Unspoken Roads: An Exploration of Becoming from Being through the Worlds of Language

• In Event: Language and Belonging: Culture and Authenticity in Transnational Contexts

Abstract

This study, situated within the ongoing journey of identity negotiation and the challenges of academic positioning against dominant hegemonic forces, seeks to explore lived experiences of the processes of language racialization, coalition-building among marginalized self-identities, and sense-making in relation to language, identity, and power. I center my experiences and insights, employing a critical autoethnographic approach and drawing from a decolonial feminist perspective to unpack the complex intersections between these themes. By engaging with the concept of from “being to becoming,” both metaphorically and cognitively, I position this act as a methodological and analytical framework. “Becoming” here signifies the continual process of self-definition and resistance in [re]construction and the reflective work involved in navigating and negotiating language-based and racialized identities.

Author

• Gift Onwubuya, University of Utah