Feminist Practices of Refusal

This essay reflects what an everyday feminist practice of refusal can look like. The practice that I describe in this article is deeply shaped by the feminist practices within my own cultural and religious ancestry as well as the work of decolonial feminist scholars Tuck and Yang who argue that refusal is a form of resistance and survival, specifically in response to settler colonialism. I include here a letter written by other graduate students and me as a call to action in response to institutional harm and abuses practiced by an individual faculty in our graduate program. Alongside this letter, I provide a reflection on my personal feminist practices and more specifically, acts of refusal as feminist practice within and in opposition to institutions. Refusal is something inherent within anti- and decolonial feminist practices—a form of resistance focused on individual growth and institutional transformation.