Mary Prince’s Undisciplining Lessons: Counter-Narrative and Testimonio in <i>The History</i>

Abstract

This essay discusses teaching The History of Mary Prince at a Hispanic Serving Institution via Ethnic Studies praxis. It develops Nicole Aljoe’s definition of Prince’s narrative as counter-story and testimonio and explores the undisciplining effects of reading Prince’s history as relevant to the lives of Borderlands students. To understand the multiple meanings of “undisciplining’ this essay draws on the theory of Sylvia Wynter and shows how Prince’s testimonio offers an alternative to Western epistemologies via communal resistance and resurgence. Several pedagogic tools are explored for teaching Prince in this way.

Keywords

• undiscipling
• testimonio
• counter-story
• unsilencing
• undercommons
• mary prince
• baron de vastey
• michel trouillot
• sylvia wynter
• ethnic studies
• borderlands.