Las Realidades de Nuestros Mundos: Border-Thinking Pedagogy Practices of Transnational Latine Students

• In Event: Toward a Transnational Solidarity Framework for Educational Research

Abstract

This paper examines how transnational Latine students leverage border-thinking pedagogical practices to actively shape and define their identities. Drawing upon Border Thinking Pedagogy (BTP) framework, we analyze how eight Latine students in the U.S. Southeast utilize straddling, translanguaging, and testimonios as tools for identity construction and critical meaning-making within a university-community partnership. Findings reveal that students engage in straddling to reconcile competing cultural expectations, translanguaging to situate identities across linguistic boundaries, and employ testimonios to challenge stereotypes and assert complex identities. This study advances conceptualizations of BTP as a transformative approach for transnational students' identity development and critical consciousness. Findings underscore the importance of educational spaces that validate students' dynamic cultural and linguistic practices as resources for empowerment.

Authors

• Maria Heysha Carrillo Carrasquillo, North Carolina State University

• Crystal Chen Lee, North Carolina State University