PAR EntreMundos

PAR EntreMundos

A Pedagogy of the Américas

Jennifer Ayala, Julio Cammarota,
Margarita I. Berta-Ávila, Melissa Rivera,
Louie F. Rodríguez, and María Elena Torre,
EDITORS

PETER LANG

New York • Bern • Berlin

Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ayala, Jennifer, editor.
Title: PAR EntreMundos: a pedagogy of the Américas / Jennifer Ayala, Julio Cammarota,
Margarita I. Berta-Ávila, Melissa Rivera, Louie F. Rodríguez, María Elena Torre.
Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2018.
Series: Critical studies of Latino/as in the Americas; vol. 15
ISSN 2372-6822 (print) | ISSN 2372-6830 (online)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017018078 | ISBN 978-1-4331-4485-1 (paperback: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4331-4475-2 (hardback: alk. paper) | ISBN 978-1-4331-4486-8 (ebook pdf)
ISBN 978-1-4331-4487-5 (epub) | ISBN 978-1-4331-4488-2 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Hispanic Americans—Education—Social aspects.
Critical pedagogy. | Action research in education.
Classification: LCC LC2669 .A93 2018 | DDC 371.829/68—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017038338
DOI 10.3726/b11303

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

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All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
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About the editors

Jennifer Ayala is a professor in the School of Education at Saint Peter’s University and director of the college’s Center for Undocumented Students. Julio Cammarota is an associate professor in multicultural education at Iowa State University. Margarita I. Berta-Ávila is a professor in the College of Education at Sacramento State University. Melissa Rivera is a scholar who conducts, teaches, and writes about participatory action research (PAR). Louie F. Rodríguez is an associate professor of educational policy analysis and leadership and education, society, and culture in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Riverside. María Elena Torre is the founding director of the Public Science Project and faculty member in critical psychology and urban education at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

About the book

PAR EntreMundos: A Pedagogy of the Américas challenges the standard narratives of “achievement” to think about how Latinx students can experience an education that forges new possibilities of liberation and justice. Growing Latinx student populations have led to concerns about “assimilating” them into mainstream academic frameworks. This book offers an alternative, decolonizing approach that embraces complex Latinx identities and clears a path toward resisting systems of oppression. Educating Latinx students should involve more than just helping them achieve in school but rather having them recognize their agency to transform the larger structure of education to promote justice-oriented practices. The authors offer a framework for such transformation by honoring their theoretical lineages, proposing a set of guiding principles, and sharing stories about collective social action within and outside Latinx communities. PAR EntreMundos: A Pedagogy of the Américas is a practice of liberation and freedom.

Advance Praise for

PAR EntreMundos

“PAR EntreMundos: A Pedagogy of the Américas powerfully engages the theory and practice of participatory action research in ways that revolutionize its potential for critically understanding the particularities and universalisms of the cultural traditions of the Américas. In so doing, the editors of this book bring together a striking collection of educational essays that illustrate the pedagogical and political force of a communal methodology for radically comprehending the beautifully diverse and complex hemisphere that informs our labor as educators and cultural citizens of the world.”

—Antonia Darder, Leavey Presidential Endowed Chair in Ethics and Moral Leadership at Loyola Marymount University and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Education at the University of Johannesburg

“PAR EntreMundos: A Pedagogy of the Américas draws upon Freirean praxis, critical race and borderland theories, South American liberation psychologies, and social movement histories to propose pedagogical practices that disrupt and dismantle traditional academic binaries between the researcher/researched, expert/novice, and institution/community. Latin communities in the U.S. are looking for ways to use education to empower a new generation of student leaders. This volume provides several powerful examples of how this is being done right now in schools and communities throughout the U.S. For those who want to use education as a means to challenge discrimination and marginalization, this book will serve as an invaluable resource.”

—Pedro Noguera, Distinguished Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA

This eBook can be cited

This edition of the eBook can be cited. To enable this we have marked the start and end of a page. In cases where a word straddles a page break, the marker is placed inside the word at exactly the same position as in the physical book. This means that occasionally a word might be bifurcated by this marker.

Table of Contents

List of Tables

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

Foreword by Sonia Nieto

Introduction

Part I: Roots & Principles of PAR EntreMundos

Chapter 1 Theoretical Lineages & Guiding Principles

Julio Cammarota, Jennifer Ayala, Melissa Rivera, Louie F. Rodríguez, Margarita Ines Berta-Ávila, and María Elena Torre

Part II: PAR EntreMundos in Action

Chapter 2 The Praxis Project: Participatory Research Advocating for Excellence in Schools

Louie F. Rodríguez←vii | viii→

Chapter 3 The Social Justice Education Project in Tucson, Arizona

Julio Cammarota

Chapter 4 A Creative Justice Approach to Learning

Melissa Rivera, Cristina Medellin-Paz, and Pedro Pedraza

Chapter 5 The New Jersey Urban Youth Research Initiative

Jennifer Ayala, Mayida Zaal, Francisco De Jesus, and Stan Karp

Chapter 6 Education in Our Barrios Project, #BarrioEdProj

Edwin Mayorga

Chapter 7 Our Wild Tongues: Language Justice and Youth Research

Jenna Cushing-Leubner and Jennifer Eik

Part III: PAR EntreMundos in the Context of Grow-Your-Own Initiatives

Chapter 8 Participatory Action Research as a Pathway Into the Teaching Profession for Latinx and African-American Youth

Jason G. Irizarry

Chapter 9 PAR EntreMundos: A “Critical” Approach for Latinx Teacher Preparation

Susan Baker and Margarita Berta-Ávila

Chapter 10 “Students With Big Dreams That Just Need a Little Push”: Self-Empowerment, Activism, & Institutional Change Through PAR EntreMundos

Rubén A. González

Conclusion

Appendices

Editor Bios