Nonbinary Epistemologies: Refusing Colonial Amnesia and Erasure of Jotería and Trans* Latinidades

Abstract

Abstract: The author reflects on the experiences of teaching a Trans* Latinx studies course, where students initially expressed discontent with the syllabus for lacking legible trans subjects. By engaging with decolonial methodologies and theories, the author highlights the limitations of “looking for” (Lugones 2020) trans in traditional archives and theories. The author discusses the importance of embracing the nonsense within the pluriverse of affective belonging and recognizing the possibilities that emerge within the nonsensical and nonbinary theoretical subjectivities that challenge conventional understandings of transgender phenomena. Engaging with U.S. women of color feminist theorizing—rooted in Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and decolonial feminisms—the author discusses the importance of nonbinary thinking practices in confronting the epistemology of ignorance in trans studies. Drawing upon the works of various decolonial and trans* of color scholars, this paper explores the complex diasporic relationality of jotería as a way of existing within coloniality, offering a critical lens to examine the diverse dimensions of queer and trans Latinx life. Nonbinary thinking, in this context, is essential for learning from, alongside, and within oppressed trans of color knowledge, theories, strategies, and ways of existing grounded in particular cosmologies, geographies, histories, and cultures. It also represents a vital political strategy for avoiding and refusing discursive colonization.