Chingona, Alma ZaragozaPetty
Chingona, Alma ZaragozaPetty
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Chingona
Owning Your Inner Badass for Healing and Justice

Author: Alma Zaragoza-Petty

Narrator: Alma Zaragoza-Petty

Unabridged: 4 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/15/2022


Synopsis

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.

About Alma Zaragoza-Petty

Alma Zaragoza-Petty is a Mexicana social justice advocate and scholar who teaches equity to create change. Born in Los Angeles but raised in Acapulco, Mexico, for much of her childhood, she is the daughter of immigrant parents and a first-generation high school and college graduate. Zaragoza-Petty has a master's degree in counseling and a doctorate in education and has worked in higher education for more than twenty years. She has served as an academic advisor, as a professor, and in research and evaluation for a nonprofit organization. She is cofounder of Prickly Pear Collective, a trauma-informed, faith-based community organization and cohost of The Red Couch Podcast with her partner, hip-hop artist Propaganda.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Natalie on February 13, 2023

Chingona translates to Bad-Ass Woman in Spanish. It has historically been used as a derogatory term for a female, similar to how bastard might be used in English. With the rise of the divine feminine, attempts to shame women into submission are meeting more resistance. The reclamation of the word Ch......more

Goodreads review by Katalyna on May 16, 2023

I admire how she tells her story in such a way that it feels like we’re sitting face to face sharing trauma and history . It feels so familiar as if I were sharing with my primas. Having struggled in my own healing journey as a brown woman navigating a white mans world.. it’s soo refreshing to see s......more

Goodreads review by Graciereads on February 18, 2025

I didn't want this book to end!! So much amazing insight and great resources !......more

Goodreads review by Karli on January 28, 2023

This is the first memoir I've read where the author explicitly states who her main audience is intended to be (spoiler, not white, female identifying humans). Her story and message is so poetically crafted, in some sections like a spoken word, beautifully weaving the idea with the personal story. It......more

Goodreads review by Amanda on March 01, 2023

I love that more and more books like this exist because it is completely about representation matters and by us for us Latina vibes we definitely need at all stages of life but especially in young adulthood. This was easy to read and it felt like soothing therapy. Before I even finished this, I adde......more