Meeting at the Headwaters: Confluence, Yana Wana, and Water Writing as Methodology

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 8:00 a.m. Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Indigenous Methodologies (Table 2)

Abstract

The waters of central Texas are called Yana Wana (spirit waters) by the Coahuiltecan people and are an essential aspect of how we write in relation. Drawing from Indigenous feminisms and decolonial education, we introduce water writing as methodology through the pedagogies of Yana Wana. Specifically, we create a confluence to write with the teachings that water has taught us, and how these pedagogies have influenced and transformed our methodological approach to writing. As Black and Indigenous scholars have made abundantly clear, the impact of settler colonialism and anti-Blackness continues to muddle our waters. Moreover, there is an urgency to engage with water work meaningfully, given the environmental precarity and violence that persists within our lived realities.

Authors

• Pablo Montes, Texas Christian University

• Marleen Villanueva, Texas Christian University