Transeras Organizing Movidas: Promoting Policies of Resistance in an Elementary Ethnic Studies Program

• In Event: Calling Out and Resisting Lasting Legacies of Racism in Policy, Teacher Education, and Across the Pre-K–20+ Pipeline

Abstract

We analyze the resistant practices, discourses and organizational systems of program coordinators in La Academia, an out-of-school ethnic studies program for bilingual 3rd through 5th graders. We argue that they used movidas (Blackwell, et. al., 2020), or daily, intentional acts of resistance, to create a collective of transeras, or a system of collective resistance. Specifically, we analyze how they created organizational and discursive systems that challenged the dominant ideologies of the partnering district while creating a systemic culture of care for La Academia teachers and students.

Authors

• Brenda Rubio, University of North Texas

• Christopher L. Milk Bonilla, Texas State University