“I Learned My Friend Walked Through the Jungle”: Testimonio as Anti-Oppressive Pedagogy for/With Immigrant Students (Poster 18)

• In Event: Thursday Poster Session 4:20 pm
  In Poster Session: Languages, Literacies, and Representations Poster Session

Abstract

Immigrant youth suffer from xenophobia and racism on a regular basis, which impacts their learning, well-being, and identity. Supporting them in navigating and addressing xenophobia and racism through anti-oppressive pedagogies is a matter of educational equity. This study explores the possibility and the power of testimonio as an anti-oppressive pedagogy for developing immigrant students’ critical consciousness for understanding their social inequalities. Specifically, this study first examined how two teachers and university-based researchers, through collaborative practitioner research, co-created a unit of curriculum on immigration, inequality, and counter-storytelling. Secondly, it explored how immigrant students developed critical consciousness of their social inequalities through writing, sharing, and reflecting up their testimonios of migration stories.

Author

• Kongji Qin, New York University