Natalia Figueroa Barroso Natalia Figueroa Barroso i(16090759 works by)
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 Driving Me Loca Natalia Figueroa Barroso , 2024 single work prose
— Appears in: Povo 2024;
1 Back to the Red Earth Natalia Figueroa Barroso , 2023 single work short story
— Appears in: Griffith Review , no. 80 2023; (p. 124-133)
1 A Guide to the Colonisation of My Mother Tongues Natalia Figueroa Barroso , 2023 single work essay
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 249 2023; (p. 39-50)

Guaroj

/wahr oh-h/gwa-lox/

Noun Literal translation / Closed hand

a. Ten in Charrna. 
b. Place both hands up, you come in peace, emptyhanded. Say, "AT (pronounced shoot —'0ne', and as you do, lower your left pinkie. go on. Now work your way through each finger from left to right: remember not to linger: sam, detf, betum, betum yn, bertim sam, betum deti, betum artasam, baquin, until you reach guaroj. Now close your hands tight. Position them ready to fight. Feel the fury of your knuckles. Feel the pain of our struggles. For what you hold is worth tenfold. How many Charrna words left? Around sixty-eight? In your palms lie ten. Not many Whites convicted for its theft ... feel the weight? There's value in a closed hand.' (Introduction)
1 Dandelion Natalia Figueroa Barroso , 2022 single work short story
— Appears in: Between Two Worlds : SBS Emerging Writers' Competition 2022; (p. 61-68)
1 How My Black and Indigenous Grandparents Remind Me of My White Privilege Natalia Figueroa Barroso , 2022 single work essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , June vol. 81 no. 2 2022; (p. 10-13) Meanjin Online 2022; ''Once you see the cemetery, you get off the bus,' my tio abuelo (greatuncle) Lucio said in Spanish with his Portuguese twang, his foggy eyes blinded by cataracts looking over my shoulder as he spoke to me, between his fingers a cigarette burning. 'Then you go to any local and ask for a Figueroa. All the Figueroas in Rivera are your relatives and we come in all shades and shapes.' Exhaling smoke, he flicked ash over the balcony, took another puff and continued, 'We're Black, Brown, White. Light eyes, dark eyes. Short, tall. Blonde, brunettes. With afros, curls, waves or straight hair like yours.' He cleared his throat, stubbed the butt into an ashtray then added sarcastically, 'But we're all Figueroas and you can thank colonisation for that. Those conquistadores couldn't keep their hands off our women or our land.' He belly-laughed as he pulled his blue comb out of his white shirt's front pocket and repositioned his storm-cloud-coloured afro behind his ears. I breathed in the past trauma, imagining the women who came before me, because of whom I am here, women of my blood being forced to submit to White supremacy and the patriarchy, their bodies capitalised.' (Publication abstract)
1 The Devil's Drink Natalia Figueroa Barroso , 2021 single work life story
— Appears in: Racism : Stories on Fear, Hate and Bigotry 2021;
1 Roadtrip Natalia Figueroa Barroso , 2021 single work poetry
— Appears in: Any Saturday, 2021, Running Westward 2021;
1 Abuela's Mark Natalia Figueroa Barroso , 2019 single work short story
— Appears in: Sweatshop Women : Volume One 2019; (p. 41-44)
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