Remembering to Streetwalk: Nonbinary Epistemologies and Intersubjective Theorizing

• In Event: “Politic Born of Necessity”: Latina and Latinx Feminists Remembering Genealogies, Imagining Futures

Abstract

This paper discusses the practice of "streetwalking" as an epistemic and methodological orientation to conduct decolonial and Latinx feminist theorizing and research in education. I share my process of "remembering" as a method central to trans* of color critique. I share how if the act of dismembering is central to coloniality, it is critical to intervene in the ideological and material re-membering of embodied and planetary entanglements. In my work, I draw on how queer, trans, and non-binary Latinx students respond to institutional and epistemic violence on the college campus.

I use Lugones' (2003) notion of streetwalking as a strategy to move beyond research dependent on the logic of fragmentation and identity politics. Living and remembering a callejera methodology (Dwyer Baumann, 2022) is central to recognizing nonbinary epistemologies in the underside of coloniality. This method not only offers more profound possibilities for coalitional work in the infrapolitical but valorizes non-binary ways of thinking, being, existing, and resisting that challenge colonial legacies and continue to influence the experiences of Latinx people today. Remembering to streetwalk is thus a discussion of the strategies we, pensantes no binarios, have used to reimagine the exercise and locus of power when confronting coloniality in institutions of higher education.

I ground this inquiry in Latina feminist methodology and decolonial feminism. Latina feminist methodology is rooted in the experiences and struggles of queer Latina womxn and how these are shaped by multiple factors, including coloniality, imperialism, gender, race, ethnicity, class, and immigration status. This approach recognizes that mainstream feminism has often been centered around the experiences of white women and may not fully capture the diverse realities of women from different racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Similarly, decolonial feminism emphasizes the importance of recognizing and analyzing the interconnectedness of various social identities and how they intersect to shape individuals' experiences and opportunities with the coloniality of gender and power. This technique is not just an academic exercise but also a call to action: to center those who have historically been excluded from mainstream feminist discourse and continue to resist colonial violence. These two modes of inquiry allow for nuanced critiques and challenges to colonial legacies in how they continue to influence the experiences of queer/trans-Latina individuals within their countries of origin and as immigrants in other places.

It is vital to insist on a critical and transformative intellectual framework that emerged in response to colonialism's legacy and ongoing effects. Remembering to streetwalk seeks to challenge and deconstruct the dominant Eurocentric worldview and power structures that have shaped educational research and praxis. Streetwalking challenges hegemonic theory and methodologies on resistance, prompts a reevaluation of power structures and hierarchical relationships, encourages embodied intercultural dialogue, and informs political communities who are actively resisting colonial ideologies and systems and reimagining new forms of justice grounded in intersubjective forms of theorizing and coalitional organizing.

Author

• Omi Salas-SantaCruz, University of Utah