Transnational Dialogue and Teaching Through a Framework of Hemispheric Justice

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Addressing justice and inclusion in the imaginary of a radical futurity involves addressing the role of institutional education. As one of the primary tools of socialization the State possesses, dominant ideologies- and subsequent practices stemming from these positions- have a tremendous impact on what is considered an appropriate or even an equitable education. Though improving our educational systems certainly involves developing instructional practices that teachers can immediately apply in the classroom, it also requires interrogating what it means to be human and the role of education in facilitating altering the dehumanizing trajectory of our species.  

In the spirit of hemispheric interaction and cooperation, we plan to engage in a transnational dialogue regarding the role of education in facilitating alternative ways of being human. Writing from the perspectives of education in Guatemala (López), Honduras (Santos Iraheta), and the United States (O´Rourke and Charles-Harris), the presenters address the connection between theory and practice in education in order to address justice and inclusion en Nuestra América at the pluriversal (Mignolo, 2005) and intercultural (Hale, 2014) levels. We build upon the questions posed by Audra Simpson (2014) on membership, asking: “Who are we? Who shall we be for the future?” (p. 8). To these questions, we add the following two: What does it mean to teach through a framework of hemispheric justice and inclusion? What does it mean to think hemispherically (Hooker, 2017) when working towards alternative, humanizing ways of being?

Sub Track

• Education, Citizenship, and Inclusion

Session Organizer

• Patricia O'Rourke, University of Connecticut

Chair

• Josué López

Individual Presentations

• Immigration and Indigeneity: Continuity of Education Across Settler Borders - Josué López

• Teaching and community across borders: Transnational whiteness as capital in Honduran Education - Silvia Santos Iraheta

• The Critical Turn in Community Engagement: White Teachers, Brown Students, and Community Funds of Knowledge - Sian Charles-Harris, University of Connecticut

• The Role of Mutual Vulnerability in the Process of Humanizing Education for Hemispheric Justice and Inclusion - Patricia O'Rourke, University of Connecticut