Flags, the Sacred, and a Different America in Consuelo Jimenez Underwood’s Fiber Art

In Chela Sandoval’s Chicana political theory, the notion of oppositional consciousness is part of the “methodology of the oppressed,” a process by which the marginalized and oppressed resist dominant ideologies. This methodology is deployed via five technologies of resistance, working individually or in concert: 1) “semiotics,” 2) “de-construction,” 3) “meta- ideologizing,” 4) “democratics,” and 5) “differential movement.” These technologies of resistance are used to transform cultural practices that restrict the agency of the oppressed. Consuelo Jimenez Underwood’s fiber art exemplifies oppositional consciousness and finds resonance in the work of a group of artists who engage in the “needle arts” (weaving, embroidery, crochet, knitting, and quilting) with the aim of producing new forms of knowledge. Jimenez Underwood, in particular, tells an imaginary story of how the world came to be fragmented when it is meant to be whole, and how we might put it back together again. This chapter examines Jimenez Underwood’s oppositional consciousness as expressed in her 2009-2014 exhibits focusing on flags, maps, and tortillas. As sites of struggle and spiritual survival, these works enable the re-thinking of cultural identity and history by challenging the notion of national territories and the divisive human boundaries born of colonialism.