Biliterate Possibilities in Nepantla: A History of South Texas Escuelitas

• In Event: Uncovering Ideologies Behind Discourse of Educational Narrative, Policy, and Curriculum Across Time

Abstract

While the story of schooling for Latinx children in the American Southwest has largely been one multi-generational struggle for equity and access to quality education (San Miguel & Valencia, 1998), the community based and supported Spanish-language escuelitas, or “little schools,” referenced above remain understudied. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to insert the voices of nine former escuelita students into the discussion of the significance the escuelitas had in the schooling of Mexican American children. Employing Anzaldua’s (1987) theory of nepantla, we aim to illustrate how the varied literacy ideologies depicted in their stories are the making of nascent biliteracy practices and identities.

Authors

• Enrique David Degollado, The University of Iowa

• Rosalyn Harvey-Torres, Georgia State University

• Randy Clinton Bell, The University of North Texas, Dallas