Testimonio and its travelers: Feminist deployments of a genre at work

Abstract

So mark the opening lines of the Sangtin Writers’ Playing with Fire: Feminist Thought and Activism through Seven Lives in India. This collaboratively written narrative interweaves nine testimonial voices-seven of which belong to village-level NGO activists in Uttar Pradesh-in its exploration of a collective feminist methodology through which to realize more egalitarian organizing efforts. The sangtins’1 penetrating words strongly resonate with a poetics of solidarity articulated by many polyvocal feminist testimonios that actively foreground the material and ideological conditions that wedge themselves between the felt realities and the hopes and dreams of the women located at the center of their narratives. The multi-layered tensions articulated in this passage-between the individual and the collective, between oppressive realities and the promise of liberated futures-remain a staple in such works as they illustrate the effects of macrosocial power structures in women’s daily lives while documenting how women actively struggle against processes of marginalization. Published in 2006, Playing with Fire is a fiercely committed and energized piece of testimonial literature that challenges John Beverley’s absolutist claim that "the moment of testimonio is over" ("The Real Thing" 280).