Iris C. Viveros Avendaño, PhD.  was born and raised in Mexico. Her academic interests emphasize the integration of third-world feminist approaches to analyzing colonial legacies in present-day systems of violence. She focuses on the role of state-mediated technologies of power in perpetuating violence against Afro indigenous [descent] women and communities at large. In addition,Iris’ scholarly work focuses on the connection between polyrhythmic collective music-making as a decolonial temporality and a practice of resistance, recovery, and healing from trauma. A central focus in her scholarly work is the analysis of the feminized body in fandango–In its collective and individual manifestation– as a decolonial space where knowledge is produced, negotiated, and transmitted.