Resisting Erasure and Developing Networks of Solidarity: Testimonios of Two Puerto Rican Scholars in the Academy

ABSTRACT

In this article, we share findings from a critical qualitative study aimed at better understanding the ways that language, history, and geography mediate our work and identities as educational researchers. As scholars whose particular sociocultural and political histories are often absent in scholarly discussions about language and education, we use the intergenerational sharing of testimonios as both methodology and narrative development to gain a deeper understanding of experiences involving the learning and use of English that influence our academic careers. We theorize our experiences as resisting erasure and contribute to Latina epistemology scholarship and critical educational research about Puerto Ricans in the United States. Moreover, we forward the concept of funds of knowledge as a professional practice. Telling our stories and developing mentoring networks is necessary for our individual and collective functioning and well-being as scholars; it cultivates solidarity as a means of thriving in the academy.

KEYWORDS:

• bilingualism
• biculturalism
• critical narratives
• critical qualitative research
• funds of knowledge
• Puerto Ricans
• testimonio

Notes

1. In 1937, Blanton Winship, a U.S. governor in Puerto Rico, approved Legislation 136, legalizing the sterilization of Puerto Rican women. By 1955, it was documented that 16.5% of Puerto Rican women 20 years old and older had been sterilized. In 1956, the contraceptive pill was tested using Puerto Rican women (Azize Vargas, 1987; Stycos, 1955).

2. We thank the reviewer who emphasized this implication.