| Summary: | In Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth (1998), Michel Foucault states that before a person can reach a spiritual transformation, they should seek the very truth that will leave one transformed, a phenomenon he describes as “techniques of the self.” Additional theorists and philosophers, such as Emma Pérez, Judith Butler, Ramón Grosfoguel, Nelson Maldonado-Torres and José David Saldívar, explore the relationship of the self to “the other” in their theoretical texts. Through a careful analysis of decolonial and philosophical ideas about identity, I critically analyze the journey and eventual transformation that fictional character Micaela (also known as Lorenzo) undertakes in Emma Pérez’s novel Forgetting the Alamo, or, Blood Memory. Micaela struggles with the resilience of the “coloniality of power” in her everyday life as it leaves her angry, hateful and “uncivilized.” I address questions about barriers that make personal transformations difficult. Micaela’s retelling demonstrates that cycles of violence can stop if one begins with the self. In this manner, she repudiates the dominant power structures while transforming her soul.
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