Becoming Me: From Dangerous Memories and Resistance to Transformation and Education

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

Abstract

Using personal narrative with situated stories, this presenter explores dangerous memories, resistance and transformation (Welch, 1985). She addresses how her experiences as a Puerto Rican youth in the 1950s-‘60s created a propensity for her to resist oppressive conditions. She explains how this rebellion was redirected into critical bilingual multicultural education through her encounter with teacher Paulo Freire’s teachings.

Objectives:
• Define the terms dangerous memories and limit situations for understanding how people respond to oppressive conditions thereby engendering the seeds of resistance.
• Give examples of challenging conditions confronted by the presenter as a recently arrived Puerto Rican child in New York City.
• Explore rebellion and activism as a college student followed by critical consciousness and transformation through the teachings of Paulo Freire.
• Narrate examples of how these ideas carry over into critical bilingual multicultural teacher education.

Theoretical Framework
According to, McLean, Pasupathi, and Pals (2007) “…situated stories help develop and maintain the self with reciprocal impacts on enduring aspects of self, specifically self-concept and the life story” (p. 26). These situations help us to understand ourselves and mark the paths we take as we narrate our feelings and reactions in relation to our experiences. Freire elucidates limit situations (Freire, 1970) or those oppressive barriers preventing us from being humanized. Through problem posing education (critical pedagogy) these limit situations are challenged. Dangerous memories (Welch, 1985) is a construct stemming from liberation theology that explains how humans respond to conditions of oppression, sometimes with resistance and rebellion.

This framework scaffolds my self-exploration and untold story. Absence from the American historical narrative is the case of Puerto Ricans and others living under oppressive conditions. Situations that perpetuate poverty, underachievement and marginalization result in dangerous memories, and potentially in resistance and rebellion (Welch 1985). Problem posing interrupts forces of oppression.

Modes of Inquiry and Data Sources
This presentation is based on narrative inquiry using critical narrative analysis (Souto-Manning, 2014) through an examination of the presenter’s life history. Personal historical data was used, including personal records, family stories and diaries; files, field notes, research and writing.

Substantiated Conclusions
Drawing on her life story, the presenter concludes that a critical approach to bilingual multicultural education helps multicultural students, otherwise challenged by English Only policies and Eurocentric schooling, to envision themselves as the protagonists of their life stories, capable of overcoming limit situations.

Scholarly Significance
The results of these stories and self-analyses inform and add depth to the lean knowledge base on Latino educator’s experiences. Boricua teacher educators in particular can bring their life stories to teacher education as a way of expanding the understanding of candidates who will work with diverse student populations.

Author

• Anaida Colon-Muniz, Chapman University