A Multiplicity of Selves-in-Coalition: A Decolonial Feminist Witnessing Through Autoethnography

Abstract

Abstract:This article offers a specific methodology: an autoethnography of decolonial feminist witnessing to invite the reader into the world of the praxis of navigating institutional spaces recognizing where these entrances and departures are imperfect, messy, violent, and filled with resistance. The author offers examples of coalitional work through local and transnational experiences that were fostered through survivance in colonial systems. Recognizing how multiple institutions shape people's lives, this article highlights lived exemplars where the author traverses academic and legal institutions. The author reflects on witnessing in the courts as a legal expert witness. The role of narrative and witnessing is central to a decolonial feminist praxis; therefore, the author reflects on a state-wide consortium to end violence, where opportunities to narrate stories were facilitated in a performance. To conclude, the author reflects the self-in-coalition as a response to the material violence of coloniality in institutions.