(Re)Creating Latinx Indigenous Identity: Transnational Saraguro Youth Living in Rural Wisconsin (Poster 51)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Eight
  In Poster Session: 2023 AERA Undergraduate Fellows Research Poster Fair

Abstract

"
This research project examined how Saraguro youth living in rural Wisconsin enact their
indigeneity in the diaspora. The ancestral lands of the Saraguro Indigenous community are
located in the southern Andes of Ecuador–in what is now called the Loja province–and live in
the lowland rainforests (Ogburn, 2007). Dr. Segundo González, an elder of the community, was one of the first Saraguros to arrive in Wisconsin in the mid-1990s. The data in this study is part of a larger ethnographic study in which researchers have been collaborating with members of the Saraguro community in rural Wisconsin. Using the framework of community cultural wealth and via semi-structured interviews with six Saraguro youth, this study provides examples of the familial, linguistic, and navigational capitals that these youths draw from to construct their ever-evolving identities. Findings revealed that youth are living their identities through strong familial ties and continued use of their Kichwa, Spanish, and English languages. Simultaneously, Saraguro youth expressed challenges enacting their identity when choosing between their traditional roots and the expectations of their rural, predominantly white surroundings. In the future, I will further build from community cultural wealth with the Oaxacan indigenous community living in the Salinas Valley of California.
"

Author

• Jocelyn Chavez-Diaz, California State University - Monterey Bay
  Presenting Author