rovide the stuff of collective dreams, cultural memories, and politibal control.ö
For the disenfranchised groups in such a society, expression and power are often stifled through oppression of primarily patriarchal elites who manipulate images of self-interest through the media. In such cultures, marginalized groups like women must often result to alternative, underground forms of expression in order to provide identity and a means of pitting their individual experiences against the ôofficialö version of events perpetuated by elites in the media and other social institutions. In Dogeaters, we see that Rio, Pucha, and their mothers gossip about events of the day. In doing so, they create a form of discourse known as tsismis (gossip) in Tagalog, a form of discourse that cannot be controlled by elites and is not admitting of men. As Daisy maintains, ôTsismis quickly circulates in Manilaö (Hagedorn 107).
During the era of slavery, many female slaves found an alternative means of expression through quilting. Quilt provided an outlet for expression that provided black females with a venue for storytelling that was not oppressed by males or social forces. Likewise, gossip offers the women in Dogeaters an effective means of communication that is based on their own experiences without suff
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