”You Just Want to Start Trouble”: A Chicana Bilingual Maestra’s Trenza of Her Path Towards Conocimiento

ABSTRACT Drawing on Chicana Feminist Epistemologies, we use trenzas as theory and method for unearthing Sonia’s activist trajectory on her path towards conocimiento. The trenza, or braid, consists of testimonio, cultural intuition, and confianza to weave together the complexity of Sonia’s story from early life to her professional career. Through testimoniando, Sonia reveals the constraints and racism of white supremacy in schooling. Consistent with other literature on Chicanas, the findings demonstrate that they rely on their ancestral wisdom, spirituality, and extended networks of family and friends—or comadrazgo—to navigate and negotiate whitestream spaces in educational contexts.