Latina Interdisciplinary Feminist Troupe: Co-Constructing Testimonios and Community for Scholarly, Pedagogical, and Personal Development

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Trauma-Informed Approaches Toward Healing

Abstract

This paper involves collaborative testimonio methodology conducted by a feminist mentorship group dubbed the “Latina Interdisciplinary Feminist Troupe” (LIFT). As women researchers/educators of Latin American origin, situated in mid-western universities, we engaged in Theatre of the Oppressed to co-construct narratives of our teaching/research praxis. Theater of the Oppressed enabled us to engage with our identities and experiences to re-connect our bodies, spirits, and minds. Through this embodied experience and performance we co/recreated emergent and varied testimonios that reinvigorated our spirits towards social justice and delineate our paths towards promotion in a healthy and sustainable way. This paper informs scholarly conversations about Latina ways of knowing and what it means to work in solidarity with communities as researchers/educators.

Authors

• Ganiva Reyes, Miami University - Oxford

• Racheal M Banda, Miami University - Oxford

• Blanca Gabriela Caldas Chumbes, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Brittany A. Aronson, Miami University

• Martha Esperanza Castañeda, Miami University - Oxford

• Veronica R. Barrios, Miami University

• Esther Maria Claros Berlioz, Miami University - Oxford