Othermotherwork: testimonio and the refusal of historical trauma

Abstract

This paper is an ofrenda (offering), a testimonio (testimony) of the healing power of reconstituting severed relationships and reconstructing agentic creation stories in the pathology of soul-wounds where pictures and cuentos serve to mend genealogical traumas. This paper is a refusal of neglecting traumas, it is othermotherwork as an invitation of kin towards the healing soul-wounds by engaging my ageing father (apá), who has been battling a debilitating disease for over 30 years. In choosing to erase his memory and refusing well-being, I engage my apá by remembering and restoring cuentos (stories) retrieved from pictures in my abuela’s archival orange box. I retell the cuentos as told by my apá of his mother, father, great-grandmother and great-grandfather, while he offers an unexpected remedy for both our soul-wounds. In this exchange of ancestral herstories, it is an important move towards an Indigenous Else, transits beyond borders and separation, towards the restorative act of forging unity, love and compassion amongst my father, my ancestors and myself.

Keywords:

• Testimonio
• refusal
• soul-wound
• othermotherwork
• restorative
• return home

Notes

1. Because of colonialization, I am not aware of my mother tongue, my indigenous language. Born to Mexican parents, who only learned Spanish in México, I too learned Spanish as my first language. I want to distinguish mother tongue to first language. For me, my mother tongue remains a mystery.

2. Apá is an endearing name for father, derived from the word papa, and it is what I call my father, Lino Vega.

3. Labor, in Spanish as it is referred to in Chihuahua, is the land.

4. Coffee with milk and unrefined dark sugar.

5. Bodymindspirit is the notion is that as people of color, our body politics are connected to one another. The body, the mind and the spirit all inform our everyday experiences.

6. In Chihuahua México, the legacy of Doroteo Arango is a positive of negative one. Doroteo Arango was also known as Pancho Villa. His relatives who sought to be disassociated to him changed their last names to be protected from that association.