Platicas in A Town Hall: Formando an East Coast RAC in Convivencia

• In Event: Creating an East Coast Research Apprenticeship Course: Fostering Intersectional Dialogue for Latina Education Researchers

Abstract

Format: This session will be run as a Town Hall model. We will invite audience members, particularly Latina EC scholars, to join us in our placticas and testimonios[1-2] in order to sketch a model for an EC-RAC. The Chair and Discussant will moderate the town hall while the EC-RAC leaders take note of and interact with the suggestions.

Purpose:
This session will set the stage for collaboration between the WC and EC RACs. The original RAC creators will serve as guides for the EC-RAC leaders; sharing lessons learned, addressing challenges, and enabling joint projects. This session will allow for the exchange of insights, methodologies, and best practices.

Theoretical Framework:
We will utilize placticas and testimonios to create a space for “convivencia, critical reflection, collective knowledge production, and healing”[2]. The WC-RAC’s successes serve as the inspiration and initial core set of theoretical frameworks and approaches[3] for the EC to adapt to its unique needs and communities. The collaboration will tackle challenges presented by logistics, institutional and community differences, and resource disparities. Together, the joint teams and audience members will co-create and propose frameworks, ideas and strategies to overcome these differences and facilitate the creation of the EC-RAC.

Methods and Findings:
Following the joint presentations of session one and two, the town hall will focus on how to further amplify Latina voices through its commitments to Visibility, Advocacy and Hope[4-5].

We will present and discuss attributes of the WC-RAC that align with the EC-RAC needs as well as unique East Coast challenges and possible remedies to start the conversation. After agreeing upon elements of the WC-RAC that should be conserved in the EC-RAC, the conversation will focus on a challenge/remedy format. For example, the presenters might propose:

Challenge: East Coast PhD program fragmentation prevents a solid vision for Latina scholar pipeline and career apprenticeship

Remedy: Session 2 mid-career scholars from three distinct research centers housed at places of higher education will be the first cohort for early career mentors in the EC-RAC.

This session will serve as a springboard for enhanced collaboration across WC and EC Latina education research communities. Together, we’ll galvanize our advocacy for policy changes, curriculum reforms, and inclusive practices that reflect the unique needs of the diverse Latina communities on both coasts. Like Solorzano, we believe in critical race hope—the transformative power of collective action.

Significance:
This symposium advances our understanding of a framework for scaling of the WC-RAC model to the EC Latina educational research community. Understanding what elements of the model fit the unique needs of EC Latina educational research scholars careers and how to remedy their unique challenges will set the stage for the launch of the EC-RAC and nourishment of diverse Latina educational researchers.

Author

• Mariana Souto-Manning, Erikson Institute