Abstract
Guerrilla exegesis. Guerrilla, the diminuitive of the Spanish term for war, meaning “little war” or “little warrior.” Has marked affinities with Redfield’s notion of “little tradition,” the stream(s) of discourse from beneath the heel of the “great tradition” of hegemonic discourse. From above, Webster defines a guerrilla as “one who engages in irregular warfare, especially as a member of an independent unit carrying out harassment and sabotage.” From below, s/he is simply “somebody trying to make a dollar out of fifty cents.” Exegesis, from the Greek term signifying a narrative, a description, an explanation, an interpretation; a process of bringing out/leading out/teasing out meanings and significances heretofore obscured or hidden from view. Guerrilla exegesis, then, is the bringing or leading out of oppressed/suppressed/ don’t-get-no-press meanings by sabotage, subversion or other non-traditional appropriations of hegemonic renderings, by independent non-conventional means of struggle and attack. Not playing by or audaciously rewriting hegemonic rules or both.