I start with a prayer of thanks and acknowledgement. I am thankful for the work of brave, wise, and strong Xicanx and Latinx who have created a path for me and others to walk and flourish. I acknowledge their labor, tears, joys, and sorrows. I am especially thankful for the work born out of love and that flourishes at the margins of our world, the in-between spaces where the most beautiful and rare flower-ideas can be born. To the editors of the volume: mil veces gracias, because reading this book when I did helped start my own healing and helped me find a path when I was getting lost.
Like the experience of many Xicanx, Latinx, or other individuals who live/exist, or are considered to live/exist, at the margins of this society, this book is not your typical academic book/experience. While utilizing a tool (a book) that has served to colonize and disenfranchise Indigenous and African individuals and knowledge, the sabiduría y sabers conveyed in these pages share the ways individuals reclaim and decolonize spaces in their daily lives and cultural practices. At a time when people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ communities are constantly in danger due to the rise of white supremacy and fascism, the practices and wisdom shared in this text offer an alternative pathway to living, thinking, and being. Divided into twenty-two sections, the volume is composed of “reflective essays, poetry, prayers, guidelines for healing practices and communal rituals, and visual art” (5), and has “more than one hundred contributions from eighty-five contributors” (16). This book is not about theory, but about praxis, about doing the work of decolonizing “mindbodyspirit” in everyday life.
The wisdom shared through the pages of the book comes from a myriad of traditional epistemologies that survived and thrived despite over 500 years of conquest and colonization. This book, in a sense, is further evidence that despite conquest and colonization and subsequent genocide, the ways of thinking, being, and living of the Indigenous populations and those of formerly enslaved Africans in the Americas, not only survived, but are alive and flourishing. While sharing wisdom and knowledge in an academic format (a book), this volume is also an offering to our community, which needs to heal from the historical trauma resulting from colonization and conquest. The book, then, offers paths to start healing our mindbodyspirit.
Some of the contributors follow Indigenous ways of “beingseeingdoing,” while others integrate Indigenous ways with Buddhism, Santería, Christianity, or other spiritual practices. The contributors are academics, artists, activists, writers, and community members, all sharing with respect and love wisdom passed down through generations or acquired in their own life experiences. Many of the contributors share personal stories of pain, heartbreak, or trauma to demonstrate how we all share in grief, and offer alternative paths to healing by using spiritual practices rooted in decolonial praxis. I hold their stories with care, affection, and humility.
Starting with “Morning Prayers” (chapter 1) and “Honoring the Sacred Directions” (chapter 2), this amazing group of Xicanx and Latinx authors guides us through the day in prayer, meditation, action, being, thinking, seeing, smelling, and feeling. Space, and especially “Creating Sacred Space” (chapter 3), is a key ingredient in the decolonization process, as the creation and maintenance of sacred spaces provide refuge, especially in these difficult times. The morning is also a time for giving “Blessings for Babies and Young Children” (chapter 4), so they will be protected during the day and during their whole life.
Another key component of our daily life and decolonization practice is the creation of art, of doing something with our “mindbodyspirit.” In this regard, art becomes spiritual practice (chapter 5) and it can take many shapes such as prose and poetry (chapter 6) or through danza (chapter 7). Creating art—in whatever shape or form it may be—provides a space for healing and finding paths that can transform the world.
One of the many practices or worldviews that survived the conquest and colonization was our way of understanding death and dying, where death and dying are part of life, not the end. Therefore “communing with our dying and beloved deceased” (chapter 8) through ofrendas, altars, teachings, and other forms of memory-making is a central component of any decolonial praxis.
Another sphere of knowledge-creation is that of dreaming (chapter 9), which is also part of a “holistic health care” (chapter 10). The use of traditional remedies such as herbs, the use of temazkales, prayer, or communal events—imparted/shared by curanderas or other womxn, serve to aid in the process of healing the mindbodyspirit. Food, and specifically “medicinal foods” (chapter 13), aid in this process of nurturing the body and soul.
Important life events/milestones, such as when a young woman has her first menstruation or young people leave for college, are important “life changes” (chapter 11) that need to be celebrated and commemorated. Through those rituals and communal gatherings, a new generation is initiated in decolonizing spiritual practices.
At the center of the spiritual practices shared in this text, meditation (chapter 12), as a grounding and decolonizing healing practice, enjoys a central space, specifically interrelated with ideas of de buen vivir, as in living powerfully with mindbodyspirit connected and in peace.
One of the most powerful events for some Latinx and Xicanx is the birth of a child and the bond it creates (chapter 14). Through conception, pregnancy, birth, and in some painful cases, death, this bond is sacred. A thank-you to those who shared their stories, detailing how through their pain they developed rituals or made altars to heal and to honor the spirit of a departed child.
As we move through our day and head into the night, we have to recognize our (grand)mother Moon. “Moon Meditations” (chapter 15) serve to acknowledge and reconnect to the wisdom passed through generations of womxn, which moves away from Western theologies that demonize the night. Moreover, we understand and discover the Divine in each other by leaning on, respecting, and envisioning our “Sacred Sexualities” (chapter 16). Through love, a healing process for heartbreak and sexual trauma/violence can start.
One of the first things that the conquerors destroyed during the conversion period was the form of praying through song and dance. Therefore, the combination of “Prayer and Song” (chapter 17) “are powerful acts in the service of decolonization” (319). Conquest and colonization also destroyed our “Relationship with Land and Plants” (chapter 18); however, through the decolonization process we can rebuild the reciprocal relationship that we have with the Land and Plants, and try to rebuild the damage that colonization and capitalism have had on our land/planet.
While the whole book is intrinsically an act of spiritual revolution, of taking space from the academic-colonial world, some spiritual practices need to have a stronger intentionality in relation to “Spiritual Activism” (chapter 19) and “Spiritual Pedagogy” (chapter 20). Prayer and spiritual practices must be combined with activism and purposeful acts within and without classrooms. An example of these practices is the “Talking Circles” (chapter 21), which allows participants to hold space for each other as well as serving as a teaching moment. This is because for Xicanx and Latinx individuals, healing happens in community and in solidarity.
We close the day with “Evening Prayers” (chapter 22), which greet the night and thank the day for its blessings, challenges, and lessons. It is at night when our bodymindspirit can heal, rest from the toils of the day, and get ready for another day. Rituals, prayers, altars, and lullabies ease us into a peaceful dream, where our decolonization praxis can continue.
As you have noticed, this is not your normal book review; it is more an acknowledgement of the powerful saberes y sabidurías shared throughout the pages of this book. The editors ask their readers to use the book with “care, respect, and thoughtfulness” (19). And while a small part of me wants to raise questions and criticisms, because that is what I have been trained to do, the majority of me is in awe and humbled that a volume like this exists, that the contributors and editors have been brave enough to share their words, wisdom, love, and patience with such care. I have tried to return their favor in kindness and write this review with care, respect and thoughtfulness.
So, I close this review with a final prayer, a prayer of hope—a hope that one day the knowledge, wisdom, and life experiences of Xicanx and Latinx are not at the margins of other people’s writings and analyses; that one day we no longer are just “research subjects,” but rather that our ways of knowledge production through the union of our mindbodyspirit and our beingseeingdoing are recognized and respected. I hope that others will find strength, solace, and comfort in the sabiduría shared in this volume, as I have.
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[Review length: 1473 words • Review posted on April 30, 2020]