Testimonio as Healing Praxis in Social Studies Classrooms

• In Event: Centering Students' Racialized Experiences: Shifting Paradigms in History Education

Abstract

This paper explores the healing possibilities of testimonio in history classrooms. It introduces the potential of testimonio as a pedagogical and curricular tool when learning about the histories and experiences of Central America(ns), little of which is currently taught in schools despite the growing population of Central Americans in the United States. Testimonio, both a product and a process, refers to oral traditions rooted in Latin American, Indigneous and emancipatory struggles used to expose brutality, disrupt silencing, and build solidarity among people of color (Delgado Bernal et.al, 2016). In this study, we explore testimonios as healing praxis for history classrooms committed to teaching in ways that centers and affirms lived experiences as legitimate sources of knowledge.

This paper draws from a narrative and participatory action research project with six Central American educators. It is grounded in Chicana/Latina feminist epistemologies given its emergence from decolonial/anticolonial thought (Anzaldùa, 1987; Sandoval, 2000). In addition to collectively reading testimonios created by Central American migrant youth, we also shared and listened to each other's testimonios about our own family’s migration journeys. Further, we engaged with pláticas and encuentros (Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2016), to challenge traditional research paradigms, which silence and distort the experiences of people of color.

Using both Chicana/Latina epistemological methods and then applying LatCrit (Solórzano & Yosso, 2001) and healing-centered pedagogy frameworks (Ginwright, 2015; 2018) revealed the powerful ways testimonio could disrupt history curriculum. Its explicit focus on telling and listening to the experiences of marginalized “others” is a disruptive force in history curriculum, which often privileges European forms of scholarship and knowledge. I argue that testimonios can aid in dismantling oppressive narratives and build new ones focused on Latinx youths’ joy, strengths, and wealth. In doing so, they provide opportunities for history classrooms to act as spaces of radical care and healing.

Author

• Yianella M. Blanco, University of California - Davis
  Presenting Author