Brooklyn Dreams, Ethnic Studies, and Transformative Education

• In Event: Puerto Rican Women Teacher Educators Telling Their Stories, Sharing Their Lives

Abstract

This presentation will explore the presenter’s experiences during the tumultuous civil rights and education movements of the 1960s and 1970s including community control, bilingual education, and ethnic studies.

Objectives:
• To present, from the perspective of one Puerto Rican teacher educator, how the civil rights and education movements of the 1960s and 1970s influenced the preparation of teachers working in communities of color
• To explore how these movements, as well as her doctoral studies, influenced her personal and professional trajectories in subsequent decades
• To acknowledge the profound impact of Paulo Freire’s ideas on her teaching, activism, and research
• To appreciate the role of ethnic studies in expanding her understanding of self-discovery, self-determination, and empowerment

Theoretical Framework
Stories not only tell lives; they also explain who we are, how we got there, and what the future might portend, not only for individuals but also for entire communities and for intellectual and academic pursuits (Bruner, 2003; Connelly & Clandinin, 1990; Dyson & Genishi, 1994).

Critical Race Theory (CRT) also has a lot to say about stories and how they are told (Crenshaw, et al, 1996; Ladson-Billings, 2004). A key element of CRT is counterstorytelling, that is, taking control of one’s story by refusing to accept the stories others tell about us. For communities of color, counterstorytelling is a valuable process in empowerment and self-discovery. Rather than accept the deficit stories about Puerto Rican and other Latin@ youngsters and academics, this presentation highlights one story of discovery, insight, discomfort, and ultimately, transformation in her personal and professional life.

Modes of Inquiry and Data Sources
This is a critical qualitative study based on narrative inquiry through an exploration of the presenter’s autobiography as a student, teacher, teacher educator, and researcher. Data sources include diaries, field notes, research, and academic writings over a 50+ year period. Data and findings were shared with family members and fellow academics, especially Puerto Rican women in higher education. Results were crafted into a series of cuentos, or stories, that talk back to traditional understandings of Puerto Ricans and the academy.

Substantiated Conclusions
The stories of Puerto Rican women teacher educators include significant historical events of the 20th century, including struggles around equal education, desegregation, bilingual and multicultural education, and ethnic studies. Nevertheless, these stories are missing from teacher education, making Puerto Rican educators invisible.

Scientific or Scholarly Significance
The growing scholarship on addressing diversity in teacher education (e.g., Ball & Tyson, 2011; Nieto, 2009) and the dramatically increasing number of children of color in U.S. schools have led to a greater urgency in serving these communities more adequately. Understanding how to better prepare teachers for this changing population also entails understanding the perspectives and experiences of teacher educators of color. Little scholarship, however, has focused specifically on the experiences of Puerto Rican teacher educators. This presentation is significant because it contributes to fill a gap in the scholarship on this segment of academia. Moreover, the experiences of Puerto Rican women teacher educators can help redefine the future of teacher education in the United States.

Author

• Sonia Nieto, University of Massachusetts - Amherst