Academia Cuauhtli: Crafting an Architecture of Authentic Cariño

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

We analyze Academia Cuauhtli, an out-of-school Mexican American studies program for 3rd through 5th graders in Austin, Texas, as a social architecture of authentic cariño, or an educational system which emphasizes the intersection of familial, intellectual and critical care (2016). We bring together eight years of participatory ethnographic research and ten research collaborators who have approached this community-university-district partnership from diverse theoretical lenses that privilege Latinx epistemologies. Researchers collaborated with four different stakeholders in the program – community board members, the students’ families, the bilingual/bicultural teachers and university student volunteers – to explore shared critical issues for Latinx education. Their findings highlight the program’s role in promoting critical pedagogical and discursive responses to anti-immigrant rhetoric, familial deficit discourses and the COVID pandemic.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Division G - Section 5: Inquiry, Transformation, and Communities

Chair

• Angela Valenzuela, The University of Texas at Austin

Papers

• Nuestro Grupo and Academia Cuauhtli: A Social Architecture for Authentic Cariño in the Trumpian Moment - Angela Valenzuela, The University of Texas at Austin; Irene Gómez, Intercultural Development Research Association

• Sustaining Latinx Educators During COVID-19 Through Endarkened Epistemologies - Maria Unda, University of Texas at Austin; Lauren M. Shook, University of Texas at Austin; Lizeth Lizarraga, University of Texas at Austin

• Se Hace Camino al Andar - Brenda Rubio, University of North Texas; Randy C. Bell, University of North Texas; Anthony Martinez, University of Texas at Austin

• Supporting Elementary Students' Cultural Identity Development: Resistant Teacher Discourses Within Culturally Sustaining Familial Relationships - Christopher L. Milk Bonilla, Texas State University; Roberto Young, University of Texas - Austin

Discussant

• Aida Hurtado, University of California - Santa Barbara