Amanda Petersen from the University of California San Diego presented at the 2020 Lilly Conference on “Through the Social Justice Lens: Cases from Language and Literatures” with colleagues. Petersen talked about the use of social justice language pedagogy in introductory courses. I did not think about this. Petersen defined social justice language pedagogy as:
Social justice language pedagogy recognizes that in language and culture are embedded power hierarchies that can reinforce racist, Herero patriarchal, xenophobic discourse.
Social justice based language pedagogy seeks to dismantle these discourses by using language and representation to question discourses that have previously embedded language of white supremacy, sexism, coloniality, and heteronormativity.
In doing so, we seek to subvert otherization, to provide inclusive and rich cultural context that is centered around resisting traditional structures of power.
I thought this was excellent and had to include the entire text from the slide. Petersen emphasized that social justice language pedagogy can be used in introductory Spanish language courses to break norms to foster inclusion. Petersen also showed how textbooks may not have the cultural richness. Key elements noted by Petersen are:
- Language as political power
- Scaffolding social justice language learning
- Multimedia contents synchronously and asynchronously to model approaches. In asynchronous multimedia, post video reflections are used.
- Target language reading
- Grammar exercises in class social justice context, if possible
- Exams as learning
Petersen described how comprehensive input is key for social justice pedagogy. Grammar and vocabulary are provided before introducing social justice context. Common concerns mentioned by Petersen were that the course was political, and Petersen mentioned it is important to have these discussions with students.
Next, Christina Baker from Temple University asked: why are we studying literature during a pandemic? Examples mentioned were frontline healthcare workers write prose and poetry to discuss the impact of the pandemic. Baker recently moved to Temple and had to teach literature courses. Baker kept most of the courses as taught previously and posed social justice questions. Baker noted that the shift to online classes has emphasized inequities and the power and privilege dynamics that need to be addressed. The example Baker provided was a story about Puerto Rico and colonialism. After this activity, a discussion forum was used to share. Then, Baker shares anonymous fragments of quotes on a slide. In a Dialogue Exercise, students have assignments with one person sharing a response, one person asks a probing question or two, one person takes note of the sharer’s gestures, and one person summarizes to the class. Baker learned about this approach from a faculty member at the University of Dayton, and mentioned the exercise takes from five to seven minutes. Groups can comment and begin conversations about different ideas. Baker then ends by saying: why did I ask this question? This connects the content to the exercise. I now want to try this activity!
Iván Eusebio Aguirre Darancou from the University of California, Riverside then presented on how content shapes class dynamics. Aguirre Darancou redesigned a class to use non canonical literature to redefine it and allow students to bring their cultural knowledge. The themes included solidarity, migration, borders, rural and urbanization. The use of explicit liberatory outcomes alongside learning outcomes was introduced using the work of Garcia (2018) on frameworks for decolonizing Hispanic Serving Institutions. I love that students share notes anonymously in a GoogleDoc. The course is set up as modules with literature that introduces themes of decolonization while promoting student collaboration.
Lauren G. R. Reynolds from the University of North Alabama then described the use of co-curricular community-based learning in the time of COVID. Reynolds created translation teams/clubs with an interesting structure. Working with a community partner and structured like an editorial journal board, students work on translating texts from the partners. Reynolds also invites alumni to participate. The team provides free services to nonprofit organizations in Alabama and Tennessee. Reynolds mentioned that the students work as a team and have articulated values and team objectives. before the pandemic, the group met in Reynolds’s dinning room. Importantly, community-based learning pedagogy helps promote equity, racial justice, and inclusion… and “decentering whiteness through translation” as Reynolds puts it. I love this club and system and wonder if we could do this here… Reynolds mentions translation as activism and owning our privilege and roles as translators!
Brian Gollnick from the University of Iowa then spoke about heritage speakers and literary translation. Gollnick teaches a class on literary translation and requires some background. Students translate from Spanish into English and usually compare existing translations. In Gollnick’s class, students bring their own experience and translations. The knowledge students bring from their own lived experiences, family, and learning helps other learn: it becomes an exchange of language!
This series of talks was not what I expected! I learned a lot. The speakers were fantastic and spoke freely about the challenges of discussing critically colonialism, equity, translations, whiteness. I admire their thoughtful reflections to think about social justice and language AND bring them into the courses they teach. Instead of asking: ¿Qué se puede hacer? (What can be done?) I now think I can ask: ¿Qué voy hacer? (What will I do?) to move toward my goal of being Spanish into the learning experience AND using this privilege to dismantle systems of inequities.
