Luisa Capetillo and the Pedagogy of Unruliness

Abstract

Abstract:This essay studies how the writings and praxis of loud-reading in tobacco factories of the Puerto Rican anarcha-feminist Luisa Capetillo (1882–1922) exemplifies what can be called a "pedagogy of unruliness." This hypothesis is that unruliness is a teachable form of knowledge irreducible to the modern conceptualization of "power/knowledge." The essay examines how in Capetillo's writings knowledge, intelligence, and literature become something else through a pedagogical praxis, a "stealing" of knowledge from the institutions of power. It compares Capetillo's praxis with the theoretical texts of Paulo Freire, Ángel Rama, Ivan Illich, and Jacques Ranciere. It also supports work on the increasing bibliography about Capetillo's literary and political innovations.