ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces an anthology of twelve Latina Psychologists who share their experience of living and thriving in the cultural borderlands. It illustrates how these women use testimonio – a first-person account of their experience with oppression – and autoethnography – a qualitative research method that goes beyond personal essays – to critically analyze their lives in the context of historical, gendered, racial, cultural, social, and political circumstances. A list of 30 testimonial questions, developed for this anthology, guides the Latina Psychologists’ accounts. These inspiring narratives demonstrate how their intersecting identities, in addition to living in the borderlands, reveal how they challenge and adapt psychology through their roles as psychotherapists, researchers, leaders, mentors, and social activists. Based on their lived experiences, these wise Latinas contribute to the development of a gender- and culture-sensitive discipline. The chapter presents a discussion of the role of testimonio, Anzaldúan borderlands theory, and an embodiment method in the development of a Latina multicultural feminist psychology.
