Chapter 6: (Re)Membering, (Re) Constructing, and (Re) Imagining Experience: Decolonizing Epistemological and Ontological Assumptions Formed in the Academy Through the Use of Autohistoria-Teoría in the Classroom

Gloria E. Anzaldúa uses the term “autohistoria-teoría” throughout her work to describe a theory and a method of autobiographical narrative that blends personal and cultural biographies with myth, storytelling, history, and other forms of theorizing. Through the composition of autohistoria-teorías, writers seek personal and cultural understanding that can ultimately be employed in social justice work. Personal memoir becomes a lens through which to better understand cultural narratives and how these cultural stories can be reread and rewritten to promote healing, self-growth, cultural critique, and individual and collective transformation. I employ autohistoria-teoría in my women’s and gender studies (WGS) classrooms as a methodology and epistemology that not only fosters an engagement with feminist theories, but additionally cultivates knowledge creation, meaning, and identity through self-inscription, while blurring the boundaries between private and public borders and ultimately decolonizing traditional ways of theorizing about knowledge in the academy.