stories, and see our scars as proof of healing.

Liberating ourselves from the bondage of the patriarchy, white supremacy, and colonization that exists in our own bodies, we begin to see our way toward a more joyful future. Imagining a just and healed world from the inside out will take dialing in to our chingona spirit. But by unleashing our inner badass, we join the righteous fight for dignity and justice for all.

©2022 Alma Zaragoza-Petty (P)2022 Tantor

Empowering

For those who have ever felt marginalized and silenced, this book allows a safe space of remembrance of our ancestral past.

Excellent and important

I really appreciated listening to this book and am thankful for the courage Alma took in sharing her story.

Everything

Love everything about it . Because i can relate to this book , its good to know there more people out there who see and live life as it is . thank you

I love it so much

I love it so much I am buying the book too. I feel seen, heard and understood. Thank you for translating the feelings growing up into words. So healing!!

Fell asleep listening, woke up to take a walk to finish listening 😊

Nunca have I read a book I can relate to in so many ways, including the author’s perspective on education, growth, and religion. When there are terms or words with that don’t easily translate to my Spanglish trained ears or terms appear from Nahuatl or (insert dialect) Maya, I was glad to google if the author didn’t already explain it through the context, but also just to understand this lovely read better. There aren’t many of these instances but there are many parts of this that I wish I had a physical book to easily reference the book for my own sake. Can’t wait to grab the physical copy. Thank you for sharing your experiences and I hope one day to let my inner Chingona heal and help bring intra/intergenerational healing to family and friends.