Interrogating the Dismantling of Public Education in Puerto Rico: Testimonios as Acts of Resistance and Reimagining

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Drawing from critical and social justice perspectives, in this session, the presenters consider narratives and testimonios as critical in the production of knowledge about communities in Puerto Rico, who keep experiencing the dismantling of public education. Working on different localities and institutions in the archipelago, three research teams address the impact that efforts to dismantle public education has on learners, teachers, parents, and administrators and the ways community members are reimagining public education through their actions and testimonios. Collectively, these three different research teams advance a proposal to re-imagine public education in ways that are grounded in communities’ needs, histories, and agency.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Critical Educators for Social Justice

Chair

• Milagros Castillo-Montoya, University of Connecticut

Papers

• Communities Testimonios on the Closure of Public Schools in Puerto Rico: "Es pura política" - Carmen M. Martinez-Roldan, Teachers College, Columbia University; Belinda Arana, Teachers College, Columbia University; Elizabeth Taveras Rivera, Hunter College - CUNY

• "Me pregunto ¿qué aprendemos?" Testimonios of Puerto Rican Youth Amid the Dismantling of Public Schools - Sandra L Soto-Santiago, University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez; Jocelyn A. Geliga Vargas, University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez

• Reimagining Teacher Education in Puerto Rico: From Scarcity to Possibilities Through Anticolonial Literary Engagements - Carmen L. Medina, Indiana University; Maria del Rocio Costa, University of Puerto Rico - Bayamón