What is translanguaging and raciolinguistics doing in the field of curriculum studies?

Abstract

This article critically examines the intersections of translanguaging, raciolinguistics, and curriculum studies within the context of Latin America. It interrogates how dominant discourses and practices perpetuate coloniality and linguistic hierarchies in the region. Through an analysis of a special issue of the Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, the paper explores how emergent scholarship challenges the hegemony of Global English and disrupts colonial narratives embedded in national educational policies. By theorizing curriculum at the intersection of translanguaging, raciolinguistics, and sociopolitical contexts, this article advocates for a counter-curriculum that prioritizes the epistemic agency of historically excluded communities. Translanguaging practices emerge as a form of resistance, underscoring the role pedagogy plays in subverting dominant language ideologies. They challenge Eurocentric ways of knowing by advancing inclusive pedagogies rooted in local knowledges and linguistic diversity. Ultimately, the article advocates for a decolonial curriculum that prioritizes linguistic autonomy, cultural pluralism, and epistemic justice in Latin America and beyond.

Keywords:

• Curriculum
• decolonial theory
• language ideologies
• pedagogy
• raciolinguistics
• translanguaging

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aixa Avila-Mendoza

Aixa Avila-Mendoza is a doctoral student at Texas Tech University in the Language, Diversity, and Literacy Studies track. She is passionate about equity in language education. With 27 years of experience teaching multilingual and multicultural learners, Aixa is currently a language teacher at Awty International School. Her research interests include translanguaging pedagogy and raciolinguistics.

Jairo I. Fúnez-Flores

Jairo I. Fúnez-Flores is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum Studies at Texas Tech University. He is the Program Chair of the Decolonial, Postcolonial, and Anti-Colonial Studies in Education SIG for the American Educational Research Association. His research is situated at the intersection of sociocultural studies in curriculum theory, decolonial theory, critical ethnography, and social movement research. Currently, he is advancing what he calls insurgent decolonial theory to situate thought in sites of struggle. He has published articles in Theory, Culture & Society, Globalisation, Societies and Education, Sociology Compass, and Educational Studies. He is also the co-editor of the Bristol University Press book series Decolonization and Social Worlds, lead editor of the Routledge book series Decolonial Entanglements: Praxis, Pedagogy, and Social Theory, and lead editor of the SAGE Handbook of Decolonial Theory.

Karina Oliveira de Paula

Karina Oliveira de Paula, MA in Applied Linguistics, is a doctoral candidate in the Curriculum and Instruction Program at Texas Tech University. Karina has previous experience as an English teacher in Brazil and a Portuguese teacher in the United States. She applies decolonial and translanguaging theories to investigate language learning and teacher preparation practices in multilingual borderlands and regions of international immigration in Brazil and in the US. Her research interests are emergent bilingualism, multiculturality, critical language teaching, global English, and raciolinguistics.

Arun Ramasubramanian

Arun Ramasubramanian has a BA in Social Sciences and Humanities from Ambedkar University Delhi in Delhi, India. He also has an MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition from the University of Oxford in Oxford, Great Britain. His research interest is raciolinguistics.