Letters to Our Children: Narrating Legacies of Love, Dissent, and Possibility

ABSTRACT

Drawing from Cervantes-Soon’s (2012) framework of testimonios as confessions, counter-narratives, and consejos, we explore how writing letters to our children serves as a process of historical documentation, healing, and a passing down of social justice principles and family history. Additionally, we expand on Cervantes-Soon’s framework by utilizing testimonios as a process by which to affirm intergenerational memory. Finally, connections are made to the potential role of letter writing as an important pedagogical tool.

KEYWORDS:

• Higher education
• identity
• Latino males
• Latino students

Notes

¹ In this article, consejos are defined as advice closely related to educación

(Delgado-Gaitan, 1994; Valdés, 1996; Valencia & Black, 2002).

² These type of letters are used throughout the article for the purpose of blind review.

³ Dance music with roots in Colombia.