Living a callejera methodology: Grounding María Lugones’ streetwalker theorizing in feminist decolonial praxis

Abstract

This intervention considers how the writings of María Lugones, a philosopher of feminist decolonial theory, might shape a callejera [streetwalker] feminist decolonial methodology and what such a methodology might look like in practice. I describe how a callejera methodology foments deeper relationality by highlighting as methodological tools three of Lugones’ concepts: resisting ↔ oppressing, the collective and tantear en la oscuridad. To ground the theory and illustrate possibilities of deeper relationality offered by a callejera methodology, I reflect on on-going research with Colombian collectives actively negotiating experiences of indigeneity and womanhood in relation to histories of colonial and more recent armed violence, as well as ongoing state disinvestment. I make three contributions. First, I suggest that integrating an intersectional analytic of ‘both/and’ with the complex fluidity between Lugones’ concept of resisting ↔ oppressing permits scholars to better understand the negotiation of multiple, intermeshed identities and oppressions, social inequality and power relations in relation to colonial histories and presents. Second, I encourage geographers to embrace a decolonial lens attentive to the relationality between and among collectives, from which many acts of resistance begin. Finally, I consider how a callejera methodology considers coalitional work as central to the research process. Such work embraces difficulty, discomfort and messy relationality often negotiated as if walking blindly through the dark (tantear). I conclude by arguing that geographers’ relationally-based research can strengthen feminist decolonial thought in our attention to spatial and temporal scalar differences of place and our commitment to understanding contextually differentiated navigations of identity.