Studying abroad in Mexico with Mexican ancestry: Desiring to be ‘one of ours’

ABSTRACT

This study counters the popular assumption that Spanish Heritage Language Learners (SHLLs) on study abroad (SA) in a place of cultural origin can easily adapt and find acceptance due to the linguistic and cultural resources they bring with them. Our study builds on previous work to illustrate a more nuanced and complex story of desires for belonging. The study investigated students’ language desire and student cultural and ethnic identities to determine how these factors informed SHLLs’ relationships with community stakeholders while on short-term SA in Oaxaca, Mexico. The study relies on pre-, mid-, and post-SA interviews. Interviewees included six students of Mexican heritage and 12 community stakeholders (five Spanish teachers, two programme administrators, two educational tour operators, and three host parents). Reflexive thematic analysis clarified differences between language desires of students with distant-Mexican ancestry and those with close-ancestry. The former sought missing family connections and ‘real’ family interactions with host families. The latter desired wholeness in their identity and a corresponding confidence in language skills. Community stakeholders expressed complex responses to participants with Mexican heritage, viewing distant-ancestry students as problematic for lacking Spanish and close-ancestry students difficult due to their Spanish knowledge.

KEYWORDS:

• Study abroad
• Spanish heritage language learners
• identity
• language desire
• social imaginaries

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nydia Martínez

Nydia Martinez, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Latin American History and Chicanx Studies at Eastern Washington University who has work extensively with migrant and immigrant communities of Latin American descent in the United States. Her research focuses on the social movements and transnational solidarity networks established between people of Mexican ancestry in the United States and Mexican nationals.

Gina Mikel Petrie

Gina Mikel Petrie, PhD is a professor of English as a Second Language at Eastern Washington University who has carried out teacher education for 20 years in the US, Nicaragua, Mexico, Jordan, and Italy. Her research explores the sociocultural contexts in which language instruction and teacher professional development occur.

Catherine Nolan-Ferrell

Catherine Nolan-Ferrell, PhD is an Associate Professor of Latin American History at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her research explores how and why marginalized peoples navigated displacement, migration, community, citizenship, and national identity along the Mexico/Guatemala border during the Guatemalan Civil War.