Since its creation in 2011, Muchacha Fanzine has been used in classrooms across the country and the world. There are various benefits of using zines like Muchacha Fanzine in classrooms. Not only are zines accessible and cost effective for students, but they also vary in content. Unlike traditional textbooks, zines engage students through art, prose, photography, poetry, interviews, comics, and more. Available in print and digital formats, zines diversify curriculum by uplifting the voices and lived experiences of marginalized people who are being theorized about. Relevant to classroom conversations across social sciences and humanities, zines promote critical thinking skills and are excellent tools to provide first-hand accounts of social movement organizing and activist struggles.
Muchacha Fanzine is currently used in Gender Studies, Ethnic Studies, Human Rights, Sociology, Philosophy, Popular Culture, Media, and Art classrooms.
For further details on how to use Muchacha Fanzine in your classroom, please contact Daisy Salinas at muchachafanzine@gmail.com.
Professor Testimonials
“I've used several issues of Muchacha Fanzine in my introductory and upper-level undergraduate classes in women's and gender studies. Regardless of the specific class topic, it's easy to find points of connection with almost any issue of this zine, and Daisy can accommodate large classes by making an issue available in print and digitally. I value Muchacha zines for many reasons, but especially because each issue contains a feast of creative and critical content: essays, interviews, visual art, creative writing, manifestoes, and mixed-genre pieces. Each issue, therefore, also gives us many different points of entry into and types of analysis of social, political, economic, and environmental issues. As editor, Daisy thoughtfully curates diverse conversation, doing the difficult work of amplifying the voices and lives of people who tend to be minoritized in mainstream culture. Together they create a conversation that illuminates rather than smooths over the complex ways that our identities and broader social structures intertwine. What a powerful, important publication!”
— Dr. Agatha Beins
“I assigned “Madre Tierra” in my class as one of our required readings for the course. I found that students were very excited to read this text because it incorporated various types of media that approached the topic of environmental activism in different capacities. For instance, I took that students who were more visual and tactile learners found it to be accessible and fun. It not only helped them better understand the unequal and oppressive systems of sexism, racism, xenophobia that are deeply connected to environmental exploitation, but it also provided concrete examples of how women of color continue to address these issues from an intersectional stance.”
— Instructor Jennifer Venable
“I have used Muchacha zine in courses such as Gender and Social Change, U.S. Women of Colors, and Multicultural Rhetorics. Students responded with enthusiasm and inquisitiveness to the zine as many of them had not previously encountered this type of publication. We discussed how zines like Muchacha actively provide marginalized scholars, writers, and artists with the opportunity to have their work published and reached by a larger audience. The zine and its curator, Daisy Salinas, create a space that aids in the distribution of diverse ideas, perspectives, and lived experiences. Students in my courses found the zine materials accessible and affordable (something that in and of itself leans into accessibility). I highly recommend the use of Muchacha zines in academic classrooms as a way to expand the curriculum.”
— Dr. Diana Álvarez-Hughes
“I use Muchacha’s “Madre Tierra” in my Introduction to Human Rights Sociology classes. In class I cover the Madre Tierra issue during units on indigenous and environmental rights. I assigned this particular issue of Muchacha to provide students with perspectives and knowledge that is often left out of mainstream academic conversation and disciplinary canons. I found this issue particularly useful in helping students conceptualize how social movement activism and struggles for social justice actually look on the ground. The first-hand accounts, critiques, and narratives were well received by my students. Muchacha’s zines are a fabulous compliment to any social science curriculum and have become required reading in my Sociology classroom!”
— Dr. Kamryn Warren
Student Testimonials
“Reading Muchacha’s Madre Tierra was very interesting to me,
because while I was aware of environmental justice and environmental racism and had some knowledge of indigenous peoples’ relation to the earth, I had never read something that so forcefully connected them as a call to action.”
“Madre Tierra tells about the things that are happening to indigenous people from around the world.
I feel like the zine has a more personal level to the issue which makes it easier to connect with than our textbook. With the introduction of Madre Tierra, I related to a lot of the things that the author said because my family does the same things. As someone from a Latinx household it is one of the few times I’ve felt connected to a class reading.”
“I really enjoyed this reading.
As a middle-class white person, my experiences have been different in many ways. I find it fascinating to hear about other people's perspective on things. I am also very passionate about environmental issues but did not realize the impact they had on certain communities. I have never thought about the connection between environmentalism and race, so I think this text does a great job of bringing these issues to life with personal narratives. While reading this brought light to new perspectives, I also gained a lot of information that I was previously unaware of. I had no idea that environmental activists were targets of such violence. Throughout the text, there were several mentions of activists being assassinated and murdered for simply protecting the earth and their homes.”
“In the Decolonizing Science section…
multiple examples are given to show how damaging "advancements" in technology have been to the earth. I think it's really important that we focus on creating sustainable technology to preserve the planet as long as possible and improve the state of the environment and all living organisms within it. Understanding different perspectives regarding these issues inspires people to become more involved as they gain a better understanding, as I have, of perspectives without familiar privilege. It is easy for me and many other people to overlook these perspectives as we view the world from a place of privilege. Having brought these perspectives to life allows me to understand how environmental issues impact different aspects of people's lives further than just being worried about the future, but instead, being concerned about the present.”