Who Is Speaking in Testimonio Research? An Empirically Based Performative Rendering

• In Event: 35.024 - Our Stories, Our Voices: Testimonios and Critical Narratives for Justice

Abstract

The purpose of our research-reflection is to engage, extend, and illuminate the notions of interlocution or who is speaking in testimonio research. In keeping with Latin American testimonio traditions, we briefly discuss testimonio as both theoretical framework and empirical research methodology. In our results, we integrate field notes, interview data, poetic renderings, and academic narrative as an example of how Testimonio-methodology allows both researcher and participants to uncover collective subjectivities broadening traditional Western narratives of who is/are the “subaltern” social and historical subject/s. In our discussion of significance, we make the case for testimonio while providing empirically grounded Mestiza and Indigenous space in social science research and push toward greater comprehension of poetic and educational dimensions of testimonio.
 

Authors

• Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto, University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley

• Freyca Calderon-Berumen, Penn State University Altoona

• James C. Jupp, University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley