Storytelli

ngRami
rez
Va
sude
van

e
art
handB
odyD
Me
ndoz
ai
a
gl
e
“
Inthisarti
cl
e,weweavet ogetherBlack,Indigenous,andthird “Storytell
ing i s how
wor l
d and women ofcol orfemini
stschol arshipto ask t
his peoplemakesenseof
thewor ldandourpl ace
quest i
on:How can storytel
ling,as an al t
ernate mode of
i
nit,ani t
erati
vepr ocess
theor i
zati
on,help us resit
uat e contempor ar
y planetar
y of interpreti
ng r eali
ty
criseswithinl
ongerhi
stori
esandpl uralunderstandi
ngsofour t
hroughobs ervat
ionand
rel
ationswithear
th? t
heex changeofi deas .
”

“
[S]t
orytel
li
ngembr acesthecomplexiti
esandcont r
adicti
onsof “Anticolonial feminist
l
ivedexper i
ence,gener ati
nggr ammar satoncepr osai cand storytell
ing altersthe
spati
otempor al s cales
revelatory,text
ur ed by everyday r eali
ties even as t hey t
hroughwhi chplanetary
speculateabout“ thenatureoflif
e.”[…]“ stori
es,unli
kedat a, cri
ses ar e under st
ood
containtheaff
ectivelegacyofourexper iences.Theyar eafelt byc enteri
ngt herel
ati
on
knowl edge thataccumul at
es and becomes a f orce t
hat shipbet weenbodyand
empower sstoriest hatareotherwisesepar atetobecomea l
and. ”
focus,apotenti
alf ormovement.
Thes e gener ative offer
-

“
i
ngs pr ovide pat hs f or
-
Int he contextofpl anetar
y apocal ypse,st orytel
li
ng can wardi nt he momentof
reanimat e schol arship as an ant i
colonial pr actice planetaryc r
isesi nwhi ch
groundedi nwonder( McKittr
ick2021).Storiesexpressand we ar eliving;we mus t
enabl ecert
ainf
ormsofr elat
i
ons( and/
ordomi nati
on),whi chin dismantlet he domi nant
story and pr oli
ferate
tur
ngener at
eoursubj ect
ivi
ties,behaviors,andknowl edges. stories thatt ellot her
Wet urntostor
ytell
ingtor ei
magi neourcol lectivesenseof -wise i f we ar e t o
selfthroughpr ofoundi nterconnect onwi
i thoneanot herand surviveandt hrive.”
ournonhumanr elat
ions.

“
Forus,too,st
orytel
li
ngistheoryandmet hodology,t
hevesselthathel
ps
usnavigatedi
versestr
eamsofknowledge,andthecompassthatori
entsus
t
hroughtheebbsandf l
owsofstudyandstr
uggle.

“
Weaving st
ories thr
ough the grammar s and pract
ices
off
ered by these anti
col
onialfeministgenealogies,we
must animat
e our i magi
nat
ions tol ead us out of the
Man-as-
Humant owar
dhomonar rans,thestory
tel
l
inghuman
(Al
agraa 2018) ; we must embr ace t he expansive T
hink
er/
Thou
ght
rel
ati
onali
ti
est hatmakeusal r
eadymor ethanhuman. Nat
hani
elARi
ver
s,2020