Las Fronterizas: Transnational Students Teaching U. S. history in Transnational-Local spaces

• In Event: Communities of Resistance and Dissent, Aztlán-Anáhuc-Ixtepec, Gran México--Part 1: Critical, Local, Transnational Teachers and Teacher Education

Abstract

Objectives
The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of student-teacher candidates educated in Mexico as they prepare to teach an American historical perspective. The research questions are: (1) How are student-teacher candidates who completed their primary and secondary schooling in Mexico preparing to teach a U.S.-based social studies (history) curriculum? How are these students reconciling the possible difference in historical narrative between the U.S.-based curriculum and the Mexican curriculum?

Perspectives or theoretical framework
Gloria Anzaldúa (1987, 2015) offers one of the more prominent and recurring theoretical conceptualizations of liminal space in Nepantla. A state in which border people are exposed to different ways of knowing and being, and in which they engage with the dissonance that results from the clashing of various cultural backgrounds. Through Chicana Feminist Epistemology (Delgado Bernal, 1998) and critical, place-based curricular pedagogies (Author; Guajardo, 1997), this study explores regional liminal experiences of knowing and being.

Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry
This study employs testimonio (Pérez Huber & Aguilar-Tinajero, 2024) as a situated approach to narrative research. In this context, testimonio offers a framework for collective meaning-making and the sharing of stories of resistance through plática. Chicana preservice teachers who plan to teach in the U.S. share their embodied knowledge of navigating liminal spaces between the U.S. and Mexican social studies curricula.

Data sources, evidence, objects, or materials
The study employed two forms of data collection, consisting of a 30-minute informal interview and a member-checking session. Due to the emergent nature of the study, additional data collection measures are planned, including further interviews and a focus group session. The data were analyzed using textual analysis of the interview transcripts. The analysis process consisted of a careful examination of the text and audio collected from the participant interviews, which reflected on various questions of liminality. An independent and comparative analysis of the interviews revealed recurring and divergent themes.

Results
Two themes emerged, each containing three subthemes. The first central theme highlighted contextual elements addressing how confident participants felt about their ability to teach in the U.S. When considering time spent learning in the U.S., one participant shared: “I have been studying in the United States for 5 years. Well, I feel that it will help me because I already have the perspective of the United States and that of Mexico.” The second central theme highlighted curricular elements that impacted participants’ perceived ability to handle the possible conflicting narratives in the curriculum. One curricular element focused on time spent in the Mexican social studies curriculum. “So I think I can help the children more. Not only those who come from the United States, but also those who are from Mexico. And share my experiences, more than anything, of the Mexican perspective as well as the perspective of the United States.”

Scholarly significance
Understanding the strengths and processes that Mexican-educated students possess can help inform programmatic changes within our educator preparation program.

Author

• Raul Garza, University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley