Refusing the Feeling Rules: Arts‐Based Autoethnography as Emotional Resistance in Language Teacher Education

This study employs arts‐based autoethnography to examine the emotional labor of Wenxi, a raciolinguicized TESOL educator who navigates systemic inequities in a predominantly white post‐secondary education program in the United States. Drawing on digital artworks and narrative reflections created through an arts‐based workshop, the study explores how emotions such as shame, anger, and disheartenment can be mobilized as forms of critical affective literacy. Wenxi's narratives reveal how experiences of native‐speakerism, racial marginalization, power inequality, and institutional feeling rules have shaped her professional identity and emotional struggles. Yet, through art making, these emotions are reframed as resources for critical resistance and reflection. The findings suggest that arts‐based inquiry offers a robust pedagogical approach in teacher education by creating collective spaces where TESOL educators navigate and challenge systemic injustice. By fusing critical affective literacy with arts‐based practices, this study demonstrates the potential of emotional resistance to disrupt normative professional discourses and to foster more equitable, justice‐oriented TESOL pedagogies.