Journal Article — Processes of Emergence and Connection: Interrelations of Past, Present, and Future in Journeying for Conocimiento — by Karen L. Suyemoto

In this essay, rather than focusing upon the professional connections to Anzaldúa in my teaching and scholarship, I have chosen a different path to explore connections between inner work and public acts. I have made a conscious choice to speak about the personal: to make, in some ways, a testimonial to Anzaldúa rather than a traditional scholarly connection. That choice itself and the way I have approached it is an example of connecting inner work to public acts, of trying to create a new middle space. In that choice, I am resisting the stigmas that are related to silencing experiences of mental illness, racism, sexism, and homophobia, particularly personal experiences and particularly within the context of academia. And I am resisting the disconnection of the emotional from the intellectual or the academic.