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The Decolonial Potential of NEITHER | Francisco-Luis White | TEDxUMD

The speaker posits that the core struggle in contemporary discussions of gender is resistance to relinquishing limiting labels, arguing that the ability for marginalized groups to self-define their identities is a foundational act of decolonial resistance. She establishes her background as a Poetic Rican individual who speaks multiple languages to illustrate the difficulty of imposing rigid grammatical and conceptual boundaries on fluid identity. This resistance to definition is rooted in the fear of losing established power structures like white supremacy and heteropatriarchy.

## Speakers & Context
- Speaker describes her personal background:
    - Black.
    - Specifically Puerto Rican.
    - Family originates from Ponce, Puerto Rico (south side of the island, notes its annual Carnival).
    - Family also comes from Mooresville, North Carolina (a town also known as Raceville, home of the Earnhardt's).
    - Family speaks Spanish, Bangla, and English (in various accents/dialects/vernacular).
- Audience: Unspecified group receiving the address at UMD.

## Theses & Positions
- The word "free" has been a persistent theme throughout the speaker's life.
- Language and grammar are not infallible in capturing complex identities, as demonstrated by the struggle to grasp *they/them* gender pronouns.
- The discussion of gender identity must move beyond merely defining pronouns, as *non-binary*, *genderqueer*, and *agender* identities are valid and "enough."
- The primary resistance to non-binary or genderqueer identities is a widespread fear stemming from an "attachment to labels."
- Defining oneself for oneself is an "affront to colonization," forming the "foundation of a decolonial praxis."
- The initial self-definition of "neither" in response to the binary is seen as the "birth of my decolonial practice."

## Concepts & Definitions
- **Transgressor/Dismantler:** Self-identifies as embodying these roles from an early age.
- **Gender identity:** Defined by the speaker as something that "don't contain confined or define who I am."
- **Non-binary/Genderqueer:** Identities that exist outside or are fluid relative to the traditional gender binary.
- **Decolonial Praxis:** A form of activism/thinking rooted in the rejection of colonial structures, beginning with self-definition.
- **Label:** Concepts (e.g., white supremacy, hetero-patriarchy) that assign privilege and status, which become vulnerable when defied.

## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Language acquisition:** Speaker notes the difficulty in grasping non-binary pronouns despite fluency in multiple languages.
- **Decolonial Resistance:** The process wherein defining one's self parameters for oneself undermines established, colonially imposed labels.
- **Self-Determination:** The act of defining one's own parameters for existence, which the speaker claims is foundational to resistance.

## Named Entities
- **Ponce, Puerto Rico:** Origin of the speaker's family.
- **Mooresville:** Town in North Carolina, noted as "Raceville."
- **UMD:** University of Maryland, where the talk was delivered.

## Numbers & Data
- Age of initial exposure to the word "free": **two or three years old**.

## Examples & Cases
- **The TV Advertisement:** The first conscious encounter with the word "free" was seeing it in flashing red letters on a TV commercial in a one-bedroom South Bronx apartment.
- **Linguistic Example:** The inability of others to grasp *they/them* pronouns despite the speaker's linguistic background.
- **Body Position Example:** The "black assumed cisgender body" within the discourse on gender expansiveness.

## Counterarguments & Caveats
- Difficulty in explaining the concept of being non-binary or genderqueer to those who require strict adherence to grammar or binary logic.
- The speaker acknowledges that her own "neither" identity may not resonate universally.

## Methodology
- Anecdotal narrative structure, utilizing personal history and cultural experience (language, diaspora) to build an abstract argument about power and identity.

## Conclusions & Recommendations
- The ultimate goal is to empower the audience to self-examine and self-determine their identity, believing that such acts inherently resist colonial categorization.
- The core message is that self-definition is the starting point for decolonization.

## Implications & Consequences
- The continuation of rigid labeling systems leads to the subjugation of gender-diverse and people-of-color identities.
- The shift in focus from being *labeled* by others to *defining* oneself for oneself weakens systems of oppression like white supremacy and hetero-patriarchy.

## Verbatim Moments
- *"the word free and bright red flashing letters would come across the screen."*
- *"it's because even as an infant I was some sort of radical gender activist a dismantler a transgressor."*
- *"I'm black by the way after let be next to be more specific Porto Rican to be absolutely specific."*
- *"we speak Bangla shhhhhh like no family you've ever encountered."*
- *"what I'm confident we're gonna be able to do in the space together today is take the discussion of gender or gender identity well beyond gender pronoun"*
- *"I'm not a man or a woman I'm neither I have no specified in their identity"*
- *"where is the black assumed cisgender body positioned in the current discourse around gender expansiveness"*
- *"all of these self acts are really an affront to colonization particularly to colonization of the body"*
- *"the resistance... is really about a fear of us losing those labels those labels which assign certain privilege which assign status white supremacy and sis hetero patriarchy are subverted when we dare to define ourselves for ourselves"*
- *"the beginnings or the the the roots of my personal decolonial praxis formed when my response to the question and I get this question often because people are just rude right so like you're not a man so what are you a woman when my response became a calm in certain neither"*