Indigenous Middle Figures, Bilingual Education, and Literacy Practices in Guatemala

• In Event: Grassroots Efforts to Support Mulitlingual Literacies

Abstract

I explore how mid-level Indigenous state agents, including coaches, in Guatemala navigate literacy practices in contexts of Indigenous language heterogeneity, including language shift, and complex policy environments. Drawing on a 14-month ethnographic comparative case study of coaches working in primary schools across four school districts in Maya communities, I argue that we must pay greater attention to how mid-level actors adapt to (dis)continues of competing “educational projects” around literacy, bilingualism, and school management (Bartlett, 2007).

Author

• Ariel Borns, University of Wisconsin-Madison