“The Personal is Political”: An Autoethnographic Examination of Identity and Scholarship in the Pursuit of Justice, Freedom, and Dignity

• In Event: Boots on the Ever-Shifting Ground: Engaging Critical Methodologies in Precarious Times

Abstract

Objective
In this paper, I examine my identity as a critical methodologist and abolitionist scholar in light of the deteriorating socio-political landscape, particularly around my areas of expertise—race, gender, and class. I trace the trajectory of my professional journey to reflect on the ways that my scholarship has evolved to respond to reactionary politics. I also consider how recent laws and Supreme Court decisions threaten not only the type of research that I do, but pose harm to my family, community, and myself. Finally, I engage in freedom dreaming (Kelley, 2002) not solely as an act of self-preservation, but as a personal and political act of liberation, hope, and love.

Frameworks
While I ground this paper in intersectional feminist ways of knowing (Combahee River Collective, 1977; Isasi-Diaz, 2009; Walker, 1974; Yee, 2009) and abolitionist values and ideologies (Davis, 2016; Kaba, 2021), I am also guided by the notion that “theorizing is an ongoing, movement-driven process that links the concrete and abstract, thinking and acting, aesthetics and criticism” (Holman Jones, 2016, pg. 229). Therefore, as I use existing feminist and abolitionist frameworks to examine my experiences as a critical scholar, I also seek to contribute to “ways that enlarge and expand and complicate and deepen our theories and practices of freedom” (Davis, 2016, ebook).

Methodology & Method
I use critical autoethnography (Boylorn & Orbe, 2020; Holman Jones, 2016) with a storytelling method to explore the ways in which my social location as a Woman of Color scholar from a poor/working-class, immigrant family has placed me at the nexus of multiple forms of harm (Crenshaw, 1989; Hill Collins, 1986) while also providing me with ontological and epistemological frames to survive and flourish in and out of the academy. I focus specifically on three autoethnographic intersectional stories at different points in my career to understand the impacts of colonialism, white supremacy, capitalism, and cisheteropatriarchy on the ways that I have evolved my critical feminist and abolitionist approaches to research, teaching, and mentorship.

Conclusions
The three autoethnographic stories I tell capture significant moments in my life and career that demonstrate how “the personal is political.” The first examines my personal and professional transition from the Westcoast to the Deep South and the ways that I navigated the change in socio-political geographies. The second focuses on the strategies I implemented in my research, teaching, and mentorship in response to the growing anti-CRT movement throughout the country. The third story is about the impact that the overturning of Roe v. Wade had on my physical and mental health. Throughout these stories, I consider the importance of having (1) a deep understanding of the ways in which systems of power and oppression operate, (2) the methodological tools to fight ideological attacks, and (3) the epistemological grounding to think generatively about a future in which we are all free.

Author

• Shena Sanchez, University of Alabama