Arts-Based Pláticas: Reimagining education Research with Transnational Bilingual Latina Educators

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 7:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Preparing and Supporting Bilingual Teachers

Abstract

This study explores the lived experiences of three Transnational Bilingual Latina Educators (TBLEs) teaching in two U.S. bilingual schools. Through arts-based pláticas grounded in Xicana/Latina feminist and decolonial methodologies, the study centers TBLEs as knowledge holders navigating cultural, linguistic, and institutional borderlands. Drawing on the concepts of Nepantla and Coyolxauhqui imperative, findings reveal the tensions, exclusions, and transformations TBLEs experience as they reassemble fragmented identities across transnational contexts. This research reimagines educational inquiry as relational, creative, and healing-centered. It calls for culturally and linguistically sustaining professional development that honors the expertise and assets TBLEs bring to their classrooms and communities, advancing a more humanizing and inclusive vision for bilingual education and research.

Author

• Astrid Sierra, Metropolitan State University of Denver