Storytelling as Transformation: Disrupting Cycles of Violence through Feminist Sites of Remembrance, Love, and Forgiveness in Emma Pérez’s Forgetting the Alamo, or, Blood Memory (2009)

In Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth (1998), Michel Foucault states that before a person can reach a spiritual transformation, they should seek the very truth that will leave one transformed, a phenomenon he describes as “techniques of the self.” Additional theorists and philosophers, such as Emma Pére...

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Main Author:	Adrianna Simone
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece 2019-12-01
Series:	Ex-centric Narratives: Journal of Anglophone Literature, Culture and Media
Online Access:	http://ejournals.lib.auth.gr/ExCentric/article/view/7546

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spelling	doaj-3896d7a1583c4f3e8879103ce33810eb2020-11-25T01:27:44ZengSchool of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GreeceEx-centric Narratives: Journal of Anglophone Literature, Culture and Media2585-35382019-12-0103284010.26262/exna.v0i3.75466910Storytelling as Transformation: Disrupting Cycles of Violence through Feminist Sites of Remembrance, Love, and Forgiveness in Emma Pérez’s Forgetting the Alamo, or, Blood Memory (2009)Adrianna SimoneIn Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth (1998), Michel Foucault states that before a person can reach a spiritual transformation, they should seek the very truth that will leave one transformed, a phenomenon he describes as “techniques of the self.” Additional theorists and philosophers, such as Emma Pérez, Judith Butler, Ramón Grosfoguel, Nelson Maldonado-Torres and José David Saldívar, explore the relationship of the self to “the other” in their theoretical texts. Through a careful analysis of decolonial and philosophical ideas about identity, I critically analyze the journey and eventual transformation that fictional character Micaela (also known as Lorenzo) undertakes in Emma Pérez’s novel Forgetting the Alamo, or, Blood Memory. Micaela struggles with the resilience of the “coloniality of power” in her everyday life as it leaves her angry, hateful and “uncivilized.” I address questions about barriers that make personal transformations difficult. Micaela’s retelling demonstrates that cycles of violence can stop if one begins with the self. In this manner, she repudiates the dominant power structures while transforming her soul.http://ejournals.lib.auth.gr/ExCentric/article/view/7546
collection	DOAJ
language	English
format	Article
sources	DOAJ
author	Adrianna Simone
spellingShingle	Adrianna Simone Storytelling as Transformation: Disrupting Cycles of Violence through Feminist Sites of Remembrance, Love, and Forgiveness in Emma Pérez’s Forgetting the Alamo, or, Blood Memory (2009) Ex-centric Narratives: Journal of Anglophone Literature, Culture and Media
author_facet	Adrianna Simone
author_sort	Adrianna Simone
title	Storytelling as Transformation: Disrupting Cycles of Violence through Feminist Sites of Remembrance, Love, and Forgiveness in Emma Pérez’s Forgetting the Alamo, or, Blood Memory (2009)
title_short	Storytelling as Transformation: Disrupting Cycles of Violence through Feminist Sites of Remembrance, Love, and Forgiveness in Emma Pérez’s Forgetting the Alamo, or, Blood Memory (2009)
title_full	Storytelling as Transformation: Disrupting Cycles of Violence through Feminist Sites of Remembrance, Love, and Forgiveness in Emma Pérez’s Forgetting the Alamo, or, Blood Memory (2009)
title_fullStr	Storytelling as Transformation: Disrupting Cycles of Violence through Feminist Sites of Remembrance, Love, and Forgiveness in Emma Pérez’s Forgetting the Alamo, or, Blood Memory (2009)
title_full_unstemmed	Storytelling as Transformation: Disrupting Cycles of Violence through Feminist Sites of Remembrance, Love, and Forgiveness in Emma Pérez’s Forgetting the Alamo, or, Blood Memory (2009)
title_sort	storytelling as transformation: disrupting cycles of violence through feminist sites of remembrance, love, and forgiveness in emma pérez’s forgetting the alamo, or, blood memory (2009)
publisher	School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
series	Ex-centric Narratives: Journal of Anglophone Literature, Culture and Media
issn	2585-3538
publishDate	2019-12-01
description	In Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth (1998), Michel Foucault states that before a person can reach a spiritual transformation, they should seek the very truth that will leave one transformed, a phenomenon he describes as “techniques of the self.” Additional theorists and philosophers, such as Emma Pérez, Judith Butler, Ramón Grosfoguel, Nelson Maldonado-Torres and José David Saldívar, explore the relationship of the self to “the other” in their theoretical texts. Through a careful analysis of decolonial and philosophical ideas about identity, I critically analyze the journey and eventual transformation that fictional character Micaela (also known as Lorenzo) undertakes in Emma Pérez’s novel Forgetting the Alamo, or, Blood Memory. Micaela struggles with the resilience of the “coloniality of power” in her everyday life as it leaves her angry, hateful and “uncivilized.” I address questions about barriers that make personal transformations difficult. Micaela’s retelling demonstrates that cycles of violence can stop if one begins with the self. In this manner, she repudiates the dominant power structures while transforming her soul.
url	http://ejournals.lib.auth.gr/ExCentric/article/view/7546
work_keys_str_mv	AT adriannasimone storytellingastransformationdisruptingcyclesofviolencethroughfeministsitesofremembranceloveandforgivenessinemmaperezsforgettingthealamoorbloodmemory2009
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Storytelling as Transformation: Disrupting Cycles of Violence through Feminist Sites of Remembrance, Love, and Forgiveness in Emma Pérez’s Forgetting the Alamo, or, Blood Memory (2009)

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