Tías and Primas

From the author of For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts, a celebration of the women at the heart of Latine families  

Born into a large, close-knit family in Nicaragua, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez grew up surrounded by strong, kind, funny, sensitive, resilient, judgmental, messy, beautiful women. Whether blood relatives or chosen family, these tías and primas fundamentally shaped her view of the world—and so did the labels that were used to talk about them. The tía loca who is shunned for defying gender roles. The pretty prima put on a pedestal for her European features. The matriarch who is the core of her community but hides all her pain. 

In Tías and Primas, the follow-up to her acclaimed debut For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts, Mojica Rodríguez explores these archetypes. Fearlessly grappling with the effects of intergenerational trauma, centuries of colonization, and sexism, she attempts to heal the pain that is so often embodied in female family lines.  

Tías and Primas is a deeply felt love letter to family, community, and Latinas everywhere.

• “This welcome book aptly deconstructs the labels often applied to Latinas.”
  Library Journal
• “A necessary book that engagingly excavates the labels often applied to Latinas.” 
  San Francisco Chronicle
• “Stunning… What a gift it is to look through Mojica Rodríguez's incisive lens into our own experiences, honoring the women who raise us and remembering that we are better because of them.” 
  National Catholic Reporter
• “In this collection of cuentos, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez advances her commitment to ‘democratize knowledge’ by bringing her own ‘book smart’ insights home to la familia latina. Mojica Rodríguez paints portraits that resonate for Latinas and immigrant women who suffer the deep and daily pangs of patriarchy without a clear name for it. This book provides the names and counsels with compassionate knowing. A warrior against vergüenza, Mojica Rodríguez strives for a feminist and liberated latinidad. Her story may not be all of our stories, but we will recognize our relations, perhaps even our ancestors in this telling. It is a significant gift.”
   
  Cherríe Moraga, author of Native Country of the Heart
• “Within these pages, I found my abuela, my tías and my primas—laughing, crying, and nodding alongside me. This book is a gift of understanding, and loving one’s family, even when our families are complicated and painful. It’s a beautiful reminder of the power of storytelling and the profound connection of kinship.”
   
  Paola Mendoza, author, organizer and filmmaker
• “Part memoir, part sociology, part family reunion—Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez shows her revolutionary vision once again: by honoring the Tías and Primas of her past and present, Mojica Rodríguez is cultivating a new path forward. This is a book that will save lives.” 
   
  José Olivarez, author of Promises of Gold
• “Once in a lifetime, a reader finds a book that answers questions they didn’t even know they had. In Tias and Primas, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez lovingly brings the truth to the archetypes of women we are all raised by, thus giving context to what our mothers, aunts, cousins, and sisters have lived. The childless Tía now becomes a woman with autonomy and power. The standoffish prima can understand why she hesitates to connect to other women in her family. This love letter to intergenerational relationships opens every window and door to one’s heart, allowing the reader to see the women in their lives as complex beings who have overcome generations of trauma. Tías and Primas is a healing work of art, an urgent beckoning to one’s own understanding.”
  Yesika Salgado, author of Corazón
• “Reading through the pages of Tías and Primas reminded me of my own upbringing; the lessons I learned and the ones I had to unlearn as an adult. Mojica Rodríguez illuminates the complexities of intergenerational trauma, navigating machismo, and domestic life among the women who shape us with tenderness and empathy, while penning a love letter to the fierce and the outcast women who sacrificed and fought so we could be liberated. This is an important read for any woman seeking to live life on her terms.”
   
  Saraciea J. Fennell, editor and contributor, Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed
• “Tías and Primas is the family reunion you’ve always wanted, and one you can return to each time you open this beautiful book. Mojica Rodríguez is our loving guide, exploring and adoring the feminine archetypes we grew up with.”
   
  Virgie Tovar, author of You Have the Right to Remain Fat
• “This book goes beyond the idea of Tías and Primas as solely familial. Even those of us with complicated family histories will find ourselves and the families that we have chosen for ourselves in these pages. Each Tía and Prima archetype is a person we know, a person we have been or a person we wish to become. Each chapter culminates in the way any conversation with a loved one would – with loving guidance, invitations for self-reflection, and affirmations that feel like bendiciones. This book is the Tía and Prima we all need.”
   
  Elisabet Velasquez, author of When We Make It
• “Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez’s powerful storytelling gives voice to emotions often suppressed for survival, but necessary if we are to become who we need to become. Offering moral wisdom through the lives of the women who raise us, Mojica Rodríguez not only beautifully weaves tales, but contextualizes them in socio-political theory that indicts the systems that injure us and gently points the way back to who we desire to be.”
   
  Dr. Courtney Bryant, author of Erotic Defiance
• “A heartwarming ode to America’s most overlooked heroines, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez’s latest work is more than a book. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Imagine a slumber party with all the wild women, dead or alive, who made you into the warrior that you are. Tías and Primas is just that: a soul-nourishing, sparkling experience full of magic and secrets. You’ll emerge feeling seen, with newfound strength to fight the systems that seek to erase women like you.”
   
  Jean Guerrero, author of Crux: A Daughter's Quest for Her Border-Crossing Father
• “Tías and Primas is an artful examination of the women, and systems, that shape our lives. Through an expansive blend of genres, from memoir to social theory, Mojica Rodríguez crafts a compassionate guide for better understanding our loved ones, chosen and biological. This book traverses many realms—from ghosts to respectability politics to MLMs—without ever losing sight of the rich inner lives of the tías and primas at its core. Sharp-toothed and compassionate, Mojica Rodríguez exposes our societal shortcomings, while always insisting that better, healthier, and more equitable connections are possible. A book I will gift again and again.”
  Ruben Reyes Jr., author of There is a Rio Grande in Heaven