La Lucha Sigue: Fighting to Sustain our Commitments when the Community Hurts

• In Event: Navigating Community Relations in Mathematics Education Equity Research: Insights from Early Career Scholars

Abstract

What’s the purpose of it all? Headline after headline, people being pushed to leave, children coming home to parents who are no longer here, people running, hiding, holding on to their aspirations and commitments as if it is their last breath. The pain follows the community; it is exhausting. How do we expect kids to learn? Can we keep the fight? (Papelito Guardado, July 11, 2025)

I begin this paper with a papelito guardado, hidden paper (del Alba et al., 2001), reflecting on the current political landscape affecting the Latine community, after all, it is all entangled with mathematics education. As a Chicana scholar committed to educational justice in mathematics education, I wrestle with my role as someone who walks both paths seeking to cultivate spaces of freedom for young people, particularly those who have been historically marginalized. My goal is to document and understand the complex stories of teachers who are often not at the center of teacher education (Kohli, 2009; Sleeter, 2016). I cautiously move away from damage-centered research towards Tuck’s conceptualization of desire-based research frameworks that “are concerned with understanding complexity, contradiction, and the self-determination of lived lives.” (Tuck, 2009, pg 416)

My EMERG project aims to construct an understanding of what emancipatory anti-racist mathematics teaching and learning is as understood and conceptualized by a group of elementary Latina (self-identified Mexicanas) maestras through pláticas (critical conversations) in a co-constructed learning space. This work builds upon my previous study (Author 2), which aimed to create communities of affirmation and learning that fostered a collective vision of justice in mathematics education with preservice teachers. This project takes seriously the design of the learning community as evolving, co-constructed, and (re)shaped by the values and commitments of those participating. Thus, for this paper, I seek to understand, “What are the maestras’ commitments & values? How is the design of the community shaped by the commitments and values in the current political climate?

Preliminary findings suggest that two core values emerge from the pláticas: seeing and honoring children’s full humanity & educación for children involves including multiple perspectives. Seeing and honoring children’s full humanity is a value that teachers name explicitly and implicitly through their classroom stories. They blur the lines between math/non-math class time to argue that these are not disentangled and rather shape the kinds of mathematical learning that happens in and outside the classroom. The second value reframes and moves away from traditional paradigms of schooling and conceptualizes educación beyond academics that are learned in school. The maestras discuss the importance and roles of parents and administration in educación, yet as separate entities that place the burden on them as teachers. Thus, the evolving design has shifted from our learning community and classroom insights towards more community-centered actions that honor the community’s struggles as they seek safety. As we continue to strive towards justice, mathematics education must center the community’s needs and move away from the ivory tower of academia.

Author

• Sandra Zuniga, San José State University