9.2: Testimony as a Decolonial Methodology

 Reflection on “Testimony as a Decolonial Methodology”

In “Testimony as a Decolonial Methodology,” Ulysses Acevedo explains how decolonization and testimony are important tools for understanding wealth inequality in the United States. The chapter focuses on how racial wealth gaps are connected to systems of colonization. It also shows that statistics alone are not enough to understand inequality. We must also listen to the stories of people who experience injustice. This chapter helped me understand that decolonization is not only a theory. It is an action and a process that continues over time.

The chapter begins with a story from Sandy Grande’s book Red Pedagogy. Grande shares a moment when a student asked her what the word “decolonize” means. She struggled to explain it clearly. This shows that decolonization is a complex idea. It is not easy to define. Grande explains that decolonization can only happen when we realize that our realities are colonized. This means our education, government, land systems, and social institutions are shaped by colonial history. Colonization is not only something that happened in the past. It continues today through systems that control power and resources.

Grande says that decolonization is not only about describing injustice. It is about doing something to disrupt the system. She says we must refuse and rethink traditions. We must imagine new ways of thinking about land, education, and government. This idea stood out to me. Many times, people talk about inequality, but they do not change systems. Decolonization requires action. It requires challenging the structure that creates inequality.

Grande also explains that decolonization is not a final goal that can be fully completed. It is a continuous process. She compares it to democracy. Democracy is never perfect or finished. It requires constant effort. In the same way, decolonization is ongoing. This helped me understand that fighting wealth inequality is also ongoing. There is no simple solution. It requires continuous awareness and action.

Acevedo connects decolonization to wealth inequity. He explains that racial wealth inequality is too large to fully cover in one chapter. However, this chapter focuses on BIPOC-led movements. BIPOC means Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. These communities have been affected by colonization and economic discrimination. They have also created movements to challenge housing, education, labor, and financial systems. This part of the reading shows that marginalized communities are not only victims. They are also leaders in change.

The chapter also explains that before we can disrupt inequality, we must understand how it exists. Statistics help show racial wealth gaps. However, statistics alone are not enough. Numbers can show disparities, but they cannot show human suffering. This is why testimony is important. Testimony gives voice to lived experiences. It helps us see the emotional, psychological, and spiritual effects of poverty and discrimination.

The reading defines testimony using Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s explanation. Testimony is a structured way of telling painful experiences. It allows people to speak about trauma in a formal and protected space. Testimony is often used in Indigenous communities. It can be oral or written. It can be a public performance or a formal document. The structure of testimony allows people to share truth and emotion safely. This idea made me think about how storytelling can be powerful.

Testimonio is also common in Latin American contexts. It is a collective narrative. It shares not only individual memory but also community memory. It speaks about oppression and resistance. Testimony is not only personal. It represents shared experiences. This shows that wealth inequality is not an individual problem. It is a shared issue created by systems.

One example of testimony mentioned earlier in the chapter is Gil Scott-Heron’s song “Whitey on the Moon.” His song shares the pain of poverty and medical debt. His testimony shows the human cost of economic inequality. When I read about testimony, I realized that music, poetry, and storytelling are also forms of resistance. They preserve truth. They keep injustice visible.

The chapter explains that testimony gives human dimension to numbers. For example, statistics might show that certain racial groups have lower wealth. But testimony shows what that means in daily life. It may mean not having stable housing. It may mean not being able to afford health care. It may mean feeling stress and fear about the future. These emotional and psychological effects are not visible in numbers.

Testimony also creates collective consciousness. When people share stories, others recognize similar experiences. This builds solidarity. It helps people understand that inequality is systemic. It is not caused by personal failure. This idea is important because society often blames individuals for poverty. Testimony shifts the focus from individual blame to structural analysis.

Another important idea in the chapter is that decolonization must be embedded in learning. This means education itself should not reproduce colonial systems. Schools can sometimes function as colonizing systems. They may teach only dominant perspectives. They may ignore Indigenous and marginalized voices. Using testimony in education challenges this pattern. It centers lived experiences and diverse knowledge systems.

I also reflected on how testimony connects to intergenerational trauma. Poverty and discrimination affect not only individuals but also families across generations. Wealth inequality is passed down. Stress and trauma can also be passed down. Testimony helps break silence around these experiences. It allows communities to process pain collectively.

This reading made me think about how often society values data over stories. In policy discussions, numbers are often prioritized. However, stories move people emotionally. Stories create empathy. They humanize issues. Without testimony, wealth inequality becomes abstract. With testimony, it becomes real.

I also realized that testimony requires listening. Decolonization is not only about speaking. It is about witnessing. We must listen to those who experience injustice. Listening is an act of respect. It challenges power structures that silence marginalized voices.

The chapter ends by saying that decolonization is perpetual, and so is the fight for equity. This means we must keep sharing testimonies. We must keep witnessing. We must keep inequality in our consciousness. If we stop paying attention, systems of oppression continue quietly.

In conclusion, “Testimony as a Decolonial Methodology” explains that decolonization is an ongoing process of disrupting colonial systems. It is not only theoretical. It requires action and re-imagination. The chapter shows that wealth inequality is connected to colonization and racial systems of power. It also explains that testimony is a powerful method to humanize inequality. Statistics show disparities, but testimonies show lived experiences. Through storytelling, communities can resist, heal, and organize for change. This chapter helped me understand that listening and sharing stories are acts of justice. Decolonization continues through action, awareness, and collective voice.

Works Cited

Acevedo, Ulysses. “Testimony as a Decolonial Methodology.” ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative, CC BY-NC 4.0.

Grande, Sandy. Red Pedagogy. Rowman & Littlefield, 2004.

Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies. 2021.

9.2: Testimony as a Decolonial Methodology

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Decolonizing Wealth Inequity

In her book Red Pedagogy (2004), Sandy Grande tells the story of working on a lesson plan while waiting for students to arrive. At one point, one of the students asks her what that sticker on her laptop meant. The sticker read, “Keep Calm and Decolonize,” but the student was interested in the word “Decolonize.”

Grande wondered how she could define Decolonize to a middle school student, when she was still struggling with its definition herself. Later, she tried to break down the theories of colonization and decolonization to this student she concludes:

Decolonization can only occur when we realize that our realities, lives, experiences are colonized. In the past, we have spoken about historical trauma and treaties. Today, we spoke about school and how it can be an assimilating and colonizing system. To decolonize, we must break or disrupt the system. We must begin to refuse and rethink, re-imagine our traditions in our everyday lives- how we think about land, government, education, etc.

Ultimately, I believe decolonization is not about describing or defining, it is about doing. My definition was incomplete because I was unable to show the youth decolonization in a practice. As I defined decolonization, I was reminded that the “overarching goal of Red pedagogy…. is, and will always remain, decolonization. ‘Decolonization’ (like democracy) is neither achievable nor definable, rendering it ephemeral as a goal, but perpetual as a process (2004, p. 166).

Because the breadth of wealth inequity and race in the U.S. is too large to cover in one course or book, let alone one chapter, this chapter will attempt to decolonize the concept by focusing on BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) -led movements to break the housing, education, financial, and labor systems entrenching racial wealth disparities. In order to create a foundation to understand the current state of racial wealth inequity being disrupted, we will first substantiate its existence with some statistics and an overview of the historic and present systemic efforts to maintain economic inequity. But in laying this foundation, this chapter will also employ the decolonial methodology of testimony to embed all stages of learning with decolonial practice.

What is Testimony?

Although it is critical to understand the statistics when examining wealth inequities and race, it is even more critical to read the testimonies of those families and individuals who have been impacted by these patterns of inequity. The impacts of poverty and racial economic discrimination are far more human (and their psychological, spiritual, financial, and intergenerational effects are far more complicated) than numerical inequalities can show alone. Testimonies, such as Gil Scott-Heron’s, can therefore be a powerful tool in understanding and when working with the process of decolonization of racially disparate economic systems. Tuhiwai Smith explains:

Testimonies intersect with claiming because they are a means through which oral evidence is presented to a particular type of audience. There is a formality to testimonies and a notion that truth is being revealed… indigenous testimonies are a way of talking about an extremely painful event or series of events. The formality of testimony provides a structure within which events can be related and feelings expressed.

A testimony is also a form through which the voice of a "witness" is accorded space and protection. It can be constructed as a monologue and as a public performance. The structure of testimony - its formality, context and sense of immediacy - appeals to many Indigenous participants, particularly elders. It is an approach that translates well to a formal written document. While the listener may ask questions, testimonies structure the responses, silencing certain types of questions and formalizing others. Testimonio is more familiar to Latin American context as a narrative of collective memory: it has become one of a number of literary methods of making sense of histories, of voices and representation, and of the political narrative of oppression (2021, p.165).

Testimonies can help us break down wealth inequality barriers that exist by sharing lived experiences with one another and realize that wealth inequality is not an individual issue but a shared issue. It can also give human dimension to numeric measures of racial wealth disparities. We have to keep sharing and witnessing in order to keep it in our consciousness. While decolonization is perpetual, so is fighting for equality and equity.

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This page titled 9.2: Testimony as a Decolonial Methodology is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Ulysses Acevedo (ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI)) .