“Al Sonido del Huehuetl”: Situating Danza Azteca as Family Translingual Prayer and Civic Engagement

ABSTRACT

Despite growing Indigenous Latine/x immigrant populations, Indigenous Latine/x parents’ and families’ diverse forms of involvement across schools and communities continue to be absent from greater discourses in education. This article explores an Indigenous Quechua and Mexican family’s perspectives on multilingualism, culture, learning, and community engagement through danza azteca, a traditional Mesoamerican dance practice. This study asks, according to the focal family, what are some of the motivations for and lessons learned through their participation in danza azteca? Drawing on ethnographic research in California, the findings highlight how danza azteca was a way for the family to participate spiritually and civically in their communities across modes and languages, teach and learn about racial in/justice, and foster greater spaces for humanity. The article ends with a discussion and implications for research.

KEYWORDS:

• Aztec dancing
• dance
• family civic engagement
• translanguaging

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. All names of participants are pseudonyms.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cati V. de los Ríos

Cati V. de los Ríos is an Associate Professor of Adolescent Literacy and Bi/Multilingual Education at UC Berkeley’s School of Education. She taught Spanish, ELD, and Ethnic Studies in Massachusetts and California public schools. Her translingual literacy scholarship draws from ethnographic and participatory methodologies to (1) explore the nexus of secondary ethnic studies curricula and civic learning; and (2) examine how bi/multilingual youth of color build from intergenerational cultural legacies while innovating new forms of creative political expression.