The Muxerista Portraitist: Engaging Portraiture and Chicana Feminist Theories in Qualitative Research

• In Event: 34.033 - "A People's Scholarship": Portraiture and Possibilities for Liberatory Educational Research

Abstract

Objective
In this paper I outline muxerista portraiture, an epistemological and methodological approach for qualitative research. I trace the relationship between portraiture and Chicana feminist theories to show where they connect and diverge (Anzaldúa, 1987; Delgado Bernal, 1998; Delgado Bernal & Elenes, 2011; Lawrence-Lightfoot, 1983). Using my cultural intuition I argue for the collaboration of portraiture and Chicana feminist theories in qualitative research. Framing muxerista portraiture I explain the five elements of portraiture (context, voice, relationships, emergent themes, and aesthetic whole) in a way that engages and is informed by Chicana feminist theories.

Theory
The pairing of the words muxerista and portraiture, does not signify the merging of Chicana feminist theories (CFT) and portraiture but instead refers to the idea of being in between the two, drawing different ideas from each one. Muxerista portraiture is based on the realities and lived experiences of Chicanas and aims to paint portraits committed to social justice and challenging all forms of subordination. It encompasses the five elements of portraiture but with a Chicana feminist sensibility. It incorporates the portraitist’s (researcher’s) cultural intuition in the co-construction of the portraits. It is a dynamic and ongoing interchange between process and product, dedicated to searching for the goodness in the lives of Chicanas. Thus, muxerista portraiture is a mestizaje theory that blurs theoretical and methodological boundaries- it provides us with a new approach to paint rich portraits of Chicanas.

Findings
In muxerista portraiture I use Anzaldúa’s (1987) concept of the borderlands as the context for Chicanas because it acknowledges how systems of oppression affect the everyday lives of Chicanas. Yet it also accounts for the ways they have resisted and constructed third spaces (Pérez, 1999) where they are able to re-imagine possibilities and opportunities. Unique to muxerista portraiture is the conflicting process of translation, both literal from the Spanish to the English language (and vice versa) but also figuratively in the process of translating community voices for academic spaces. In muxerista portraiture spirituality is also central to the development of relationships. I draw on Sendejo’s (2014) methodologies of spirit to account “…for moments of connection and understanding between the researcher and those with whom she works as vital sites of knowledge” (p. 850). During the process of emergent themes muxerista portraiture centers the researcher’s cultural intuition. It recognizes the strength it plays in how one gathers and analyzes the data, and how one will paint the portraits of her collaborators (participants). Lastly, parallel to the way Lawrence-Lightfoot uses a metaphor to describe the aesthetic whole, in muxerista portraiture I synthesize participants stories to resemble the image of piecing together Coyolxauhqui, the Mesoamerican moon goddess who was dismembered.

Significance
Muxerista portraiture is born out of the ability to be “in between” and to be able to heal the divide between personal and academic borders that often disempower us as Chicana scholars. This methodology offers possibilities for qualitative researchers, especially for those interested in conducting research on the experiences of Chicanas.

Author

• Alma Itzé Flores, Loyola Marymount University