Latina immigrant mothers as educators: a testimonio of becoming

Abstract

This article presents the experiences of Latina immigrant women who have raised or are raising children in the United States. As part of a minoritized group, Latina immigrant women have personal lived experiences that inform and affect the ways they interact with the world on a daily basis and that have shaped their personal and cultural identities in multiple ways. Those personal experiences are introduced in a testimonio, a personal narrative that portrays a collective story. Due to their experiences in becoming immigrants, these women have also developed particular ways of knowing, being, and doing that inform and guide their ways of mothering. The main implications of this testimonio call for educators’ attention -at all levels- to find alternate ways of validating social and cultural ways of being and doing that unfolds outside educational institutions, especially from minoritized groups, which cultural practices may differ from those of the dominant culture.

Keywords:

• Testimonio
• immigrants
• Latina mothers
• cultural curriculum of the home

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 In the United States, the terms Hispanic and Latino are often used interchangeably. For that reason, it is necessary to understand what these terms mean, to whom they apply, and for what purposes. The word Hispanic derives from the Latin word Spain, its culture and history; hence, it is used to refer to all Spanish-speaking peoples that have the language as a common denominator (Oxford, 2013). The word Latino derives from the word Latin in Spanish, and refers to those people who speak Romance languages. Latino, in English is also used as a shortened version of the term of Latino-Americano, which refers to persons or communities of Latin American origin that once were under Roman rule, including Italy, France, and Spain (Mize & Peña, 2012). So, Brazilians are considered Latinos, but not Hispanics. In the context of the United States, for certain groups of Spanish-speaking people, Latino is a term of ethnic pride, while Hispanic is a label that might be taken as discriminatory. From this perspective, the word Latino is the one that carries the authenticity and cultural heritage that people from Latin American countries value and perpetuate. However, these terms are subject to personal preference; therefore, I use both terms throughout this study.

2 In the Mayan tradition, there is a sacred way of greeting “In Lak'ech Ala K'in,” which means I am you, and you are me. In a modern day interpretation it also means “I am another yourself.” This Mayan tradition of greeting is an honoring for each other. It is a statement of unity and oneness. See more in http://www.alunajoy.com/2007nov.html

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Freyca Calderon-Berumen

Freyca Calderon-Berumen is an Assistant Professor at The Pennsylvania State University, Altoona. Her scholarly work centers on multicultural education and critical pedagogy in order to address social equity and justice seeking in-depth understandings and meanings personal and cultural experiences.