Nuestra Testimonio/Our Testimony: Mentoring Through the Lens of Cultural Wealth

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 7:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Braiding Care and Cultural Wealth: Latinx Praxis, Mentorship, and Institutional Reckoning in Academia

Abstract

This session highlights the testimonios of three Afro-Latina and Latinx scholars mentoring undergraduate Latinas in a new early childhood special education program along the U.S.–Mexico borderlands. Framed by Community Cultural Wealth and Latinx Critical Theory, the scholars share how mentorship that is rooted in cultural knowledge, shared identity, and peer collaboration, moves beyond hierarchical models.
Through testimonio methodology, they explore how research communities function as spaces of mutual mentorship, equity-driven scholarship, and collective resilience. Findings emphasize the power of culturally responsive, multilingual/translanguaging mentorship in fostering belonging, persistence, and academic success. This work challenges deficit narratives and reframes mentorship as a reciprocal, identity-affirming practice grounded in cultural wealth and structural transformation in Minority-Serving Institutions.

Authors

• Anita C. Hernandez, New Mexico State University

• Monique Evette Matute-Chavarria, New Mexico State University

• Minea Armijo Romero, New Mexico State University