Transnational Testimonios : The Politics of Collective Knowledge Production

The activist storytelling practice of testimonio, long associated with Latin American struggles for justice, forges coalitions across social differences for the purpose of social change. Beyond Central and South America, Patricia DeRocher examines testimonios from a wide range of geopolitical sites, including Argentina, Egypt, Haiti, India, Jamaica, and Trinidad, as well as the United States, and suggests that feminist testimonios offer a model for cross-border feminist alliance building. Transnational Testimonios focuses on the questions of translation, knowledge, and power that characterize the creation and reception of these life writings. DeRocher demonstrates how these stories can mobilize social activism and intervene in epistemological impasses between the Global North and South, offering vital tools for reimagining transnational feminist politics.

Patricia DeRocher is assistant professor of interdisciplinary studies at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont.