Whispers of the Soul; Autohistoria-Teoría as Decolonial Knowledge Production

The imperative for decolonial research methodology has been long discoursed in academia. However, there remains a rift between dominant colonial research practices in the academy and the needs of researchers of color. In this article, I explore autohistoria-teoría as a decolonial research methodology by weaving between personal narrative, magical thinking, and contemporary academic discourse on autoethnographical research methods. I will exemplify both the uniqueness and importance of spirit in Anzaldúa’s iteration of autohistoria-teoría. Finally, I will challenge the academy’s perception of autoethnographical research methods as navel gazing and reframe autohistoria-teoría as decolonial praxis, and as such does not need adhere to the validity paradigm of western hegemonic knowledge production.