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  • Transnational Feminism as a Paradigm for Decolonizing the Practice of ResearchIdentifying Feminist Principles and Methodology Criteria for US-Based Scholars
  • Sylvanna M. Falcón (bio)

Scholars have written persuasively about shifting away from multiple “imperial contexts” when it comes to feminist thought, developing methodologies, and recognizing knowledge predominantly through academic scholarship.1 As transnational feminist scholars actively seek to shift epistemology away from an imperialist model of knowledge extraction and instead collaboratively shape it, the tenets of transnational feminism offer a paradigm in which to cultivate a methodology to practice decolonizing forms of research. This article offers feminist principles and a set of working criteria to undergird the development of a critical transnational feminist methodology.

I arrived at this moment of methodological reflection following a series of encounters since the early 2000s with antiracist activists based in the Américas region and with transnational family members from Perú. When I asked an Afro-Peruvian activist about challenges to transnational solidarity across the Américas, she raised specific concerns about solidarity with US people of color, who she felt based on her personal experiences lacked an explicit anti-capitalist politics. When I spoke with a Peruvian lesbian activist about the US response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, she initially expressed hesitation about being completely forthright in her answer because, as she stated, “you are an American.” After the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission report officially revealed the egregious levels of violence and human rights atrocities committed by the state (as well as leftist terrorist groups) between 1980 and 2000, Peruvian family members were quick to remind me, when I raised serious concerns about these findings, that I did not live there during those years of terrorism, and the government did what it had to do to fight terrorism. And when I have talked to US activists of color about their experiences in transnational activist forums, many have been taken aback at how conservative they appear in relation to other activists and furthermore at being labeled “complicit” in the promotion of devastating US foreign policies. [End Page 174] My desire to propose principles and methodological criteria is then based on the quandary US scholars experience when geopolitical realities enter the realm of research.

This article is divided into two primary sections. In the first section I discuss feminist research principles. These principles are derived from my research field experiences and based on transnational feminist scholarship grappling with multi-directional dynamics of power, the permeability and rigidity of borders, the divide between secularism and spirituality, engaging in political solidarity, and identifying the links, relationships, intersections, and connections regarding various social issues and struggles. These principles serve as a guide for our research practices as we make important situational decisions. Second, drawing on specific research experiences as a point of departure, I propose a working set of four criteria as a response to calls to “consider more systematic discussions of the methods and practices that are used to produce transnational feminist knowledge.”2 As Linda Tuhiwai Smith states, researchers have to be “concerned with having a more critical understanding of the underlying assumptions, motivations and values which inform research practices.”3 This point sheds light on the epistemological foundations of methodological practice in the production of knowledge. I specifically offer applied research strategies, which are ones I have used during different stages of research. These feminist principles and methodology criteria can decolonize knowledge production.

Feminist scholars remain committed to the idea that human agency is powerful and transformative. Therefore, exploring research strategies for social transformation and justice, even within institutions and contexts that are oppressive, remains a vitally important undertaking. The feminist principles and methodology criteria discussed in this article are representative of longtime collective conversations with other feminist scholar-activists and with research collaborators. Academia will not recognize these feminist research endeavors as meritorious, even though they are time-consuming and arduous to practice, yet this reality does not diminish their importance for engaging in a decolonial approach to the practice of research.

entering the geopolitical research field: guiding principles for a decolonial approach to research practice

The US approach to transnational feminism can be overly determined as “the search...

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