Heritage Language Education as a Civil Right: Policy and Practice in Indigenous, Latina/o, Asian American, and African American Communities

Session Type: Invited Session

Abstract

In this session leading justice scholars come together to reflect forward on language education as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Civil Rights Act. Drawing on decades of language research with Native American, Latina/o, Asian American, and African American students, presenters trace the contested relationships between federal and state level policies and educational practices and the civil and human rights of all peoples to learn and live in their heritage languages. Presenters will discuss historical and contemporary movements to reclaim Indigenous languages, the intersection of civil rights, bilingual education and Spanish as heritage language education, heritage language education among Asian American communities in the face of exclusion from national policies, and the legal cases, policies, and possibilities concerning linguistic human rights for African American students. Together, these scholars will provide a map of where we have been and an educational vision for embracing our multilingual present and future.

Sub Unit

• Social Justice Action Committee

Chair

• Django Paris, Michigan State University

Papers

• Fifty (500) Years Out and Counting: Decolonizing Language Education in 21st-Century Native America - Sheilah E. Nicholas, The University of Arizona; Teresa L. McCarty, University of California - Los Angeles; Leisy Thornton Wyman, The University of Arizona

• Civil Rights and Human Rights: The Contested Place of Spanish in American Education - Guadalupe Valdés, Stanford University

• Reconceptualizing Asian Heritage Languages Education for a Plurilingual Reality: Policies, Practices, and Possibilities - Guofang Li, Michigan State University

• Legal Milestones Regarding Language and Education for African American Students - John Baugh, Washington University in St. Louis