Spanish So White

Adam Schwartz

Description

Explores white racism and white privilege within Spanish language education

Explicit discussions of race and racial identity have traditionally been omitted from Spanish language education in the US – especially in curricula designed for imagined 'native' speakers of English. Consequences of this de-racialization of Spanish language learning include the perpetuation of institutional racisms and missed opportunities to build productive conversations about the ways race and power are enacted through language. Spanish So White is written specifically for secondary and post-secondary teachers who identify as White and second language learners of Spanish. It supports the development of language education that centers a racially dynamic Spanish-speaking world and challenges interpersonal and institutional forms of racism. Author Adam Schwartz shares stories of his own socialization into Whiteness and Spanish-English bilingualism. He invites readers into the work of reconciling privileges they too may share as White Spanish-language learners and teachers.

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter 1. Nombre y fecha: First things first or 'Francisco', que en paz descanse (1993-1999)

Chapter 2. Sitting Down and Showing up: Guiding Principles and Non-Negotiables

Chapter 3. Conversations with Ourselves: Inheritances, Ideologies, Identities

Chapter 4. Conversations with Each Other: Whose Voices, Whose Wisdoms are We Showing up For?

Chapter 5. Conversations with Our Students: Care In, Care Out

Chapter 6. Conversations with Other White People, Including Family and Friends: From Socialization to Liberation

References

Index

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Professional
• Text
• Postgraduate education
• White supremacy
• Spanish
• Research
• Postgraduate
• Discrimination

Informations

• Publié par: Channel View Publications
• Date de parution: 10 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781800416918
• Langue: English

Extrait

Spanish So White

Full details of all our other publications can be found on http://www. multilingual-matters.com, or by writing to Multilingual Matters, St Nicholas House, 31-34 High Street, Bristol, BS1 2AW, UK.

Spanish So White

Conversations on the Inconvenient Racism of a ‘Foreign’ Language Education

Adam Schwartz

MULTILINGUAL MATTERS Bristol • Jackson

DOI https://doi.org/10.21832/SCHWAR6901 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Names: Schwartz, Adam, author. Title: Spanish So White: Conversations on the Inconvenient Racism of a ‘Foreign’ Language Education/Adam Schwartz. Description: Bristol; Jackson: Multilingual Matters, [2023] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Written specifically for secondary and post-secondary teachers who identify as White, second language learners of Spanish, Spanish So White will support the development of language education that centers a racially dynamic Spanish-speaking world and challenges interpersonal and institutional forms of racism”—Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2022039343 (print) | LCCN 2022039344 (ebook) | ISBN 9781800416895 (paperback) | ISBN 9781800416901 (hardback) | ISBN 9781800416918 (pdf) | ISBN 9781800416925 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Spanish language—Study and teaching (Secondary)—United States. | Spanish language—Study and teaching (Higher)—United States. | Spanish language— Study and teaching (Secondary)—English speakers. | Spanish language—Study and teaching (Higher)—English speakers. | Spanish language—Social aspects—United States. | Spanish teachers—United States—Attitudes. | Teachers, White—United States—Attitudes. | Culturally relevant pedagogy—United States. | Whites—Race identity—United States. | Racism in education—United States. Classification: LCC PC4068.U5 S39 2023 (print) | LCC PC4068.U5 (ebook) | DDC 460.71/073—dc23/eng/20221027 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022039343 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022039344

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN-13: 978-1-80041-690-1 (hbk) ISBN-13: 978-1-80041-689-5 (pbk)

Multilingual Matters UK: St Nicholas House, 31-34 High Street, Bristol, BS1 2AW, UK. USA: Ingram, Jackson, TN, USA.

Website: www.multilingual-matters.com Twitter: Multi_Ling_Mat Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/multilingualmatters Blog: www.channelviewpublications.wordpress.com

Copyright © 2023 Adam Schwartz.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

The policy of Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products, made from wood grown in sustainable forests. In the manufacturing process of our books, and to further support our policy, preference is given to printers that have FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certification. The FSC and/or PEFC logos will appear on those books where full certification has been granted to the printer concerned.

Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India. Printed and bound in the UK by the CPI Books Group Ltd.

A mis estudiantes // To my students

This book is powered by your questions, persistence, and resistance

Let us begin with music, always

To Richard // To Jane

I miss you and teach you

I’ll tell you what freedom is to me: No fear! I mean, really. No fear… That’s not all of it, but it’s something to really, really feel. Like a new way of seeing. Like a new way of seeing something.

Nina Simone, 1968

Contents

Acknowledgements Preface

1 Nombre y fecha: First things firstor‘Francisco’, que en paz descanse (1993–1999) 2Down and Showing Up: Guiding Principles and Sitting Non-Negotiables 3 Conversations with Ourselves: Inheritances, Ideologies, Identities 4with Each Other: Whose Voices, Whose Conversations Wisdoms are We Showing up For? 5 Conversations with Our Students: Care In, Care Out 6 Conversations with Other White People, Including Family and Friends: From Socialization to Liberation

References Index

vii

ix xv

1

25

47

69 87

109

125 133

Acknowledgements

I first want to acknowledge that all work for this book – from empiri- cal to archival research to drafted writing – took place on the unceded, traditional homelands of the Chumash, Tongva (Gabrieleño), Kizh and Kalapuya. My university’s Corvallis campus is located within the Marys River or Ampinefu Band of Kalapuya. Here, with very limited excep- tion, we communicate in colonial languages. I mention this for a variety of reasons. One is to acknowledge that academic institutions like mine, as well as the ongoing, systematic project of settler colonialism in which we find ourselves, is responsible for the forcible removal of indigenous peoples. This removal extends to the Native histories, languages and voices from the land upon which I currently live and teach. Here is an irony that must not be lost on me: I am writing predominantly in one colonial language in order to speak about and critique the ways in which we teach and learn colonial languages. My ability and facility to do so is predicated upon and situated within this larger context of domination, always. As the recently departed bell hooks (2003: xv) writes in her preface to Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope: ‘This book does not belong to me alone. It is the result of many hours spent talking with comrades, students, colleagues, strangers. It is the outcome of life-transforming dialogues that take place in the context of community-building’. Applied to the case ofSpanish So White, hooks’ case for dialogue has extended across years, spaces and places that have impacted me so. I have been gifted the company and wisdom of students, teachers, colleagues, friends and family, categories that have proven in the best of ways not to be mutually exclusive. I hope to justly honor those individuals here. First, there are my students, to whom this book is dedicated. To learn from and with you has been deeply transformative. You have joined me in middle and high schools in California and Arizona, university class- rooms of the Texas borderlands or the Florida Gulf Coast. Over the past nine years, you have been my best teachers at Oregon State University (OSU). Of particular note at OSU are those who enroll in our Spanish program in World Languages and Cultures, and in the Language, Race

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x Spanish So White

and Racism spring term series, as well as participants in Examining White Identity retreats. A particular point of pride are the transnational OSU in CUBA cohorts of 2015, 2016 (co-led with Amy Below), 2017 (Christina León) and 2018 (Ron Mize). I especially thank those of you with whom I have had the benefit to co-teach, co-research and/or plan curriculum, and those who return to our learning communities to empower those who follow in your wake: Melissa Carrillo Field, Miguel Ortíz, Adrián Soto, Katie Hasenoehrl, Laura Galindo Palomera, Magali Sánchez, Hannah Keim, Eddie Ramirez, Olivia Woods, Ellie Renshaw, Miriam Wojtas, Jas- mine Brown, Jeana Moody, Lux Black, Paul Pangan, Trey Webb, Aimee Dávila Hisey, Caitlin Turnbull, Luke Bennett, Jason Sarkozi-Forfinski, Raisa Cañete Blazquez, Mikayla Stark, Lyndi Petty, Hunter Briggs, Anne Snell, Liz Hamilton, Bree Hagerman, Victor García, Colin Cole, Becca Simmons, Melissa Avery, Jason Tena-Encarnación and Matt Austin. I am most grateful for my Spanish teachers, particularly those who taught me in middle and high school, and inspired a path ahead to exploring language and linguistics more critically. In this book, I appreci- ate and reflect on their impact. To reconnect with Sra. Afsaneh Nury dur- ing the researching and drafting of this book was a gift and a stabilizing source of inspiration. Thank you for your compassion and friendship,¡y feliz jubilación! The School of Language, Culture and Society (SLCS) at Oregon State has served as an institutional home that genuinely values teach- ing and learning alongside its students. Social justice and antiracism are not just core values, but points of orientation in all aspects of the work to which we commit. To be in community with colleagues who share in this commitment and thrive on such energy – this, I’ve realized, has been an opportunity of a lifetime. A special shout out here to the direc- tors of this school since my arrival: Susan Shaw, Larry Roper and Susan Bernardin – always flanked by magicians/superheroes Karen Mills and Loretta Wardrip. Each of you have been my ‘dream bosses’, relentless cheerleaders, mentors and friends.A mis compas en el programa de español: I am proud of our resolve and evolution as a community of edu- cators. To work and learn from you all has been such a joy. I hope you find this work useful. I am so appreciative of your labor and commitment to teaching, both collectively and individually: Raven Chakerian, Chris Kneifl, Paula Vela Zambrano, Ana Warren, Lucía Robelo, Emily Davis- Malewitz and Tobin Hansen. In World Languages and Cultures, I am especially indebted to Sebastian Heiduschke, Nabil Boudraa, Adela Hall, Freddy León and Helen Wilhelm. Bradley Boovy: It’s all been pretty, pretty good, bud. SLCS is also home to programs that from day one have welcomed my teaching, research and collegiality: Anthropology, Ethnic Studies, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. This book, and my work more generally, has benefitted greatly from the generosity and partnership I’ve