Claiming Space for Decolonzing, Cultural Methodologies: Mestiza Methodology

• In Event: Latinx Spaces, Identity, and Voices From Afar

Abstract

Drawing upon the hybrid nature of Mestiza intellect, the background and construction of Mestiza Methodology is presented to add to Chicana scholarship concerned with designing research by and for Chicanas. Mestiza Methodology presses upon research to take stock of the research designs that contribute to the subjugation of Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and thinking. Grounded in Chicana Feminist Epistemology, this research seeks to decolonize research relationships and processes in the image of Chicana relationships and culturally organic sense-making. Cultural methods of plática, reflexión, and testimonio are braided to cross-pollinate the research processes of data collection and data analysis to intentionally erode the unequal relationship between the researcher and the researched.

Author

• Amanda J. Cordova, North Dakota State University