“This wound is a world:” Trauma and decolonial feminist praxis

Abstract As editors of this special issue of Feminist Anthropology , we consider the possibilities and challenges of ethnographic scholarship about and with trauma. Taking seriously the poet Billy‐Ray Belcourt's proposal that the wound is a world, this article builds on feminist and decolonial thinkers from within and beyond anthropology, alongside the contributors to this special issue, to make two arguments. First, we propose that the wound or woundedness not only shifts what we research or how we come to ethnographic knowledge, but it also remakes our fieldwork and writing practices. Work amid trauma demands extra care, centering relationality and intimacy, walking at a slower pace and for a longer distance. It challenges our contributors’ research methodologies as well as our own experimental, affective praxis of producing this special issue. Second, the “open wound” or ongoing trauma also affects ethnographic form, inspiring creative interventions in the way we write and share knowledge, interventions that linger in paradox and ambiguity rather than seeking closure or resolution. Ultimately, we call for ethnographic approaches that embrace wounds and woundedness as portals to personal and collective transformation and that center relationality, care, and healing as an always‐unfolding affective praxis.