How Do You Know? Anzaldúa’s Conocimiento as Framework for Understanding Immigrant Students’ Ways of Knowing

• In Event: Roundtable Session 30
  In Roundtable Session: Beyond Knowing: Migration, Immigration, and Diaspora in the Contested World Landscape

Abstract

Immigrant students have experiences and ways of knowing that are often misunderstood, neglected, and ignored in U.S. schools. This paper attempts to reframe the understanding of immigrant students’ ways of knowing, or ways of understanding and acting upon the world, by applying the theoretical lens of Gloria Anzaldúa’s concept of conocimiento, the Spanish word for “knowing/knowledge.” Several researchers have theorized knowledges of immigrant and historically marginalized communities. Anzaldúa’s highly theorized concept can extend current educational research through the application of her seven stages of conocimiento. Concepts which can be reframed include the experience and imprint of migratory movements, gang participation, the psychological state of immigrant students, the DREAM Act, and how immigrant students author themselves, among others.

Authors

• G. Sue Kasun, University of Saint Thomas

• Anita Bright, Portland State University