How Schools Make Race: Latinx Racialization in Bilingual Education

• In Event: Racial Justice in Multilingual Education: What Is It and How Do We Realize It?

Abstract

Objectives/purposes
The objective of this paper is to consider insights on how schools make race and the teaching of Latinx racialization in bilingual education. I aim to expand the dialogue on the Latinx racial group/category by focusing on my argument that bilingual-education programs reinforce the Spanish language as the signature boundary delineating the Latinx group. I will offer contributions connecting Latinx racialization and bilingual education, and engage with the audience on the implications for educators and school communities.
Theoretical Framework:
The theoretical framework is a relational racialization lens, which aims to understand racialized groups as socially constructed and always in correspondence with and in conjunction with other groups (Molina et al. 2019). This lens illuminates how one bilingual-education program positioned Latinx/Latinidad in relation to other racial categories, thus reifying the groups/categories. In considering the intersection of language and race, the presentation will elucidate how the bilingual program in this study reinforced racial boundaries and hierarchies.
Methods:
I used a qualitative critical ethnography research methodology. The data collection in the field (schools/community) spanned fifteen months. I conducted a three-stage data analysis at different stages of the study’s data collection (LeCompte & Schensul, 2013). I employed deductive, inductive, and theoretical codes (Saldaña, 2013).
Data Sources:
Data sources include classroom observations of the bilingual-education program; interviews with teachers, school/district staff, parents, students, and community members; observations in community meetings concerning the bilingual-education program and/or Latinx education; and documents, including district/program policy documents and curriculum materials.
Conclusions:
I argue that bilingual-education programs, intentionally or unintentionally, contribute to the racialization of Latinxs by reinforcing the Spanish language as the signature boundary that delineates the Latinx group. I also argue that while the program taught that “Latinx” was solely an ethnic category, its practices and policies treated—and constructed—“Latinx” as a racial category/group. I conclude that recognizing and addressing this dynamic is crucial for developing more equitable educational practices that acknowledge and support advancing an anti-racist, anti-imperialist, and anti-colonial Latinidad.
Scholarly Significance:
This presentation is significant for several reasons. First, it advances the understanding of how schooling contributes to the construction of racial categories, specifically Latinidad in relation to Asianness, Blackness, Indigeneity, and whiteness. Second, it theorizes about the role of language in the racialization process, specifically the intersection of bilingual education and Latinx racialization. Third, it informs educational policy and practice by highlighting the need for ambitious anti-racist approaches in schools that challenge ideas of a homogeneous Latinidad. Lastly, a conversation in the bilingual-education field about how Latinx is conceptualized is needed because Latinxs are the largest racialized group in the U.S., and how Latinxs are racialized by schools has implications for advancing racial justice in education. This presentation connects bilingual education to recent critiques of the Latinx/Latinidad constructs, which primarily center on anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, and the contention surrounding the racial categorization of the terms “Latinx/Latinidad.” By engaging scholars and educators in this important discussion, the presentation aims to contribute to ongoing efforts to foster critical-racial consciousness and equity in bilingual-education programs.

Author

• Laura Chavez-Moreno, University of California - Los Angeles