"We Are Our Only Way Forward": Dialogic Reimaginings and the Cultivation of Homeplace for Girls, Women, and Femmes of Color

• In Event: Reimagining Literacy and Language Education for Girls of Color

Abstract

This paper features a dialogue between and amongst Women of Color in the field of language and literacy. Dialogue has been a key practice for girls and Women of Color to build knowledge,
exchange ideas, and theorize from experiences (hooks, 1990; Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2016; Villenas, 2005). Women of Color feminists in the field of education have highlighted these practices as pedagogies and examined the spaces in which they flourish, such as within community spaces, the home, and more specifically, around the kitchen table (Haddix, et. al. 2016; Trinidad Galvan, 2006; Delgado Bernal, 2006). Modeling this practice, Women of Color Scholars radically re-imagine literacy and language education for GOC, and even how we define “Girls of Color,” for example, to include trans and femme youth of color. A secondary goal of this paper is to expand the field of education’s notion of language and literacy education and emphasize why an expansive understanding of these concepts is necessary for supporting girls/women/femmes of color, particularly within urban settings. As such, the authors of this paper respond to the following: What sensibilities do Women of Color bring to projects that center the literacies and language practices of girls/femmes of color? Why does it matter that women of color are taking up work around girls/femmes of color? How does coming together in ways that reflect our home and community practices challenge dominant notions of knowledge production in the academy? What possibilities exist when women of different epistemological standpoints come together to locate intersections as well as discuss the variety of experiences faced by girls/femmes of color based on differences across lines of race, gender, sexuality, citizenship, and class? This dialogic paper contributes to important discussions taking place across the field as well as provides an opportunity for these scholars to strategize about future directions of language and literacies education for girls/femmes of color.

Authors

• Grace D. Player, University of Connecticut - Storrs

• Monica Gonzalez Ybarra, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Carol Brochin, The University of Arizona

• Tamara Butler, College of Charleston

• Ruth Nicole Brown, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Claudia G. Cervantes-Soon, Arizona State University

• Victoria Gill, Lesley University

• Valerie Kinloch, University of Pittsburgh

• Cinthya M. Saavedra, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

• Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Teachers College, Columbia University