Pretoguês Meets AAVE: Blackiguês and Language Embodiment in the Multilingual Classroom

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 3:45 pm - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Honoring Languages, Ethics, and Global Futures: Reimagining Teacher Education for Justice

Abstract

This study examines how my Pretoguês [Black Brazilian Portuguese] linguistic roots fundamentally shape my English language–Blackiguês–practices in U.S. academic spaces, while also being influenced by contact with African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and other minoritized language varieties. Through the lens of Amefricanidade (Gonzalez, 2020) and autohistoria-teoría (Anzaldúa, 2015), I analyze how Pretoguês' Africanized structures manifest in my English usage, creating a unique translingual repertoire that bridges Black diasporic traditions. Findigs reveals how anti-Black linguistic racism operates transnationally, suppressing these organic language blends while appropriating their cultural capital. Rejecting deficit perspectives, I propose reimagining multilingual education through language embodiment—a process that resists standardization through Afro-Indigenous ancestral epistemologies, challenges linguistic imperialism, and opens up new possibilities for liberatory pedagogy.

Author

• Mariane de Araujo Batista-McCulloch, University of Minnesota