Río Bravo: A Journal of the Borderlands
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Spirituality among Mexican Transnational Teaching Youth: Towards Decolonialization and Humanization of Research
Get PDFThe ultimate purpose of this study is to illustrate the transnational journey of Mexican populations in terms of their spirituality. With this goal, I designed this study based on decolonial and humanizing principles of testimonios epistemologies (Calderón-Berumen et al. 2022) to describe the spiritual trajectories of Mexican transnational returnees pursuing a teaching degree in Tlaxcala, Mexico. Based on interviews, written questionnaires, and the teaching journal of the author, I suggest that transnationals understand that spiritual and religious development is different for Mexican communities on both sides of the border. On the one hand, transnationals realized that religiosity—rather than spirituality—is present in their home communities in Mexico. On the other hand, transnationals are aware that spirituality is required to cope with the adversities that Mexican communities face in the United States. For this reason, Mexican transnationals used online interactions to promote spiritual healing among those “left” in the north side of the border. Because spirituality has been traditionally ignored by most U.S. academia, this article supports the importance of humanizing scholarly research to understand the complexity of Mexican transnational populations
Exploring Awareness Through Race-Based Epistemologies
Get PDFAwareness is the ultimate goal of a truth-seeking individual. Some reach that stage early on in life; however, some of us never quite get there. Yet, can full awareness ever be reached? Is it an illusion or a mirage of the human mind? This is something I cannot answer. It is up to an individual to decide what awareness or truth is and means to them and when they’ve reached that point (Ladson-Billings and Tate 1995) if they ever do. Nevertheless, awareness or truth is not definite or a set destination, but rather a dynamic, evolving and open-ended process that occurs throughout life. It is a process of decolonization of the mind, heart and soul (Henrichs 2020) that allows us to reframe our perspectives (Tuhiwai Smith, 1999) and leads us to discovery, understanding, and transformation (Freire 1970)
Honoring Rasquachismo in el Teatro
Get PDFSupremacist, hierarchical and European ideology has dominated the field of theatrical study and performance, dictating process, learning, and purpose. Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekov, and Sophocles are often implemented in university theater programs as essential points of study and professional training without hesitation. Although these white men were part of the development of the traditional theater that is commonly accepted, they are not the only contributors to the art form. The notion that theater only “exists” once white men have explored it has led to a narrowing of the understanding and appreciation of work in the field. The exclusionary process of colonized theater must be challenged as this structure only serves to assign validity, resources, and viability to a narrow subset of the art form (Elliot and Dias 2018). This narrowing of the field is often only performatively combated; although theatrical training programs insist that they are expanding their programming, limited diverse theatrical contributions are showcased in educational settings (Ybarra 2018)
Remembering our Ancestors through Convivienza, Pláticas, y Testimonios
Get PDFThe grave is the final resting place for our physical remains, yet in our culture, we continue to visit the grave to be reminded of our ancestors\u27 spirits. Coco, Encanto, and The Book of Life stand as examples of how our customs and rituals have been exploited in mass media for the world to consume and misuse its aesthetics. This reflection is not about a particular holiday, but how our Xicanx Texanx ancestors passed down knowledge from generation to generation, keeping our stories alive, and shaping our future—it is autohistoria-teoria in praxis (Arfuso 2021). In three broad approaches we explore and explicate our constructions of value in the context of our borderland experiences (Anzaldúa 1987): Convivienza, Platícas, y Testimonios
La Encrucijada: Latina Consciousness, Academia, and Imposed Identity
Get PDFLatinx identity is complicated and shaped by a history of colonization and neo-colonialism. Living in the U.S., this history is sometimes lost to non-Latinx people. Expectations of what it means to be “Latinx” are created and imposed on to Latinx people living in the U.S. As someone who grew up on La Frontera, I have my own idea of what my identity as a Latina, specifically a Mexican American, is. Having moved away from the border to the Midwest, into an academic context, other peoples’ interpretations of my identity as a Latina are constantly shifting and being reshaped. This shifting and reshaping simultaneously casts me as Latina, but not Latina enough to be “legitimate.” Using Gloria Anzaldua’s “Borderlands/La Frontera,” I examine what it means to be a Latina, but not a Latina, at home, and far away in hostile spaces. Using the concept of “La Encrucijada/The Crossroads,” I examine how interpretations of my identity shape my place in academic spaces (Anzaldua 1987: 80)
Affirmations of Bilingualism, Biliteracy and Binationalism in the Cali-Baja Borderlands: Transformational Politics of Liminality, Counter-Erasure and Borderizing
Get PDFOur collective reflection communicates perspectives from four leaders of the Developing Effective Bilingual Educators with Resources (DEBER) Project. DEBER is an inter-institutional bilingual teacher preparation program in the Cali-Baja borderlands sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education. DEBER goals include supporting the transfer processes for prospective bilingual teachers (scholars) from community colleges to undergraduate programs as well as the completion of a postbaccalaureate teacher credential program. DEBER leaders design, implement and evaluate ongoing advisement as well as professional development learning opportunities for scholars. Leadership in DEBER is operationalized via ad-hoc working groups. We are four of the seven members that comprise the research and evaluation workgroup. We are bilingual, biliterate, and binational doctoral students, faculty members, researchers, and evaluators at Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) that are designated as Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSIs). In consideration of the geospatial context of the San Diego-Tijuana region where DEBER is implemented, we critically reflect how DEBER’s ways of knowing, being, and valuing affirmed scholars’ bilingual, biliterate and binational identities in Eurocentric, white-supremacist, monolingual IHEs. The following collective reflections draw from our individual reflections and memos, audio-recordings of group dialogue and excerpts from “I’m From” poems written with and for our DEBER Scholars
How Doctoral Chicanas Resist White Supremacist Political Erasure Through Muxerista Mentoring
Get PDFLatinas in graduate education remain underrepresented as doctoral recipients. During 2014-15, only 7.3 percent of Latinas had received doctoral degrees compared to White (66.7%), Asian (12.7%), and Black (10.3%) women (National Center of Education Statistics 2016). Latina students experience the doctoral socialization process of cultural dissonance, which conflicts with their own ethnic or racial identity. As doctoral Chicanas, we resist academia’s values of “individualism, competition, and emotional detachment” (Ibarra 2001, 101). During an isolating COVID-19 pandemic and a white supremacist political climate, we have managed to persevere against the odds. We have informally developed the process of Muxerista mentoring (Revilla 2004) by coming together to plan the annual MAS K-12 training program. We share our multi-generational testimonios to explore the multiple worlds we navigate while in our programs as nontraditional Chicanas learning and teaching in higher education. We argue that Muxerista mentorship is a genuine reciprocal connection and a commitment to building critical conciencia and collective transformation. Creating a Chicana feminist mentoring space that honors and values our unique experiences navigating a eurocentric education system. Through testimonio, we tease out our survival strategies and what nurtures our vision as activist scholars
Beyond the Word and the Womb: Parenting as Anzaldúan Atravesade
Get PDFIt’s a glorious desert winter day. My baby is on the slide, belly flat, snaking his way down. At the bottom he pops up to his toes and flings his arms to the sky. He is dancing to music only he can hear
I See You: A Dual Testimonio of The Latina Doctoral Experience
Get PDFThis article is a dual testimonio of the doctoral experiences of two Latina doctoral candidates. It focuses on the context of the Hispanic community and the lack of Hispanic female representation in academia. It examines the influence of colonialism, sexism, racism, and socioeconomic disadvantages throughout their journey. These testimonios are a raw reflection of the struggle as a female, academic scholar, and human being within a boxed academic society
Think of the world we carry with us: Latina Women Changing the conversation of Parent Involvement
Get PDFMy genuine interest in the role of parents in schools, especially of those parents who face more difficult challenges when making their voices heard is sustained through the memory of my parents’ participation throughout my schooling. My parent’s participation in my education went further than the formal parent involvement model offered by my school. A parent’s conception of their child’s education is largely based on their relationship with the school and the educational intent for the child. Parent involvement is claimed to be a multidimensional construct, and we now know that generally there are two places where a parent becomes involved in their child\u27s education—the school and the home. My parents were part of communal participation where parents communicated about school and organized as a community to be involved when needed. They communicated with other parents (our neighbors) who attended meetings or events to keep abreast of important information