When Janitors Dare to Become Scholars: A Betweeners' View of the Politics of Knowledge Production from Decolonizing Street-corners

In: International review of qualitative research: IRQR, Volume 2, Issue 4, p. 457-474

Abstract

In this performance autoethnography we re-present our experiences of disembodied knowledge construction in mainstream American academia. We claim that knowledge production about the Other still tends to reify the very oppression it intends to challenge. Can a janitor become a scholar without having to bury experiences under layers of theory and other technologies of justification? Or are marginalized humans relegated to a subordinate position of research subject in the process of knowledge production? Neither? Both? Troubling the recurring experience of "my bad English," we try to show that folks lacking an educated upbringing can contribute to the decolonizing dialogue through something no technology of methods can provide: visceral lived experience of systemic oppression. We are insisting on narrative space for visceral knowledge to advance decolonizing discourses that may lead to more inclusive notions of social justice.