Faithful Witnessing, Convivencia, and Solidarity in Los Angeles

• In Event: Historicizing Los Angeles : Envisioning New Educational Futures in Latinx Radical Imaginations

Abstract

Dolores Delgado Bernal and William Perez offer a conceptualization and examples of faithful witnessing—a decolonial and ethical stance that rejects voyeurism. It is an act of aligning oneself with marginalized peoples “against the grain of power” while recognizing their humanity, oppression, and resistance. (Lugones, 2003). Faithful witnessing is the ability to see resistance even in the smallest of gestures/tightest of spaces. Some folks might not think that small gestures of solidarity are really "resistance." We argue that faithful witnessing is a decolonial feminist method that nurtures convivencia and solidarity. Importantly, we offer recent examples of institutional and individual acts of solidarity that emerge from faithful witnessing in the face of the dehumanizing attacks of the current administration.

Authors

• Dolores Delgado Bernal, Loyola Marymount University

• William Perez, Loyola Marymount University