Counter-Storying Lives and Literacies: Narratives of Transformational Resistance

This article employs counterstorytelling to present a layered, nuanced rendering of two bilingual, bicultural Latinas’ school leaving. Data were taken from an ethnographic narrative inquiry into the literacy identities of five women who participated in a women’s literacy initiative. Situated within a critical race feminista praxis, we interpret linkages between participants’ school experiences and transformational resistance. Findings indicate the women experienced a history of microaggressions and apathy, affecting their soul, mind, and spirit and moving them to take action. The women’s stories illuminate transformative ruptures that empowered them to refashion their lives and literate identities.