[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-598110-105":59,"doc-detail-598110-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","collapsing-the-binary-in-gloria-anzalduas-borderlands","Collapsing the Binary in Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands","","The essay addresses false dilemmas and black-and-white thinking by explaining how binaries can be “collapsed” through re-formulating their oppositional terms into one complex phenomenon. It outlines an instructional laboratory using Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera, linking specific course chapters and goals for balanced dualities. The piece maps a CRTW 201 pedagogy, situates it within critical-thinking frameworks, and offers discussion guidance for difficult background material, including questions and an Appendix.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/collapsing-the-binary-in-gloria-anzalduas-borderlands/598110/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/collapsing-the-binary-in-gloria-anzalduas-borderlands/598110.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Indoniesian Boy","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":8},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the main problem the essay targets?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The essay targets black-and-white thinking, especially false dilemmas that assume only two equally unsatisfactory choices when more possibilities exist.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does “collapsing” a binary work in this context?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Collapsing involves discovering that the two terms of a binary are not truly separate opposites but parts of a single complex phenomenon, and asking to what extent both are relevant.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How is the approach applied in the author’s classroom?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The author uses Borderlands/La Frontera with CRTW 201 students as a laboratory to illustrate binaries and their resolution into balanced dualities, including discussion questions and possible instructor answers.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},598110,1792086305,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":8,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},962090760608,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","Collapsing the Binary in Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands  \nMatthew Fike  \nWinthrop University  \nWe are crucified between the opposites and delivered up to the torture until the  \n“reconciling third” takes shape. (Jung 375)  \nIntroduction  \nThe fallacy goes by various names such as black-and-white thinking, false dichotomy, and false choice. Richard Paul and Linda Elder include creating a “false dilemma” or “the great either/or”among forty-four dirty tricks to win an argument. They state:  \nA false dilemma occurs when we are persuaded that we have only two equally unsatisfactory choices when we really have more than two possibilities available to us…. People are often ready to accept a false dilemma because few feel comfortable with complexity and nuanced distinctions. We tend to like sweeping absolutes. We want clear and simple choices. So those who are skilled in manipulating people…present arguments in black or white form. (Critical Thinking: Tools 312; emphasis in the original)  \nDavid Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen address a solution to black-and-white thinking called“collapsing” or “reformulating” binaries. This process involves “discover[ing] that the two terms of your binary are not really so separate and opposed after all but are actually parts of one complex phenomenon or issue” and “coming to see that what had appeared to be an opposition is  \nreally two parts of one complex phenomenon.” Rosenwasser and Stephen conclude that the essential task is not selecting A or B but asking “to what extent” A and B are both relevant (95, 97) . Similarly, in Learning to Think Things through: Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum, Gerald M. Nosich states,“You need to see that you can combine alternatives, that a third possibility might allow you to accomplish both of two seemingly irreconcilable courses of action”(62) .  \nI discuss binary oppositions and the imperative of achieving a middle way with my sophomore “Critical Reading, Thinking, Writing” students in connection with chapters 3 and 5—“Entering Into the Serpent” and “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”—in Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (B), which advocates creating a new third thing that is greater than the sum of its parts. My students and I use the text as a laboratory to illustrate the play of binaries and their resolution into balanced dualities. This essay maps my pedagogical approach and provides an aid to instructors. After describing my CRTW course and showing how Anzaldúa fits into it, I will discuss how related thinkers helpfully illuminate her project, especially with regard to binaries and common ground. The essay then employs collapsing the binary to demystify some of the text’s difficult background material. In addition to showing how binaries may transform into a new third thing, this section provides discussion questions for students and possible answers for instructors, including an interpretation of the Juan Diego story as a little allegory of balanced opposites. The conclusion examines common ground as a recurring theme in Anzaldúa’s writings, and a brief Appendix sketches additional criticalthinking approaches to the two chapters.  \nCRTW 201: Critical Reading, Thinking, Writing  \nWinthrop’s University’s General Education core consists of three courses: Writing 101, Introduction to Academic Discourse (freshman composition); HMXP 102, The Human Experience: Who Am I?, a seminar-type humanities course that features readings on the self from multiple perspectives; and CRTW 201, Critical Reading, Thinking, Writing. Unlike Writing 101, CRTW is not a writing course; it is a reading, thinking, and writing course or what my colleagues and I call a “dedicated critical-thinking course.” Such emphasis is unusual, and in 2014 Winthrop became the eighth school in the United States to be recognized for excellence by the Critical Thinking Foundation in Berkeley, California, for our work with the Paulian model of critical thinking. As presented by Nosich","cbCais1ji5oUyd6A","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCais1ji5oUyd6A","pdf",596717,39,"English","# Introduction\n# CRTW 201: Critical Reading, Thinking, Writing","[{\"question\":\"What is the main problem the essay targets?\",\"answer\":\"The essay targets black-and-white thinking, especially false dilemmas that assume only two equally unsatisfactory choices when more possibilities exist.\"},{\"question\":\"How does “collapsing” a binary work in this context?\",\"answer\":\"Collapsing involves discovering that the two terms of a binary are not truly separate opposites but parts of a single complex phenomenon, and asking to what extent both are relevant.\"},{\"question\":\"How is the approach applied in the author’s classroom?\",\"answer\":\"The author uses Borderlands/La Frontera with CRTW 201 students as a laboratory to illustrate binaries and their resolution into balanced dualities, including discussion questions and possible instructor answers.\"}]","Collapsing the Binary in Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands | PDF",98]