Bienvenidos,
Welcome to Volume 16, Number 3, of the Journal of Latinos and Education. With your support, the journal has grown in stature and impact as a premier research publication. The journal provides a cross-, multi-, and interdisciplinary forum for scholars and writers from diverse disciplines who share a common interest in the analysis, discussion, critique, and dissemination of educational issues that affect Latinos.
We have six contributions to this issue’s FEATURE ARTICLES. The first, “Networks of Encouragement: Who’s Encouraging Latina/o Students and White Students to Enroll in Honors and Advanced-Placement (AP) Courses?” by Vanessa Witenko, Rebeca Mireles-Rios, and Victor M. Rios utilized survey data collected at a large comprehensive high school in Southern California, to examine the differences between the sources of encouragement for enrolling in advanced courses provided to Latina/o students and White students. While previous studies have focused on the diverse sources of information that Latina/o students receive, this study examines the diverse sources of emotional support they receive from traditional and non-traditional sources of support. Specifically, drawing on a sample of 1,324 students (658 of whom identified as Latina/o), the authors examined 20 different sources of support in students’ networks. They found that Latinas/os received encouragement from non-traditional sources at a differential rate than White students. Latina/o students were encouraged by counselors or advisors from various school programs and clubs, and from individuals in specialized programs that focus on college such as AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), out-of-school programs at the YMCA or from their church. White students received more support from traditional sources such as teachers, family and peers, and as well from private tutors. The authors also found that Latina/o students with a GPA of 3.0 or higher were several times more likely to be placed in the regular tracks for English and Math than White students with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Next, Mary Esther Soto Huerta’s article, “Transformative Pedagogy: Emergent Bilinguals and Perspective Taking,” explores the possibilities of transformative literacy education for emergent bilinguals. Following traditions of socio-cultural and socio-political approaches to language and literacy, Over the course of three months, Huerta explored how 4th grade emergent bilingual students understood issues of social justice and equity with a unit on slavery in Texas. Huerta was interested in how emergent bilingual students engage in authentic dialogue and draw on their own repertoires of language and experience as a way to develop powerful forms of literacy. Indeed, her observation data provides insight into how emergent bilingual students both draw from and make connections to their own life experiences and bilingualism, develop perspectives, and in the process expand their academic language and abilities.
The third article by Lucila C. Vargas and Joseph Erba, “Cultural Competence Development, Critical Service Learning, and Latino/a Youth Empowerment: A Qualitative Case Study,” draws lessons from a university service-learning/youth empowerment program in which college undergraduates worked with Latina/o high school students to produce a radio show. Radio Latino (RL) was created and implemented for five years by a faculty member in a southwestern university. It had the aim of enhancing working-class Latina/o youths’ civic agency while simultaneously enabling college students to enhance or develop their cultural competence and cultural citizenship across difference. The authors elaborate both the successes and failures of the program regarding impact, attractiveness for the intended beneficiaries, cost-benefit and creative use of existing resources, longevity, sustainability and scalability, as well as design and theoretical soundness. For example, regarding impact, the authors found that high levels of learning for college students occurred when they incorporated well-structured reflective writing. Depending on their participation, the high school students developed various levels of self-confidence, a sense of efficacy, interpersonal skills and media literacy among other benefits. However, the program failed to address teens’ mental health issues and provide a sense of continuity for them. The authors also conclude that such programs are not sustainable or scalable without support at the highest levels from the institution.
Next, “DiaspoRican Art as a Space for Identity Building, Cultural Reclamation, and Political Reimagining” by Enid M. Rosario-Ramos, Eli Tucker-Raymond, and Maria Rosario addresses the question: How do community members understand the role of Chicago DiaspoRican art in their lives? Interviews with three youth community residents and a high school art teacher/community activist revealed the important role of art in their lives and community for self-expression and collective identity building, cultural reclamation, and political reimagining. Rosario-Ramos et al highlight how the creation of art in Humboldt Park is informed by and spurs diasporic cultural and political identities and community development in ways that challenge inequities and affirm community life. The authors also explore tensions in participation and cultural representation, and they offer implications for young people’s critical learning in and out of school.
Heather A. Oesterreich, Mia A. Sosa-Provencio, and Tamara Anatska follow with “Mexican American Male Masquerades in the Institution as Bully.” The authors report on findings from interviews and photo-elicitation data with five 13-year-old Mexican American students about their experiences with school policies and practices. In contrast to the notion of the individual as bully, the authors identified how the institution operates as “bully” in two ways. First, the singular focus on the necessity of rules for safety justifies practices of criminalization, hyper-surveillance and control. Second, the myth of equal treatment for all students conceals institutional racism manifest in the consequential categorization of good and bad students and in verbal and physical abuse. The study explores how youths may seemingly ascribe to these assumptions, yet see through such mechanisms of control to resist with their bodies and minds.
Lastly, in “Que Luchen por sus Intereses (To Fight for Your Interests): Unearthing Critical Counter-Narratives of Spanish-Speaking Immigrant Parents,” Kevin Roxas and Maria L. Gabriel report on findings from a research study with Spanish-speaking immigrant parents involved in a Photovoice project. Through the use of photographs and the medium of photography, parents created critical counternarratives about their hopes and aspirations for themselves and their children. In contrast to majoritarian narratives that position immigrant families in deficit ways, the authors highlight three themes: parents’ own immigrant experiences inform the importance they place on their children’s education; parents use their funds of knowledge as an asset in facing obstacles to parent involvement; and parents want to be partners and collaborators with teachers in the education of their children. The authors emphasize the need for teachers and administrators to listen to and provide more opportunities for parents to voice their perspectives in order to create more inclusive home-school and community partnerships.
We have one contribution to ESSAYS AND INTERVIEWS. Racheal M. Rockroth in “Community as Resistance: Reconceptualizing Historical Instances of Community within Latin@ Education” offers a reminder of how community should be viewed historically as spaces created by marginalized groups exerting their agency and resisting inequities and oppressions. Rockroth draws attention to the organizations of the early twentieth century such as mutualistas which advocated for educational opportunities. Rockroth also highlights efforts at creating alternative schools and the community spaces produced through movements such as the East LA walkouts. Community is formed in the process of and in the struggle for education.
Finally, we have two contributions to the BOOK AND MEDIA REVIEWS section. Francisco Ramos reviews Multicultural Literature for Latino Bilingual Children: Their Words, Their Worlds edited by Ellen Riojas Clark, Belinda Bustos Flores, Howard Smith and Daniel Alejandro González. Ramos notes the book’s important purpose as a resource for teachers, educators and professionals who want to create inclusive learning communities that value the linguistic repertoires and life experiences of Latina/o bilingual children. Alma Flor Ada provides the forward, and references to well-known Latino children’s book authors are included throughout. Then Nancy Acevedo-Gil reviews Women Who Stay Behind: Pedagogies of Survival in Rural Transmigrant Mexico by Ruth Trinidad Galván. A decolonial Chicana feminist lens is utilized to understand the experiences of women who stay home in a rural town in Guanajuato, Mexico as their loved ones migrate to the U.S. The book comes out of an 18-month ethnographic study centering on the campesina-led small savings workshops in Sierra Linda and the development of supervivencia—the ability to go beyond surviving and live fulfilling lives despite encountering hardships.
Continue to read ahead and enjoy the full value and complexity of the articles presented in Volume 16, Number 3, of the Journal of Latinos & Education. We want to extend our appreciation to the authors for their manuscript submissions and commend them for their contributions to the field of Latinos and Education. The editorial staff looks forward to supporting your continued research and practices that illuminate the myriad circumstances in which Latinas/os and their families continue to struggle for educational excellence and equity. Your support and this volume affirm the importance of scholarship and creative analysis that attempt to give voice to a community of learners that is silent no longer.
Thank you—muchisimas gracias.