Persistence/resistance: Gender, testimony, and organizing in Central America

In Persistence/Resistance: Gender, Testimony, and Organizing in Central America, I propose the language of persistence as an option for avoiding what I perceive as a fundamental problem produced by homogenizing applications of the terminology of resistance. As a heuristic, persistence can center the agency of women, indigenous peoples, and marginalized communities in the Global South, as well as the strategies of ethical transnational and feminist organizing that these groups have developed. Indigenous and peasant women in Central America have identified and established strategies for adaptation, expression, and physical and cultural survival in the face of detrimental colonial and neocolonial conditions through their organizational, digital, and testimonial practices. Within the framework of persistence, I turn to strategic adaptations and textual persistence in a body of collective testimonies including Claribel Alegría’s testimonio, No Me Agarran Viva (They Won’t Take Me Alive); a 1990s postwar encuentro (conference proceeding) co-created by members of a women’s organization; the growing #YoTambién/#MeToo movement in the region; and the online platforms of the transnational indigenous organization La Vía Campesina. This project engages feminist theory, indigenous studies, decolonial studies, literature, and digital humanities. My focus on communal and digital testimony brings together several timely conversations surrounding women of color, indigeneity, political resistance, social movements, and digital platforms of transnational organization and communication.

Embargo status: Restricted until 06/2026. To request the author grant access, click on the PDF link to the left.