Muxerista Circles as Spirit Restoration: Healing Pedagogies in Ethnic and Gender Studies

Abstract

This article examines how Muxerista Circles function as healing-centered pedagogical interventions within ethnic and gender studies classrooms. I draw on Muxerista Consciousness and Chicana feminist epistemology to explore how students and educators navigate academic spirit murder in higher education. Using a community-based participatory research approach, I facilitated a Muxerista Circle in a graduate ethnic studies seminar and conducted follow-up interviews with participants to examine their experiences. Participants described the Circle as a space that cultivated emotional release, collective care, and relational accountability within an academic environment that often reproduces racialized and gendered harm. Two reflections were generated from the Muxerista Circles that center Muxerista Healing Praxis and Community Building. These reflections demonstrate how intentionally facilitated healing spaces can support spirit restoration while strengthening feminist pedagogy in the classroom. I conclude by offering a Muxerista Circle Toolkit that translates these reflections into a practical framework educators can adapt to cultivate healing, reflection, and community within ethnic and gender studies courses.