Abstract

This article argues that building powerful literacies involves the centering of dispositions and practices that thrive on the boundary--spaces that are not always sanctioned as educational. Leveraging youths' repertoires is particularly important for educators of nondominant learners who are committed to challenging characterizations of their students as being inept or deficient. To this end, we address how the design of learning opportunities that attend to polylingual repertoires (Gutiérrez, Bien, Selland, & Pierce, 2011)--the use of multiple languages and forms of expression---can open up opportunities, pathways, for youth to leverage new identities as resources for consequential learning. We advance the idea of organizing learning environments where youth playfully negotiate their nepantla identities that are often in a "state of perpetual transition" (Anzaldúa, 1999, p. 100). We argue that nepantla literacies, or literacies that thrive in the boundary, emerge through negotiations with syncretic (Gutiérrez, 2014) literacies--those that are valued in the academy and across spaces and communities.

Citation

Lizárraga, J.R. & Gutiérrez, K.D. (2018). Centering Nepantla Literacies from the Borderlands: Leveraging "In-Betweenness" toward Learning in the Everyday. Theory Into Practice, 57(1), 38-47. Retrieved August 7, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/190478/.

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Keywords

• Bilingual Students
• case studies
• Educational Practices
• Elementary School Students
• Grade 2
• Hispanic American Students
• Language Usage
• Literacy Education
• Multiple Literacies
• Self Concept
• Self Expression
• Student Centered Learning
• Technology Uses in Education