Seeds from the Land: A Muxerista Testimonio of Ancestral Memory, Spirit Restoration, & Pedagogies of the Home

Abstract

This article presents an intergenerational testimonio of my grandmother, Clarita. I explore how acts of care, language, and memory become methods of survival and resistance within educational spaces that have historically erased women like her. I examine how apapachadas, spiritual embraces, function as healing practices and knowledge production. Building on the works of Revilla (2004), Delgado Bernal (2001), and Anzaldúa (2012), home is our first classroom and abolitionist site. This is where care becomes theory and memory becomes pedagogy. As a granddaughter-scholar, this writing is both remembrance and restoration. It is a return to the stories that shaped my understanding of learning, resilience, and belonging. I interweave Clarita’s story with my own healing, storytelling, and everyday resistance. This work contributes to ongoing conversations about Muxerista pedagogy by offering a lived example of theory-in-practice, rooted in love, labor, and legacy.