Papers by Francisco Guajardo
Rio Bravo: A Journal of the Borderlands, 2014
pivotal event in the educational history of Mexican American students in south Texas. It presents... more pivotal event in the educational history of Mexican American students in south Texas. It presents elements of the Civil Rights Movement, including the Brown decision, the rise of Mexican American political organizations, and the actions of communityyouth. The authors use oral histories that they and their high school students produced between 1997 and 2002, through the work of the Llano Grande Centerfor Research and Development, a nonprofit organization founded by the authors and their students. Through the use of secondary literature, local stories, and micro-macro integrative theory, this study describes how the Brown decision and other national events affected Edcouch-Elsa schools between 1954 and 1968.
Indigenous Educational Models for Contemporary Practice, 2017
Indigenous Educational Models for Contemporary Practice, 2017
Este articulo describe los hallazgos de los rasgos historicos de! Valle Bajo del Rio Grande, pres... more Este articulo describe los hallazgos de los rasgos historicos de! Valle Bajo del Rio Grande, presta atencion especial a la igualdad educativa y, al mismo tiempo, sostiene que los nuevos lideres latinos gozan de una formacion caracterizada.por la tendencia creciente a usar metodos de investigacion etnohistorica para preparar a la juventud para los desafios de! futuro. El fundamento de esta posicion estriba en que la etnohistoria proporciona lideres latinos con la vision y la capacidad necesarias para superar obstaculos educativos y economicos. Ademis, este articulo sugiere que lo que hace la investigacion etnohistorica es aumentar el descubrimiento y la concienciacion de los lideres teniendo en cuenta sus propios valores intelectuales y economicos
TTR, 2019
A consequence of the development of modern states has been the concept of “minority” as used to r... more A consequence of the development of modern states has been the concept of “minority” as used to refer to subsets of the population that are differentiated from that portion of the population which is seen as the “majority.” These minorities are at times distinguished from each other using terms such as national minorities and immigrant minorities. Some scholars have challenged the distinctions drawn by these constructs. An example of how such constructs are not always accurate can be found in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, where ethnic and linguistic, immigrant and national, minority and majority are not always clear cut. “The Valley,” as the region is locally known, has a long history of the numerical majority being in a minoritized position. In this context, a local university administered a “speech test” to Mexican American students who enrolled between the 1950s and the 1970s. The purpose, according to Anzaldúa (1987), was to tame their “wild tongue.” This same university, now trans...
International Journal of Kinesiology and Sports Science, 2015
This article examines the exercise practices of a group of faculty members at a regional universi... more This article examines the exercise practices of a group of faculty members at a regional university who for a decade have participated in their own racquetball league. These professors self-organized their exercise regimen and during the period of their participation have found significant benefits beyond the physical benefits, as a result. Through the production of reflective narratives focused on the impact of their racquetball participation, their self-reported data show two broad themes and numerous sub-themes that emerge from their exercise experience. They reveal significant health benefits, and they express more deeply the benefits of the positive social interaction that impacts many aspects of their personal and professional lives. The self-reported data from six players was requested and collected during a 6-week period. Faculty members were asked to write freely on the self-organizational aspects of their racquetball participation as well as their perceived benefits of this particular exercise. A qualitative textual analysis was applied to these narratives after they were coded for anonymity. Subsequent conclusions were drawn from the analyses of the content of each narrative.
International Journal of Leadership in Education, 2006
... Yvonne. She teaches me daily about character, family, and what is most important in life; she... more ... Yvonne. She teaches me daily about character, family, and what is most important in life; she is my most steadying influence. ... vi Delia, Angie, Ernesto, Melissa, Martin, Celinda, Jay, Laura, Ricardo, Lauriano, Alfonso, and all other Llano Grande Center staff members have given ...
Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 2008
This article chronicles the work of the Llano Grande Center for Research and Development, an educ... more This article chronicles the work of the Llano Grande Center for Research and Development, an educational nonprofit organization in South Texas, by following the narrative of one of its students and two of the authors, who are also founders of Llano Grande. Through the use of ethnography, visuals, and storytelling, they present an emerging theory of practice and a hybrid methodology that has contributed to the development of the work, the school, and the community. An activist agenda informed by practice and supported with theory is woven through the text in biographical form. The text also documents the cornerstones of the work: building strong relationships; work originating from self, place, and community; and engaging in meaningful work. When integrated into a seamless practice, this combination of guiding principles yields a certain power that youth and adults alike begin to negotiate within and between their peers, teachers, and community for change. This sense of self, efficacy, and power then informs much of their work as adults. [Latino epistemology and education, activist ethnography, Llano Grande Center, storytelling, community as text, pedagogy of hope] Carmen's Chronicle When Carmen Valdez was 12 years old, her mother hired a coyote to transport her two young daughters and herself from Mexico into the United States. They fled particular domestic troubles and risked the dangerous sojourn, "para buscar la vida" (to search for life), as Carmen noted in her oral history a few years later. They began their trip in Durango, where Carmen and her sister had been fully immersed in school life and where their mother took odd jobs to make ends meet. Life was good for Carmen in Durango; she was primed, after all, to be the school's next abanderada, an honor given to a top student who would carry the Mexican flag at school functions, and she also had her circle of close friends. Her mother, however, found it difficult to provide for the family, particularly after escaping a controlling and abusive husband who had previously been the main provider. One fateful evening, when Carmen, her mother, and her sister slipped into the inner tubes that would float them across the Rio Grande River, the river that also served as the U.S.-Mexico international boundary, they did not know what to expect. Crossing was a profound experience, and it would become part of a narrative that would help Carmen generate personal and academic power as she moved through high school and into higher education.
American Educational Research Journal, 2004
This article identifies the Edcouch-Elsa High School Walkout of 1968 as a pivotal event in the ed... more This article identifies the Edcouch-Elsa High School Walkout of 1968 as a pivotal event in the educational history of Mexican American students in south Texas. It presents elements of the Civil Rights Movement, including the Brown decision, the rise of Mexican American political organizations, and the actions of community youth. The authors use oral histories that they and their high school students produced between 1997 and 2002, through the work of the Llano Grande Center for Research and Development, a nonprofit organization founded by the authors and their students. Through the use of secondary literature, local stories, and micro–macro integrative theory, this study describes how the Brown decision and other national events affected Edcouch-Elsa schools between 1954 and 1968.
Association of Mexican American Educators Journal
This essay contributes to the growing literature on Mexican American Studies in K-12 within the b... more This essay contributes to the growing literature on Mexican American Studies in K-12 within the broader field of Ethnic Studies. While most of the literature on the movement for Ethnic Studies within Texas and across the nation mainly focuses on the impact of Ethnic Studies courses on students’ academic success, this essay highlights a professional development program for K-12 social studies teachers in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas entitled Historias Americanas: Engaging History and Citizenship in the Rio Grande Valley, funded by a federal grant. This essay provides an overview of Historias Americanas, the objectives and structure of the program, and the ways in which the program contributes to the discourse on Mexican American Studies in K-12. It also describes the frameworks that form the crux of the professional development process: place-based education and culturally relevant pedagogical frameworks.
US Latina & Latino Oral History Journal
Abstract This feature, Notes from the Community, highlights initiatives that use oral history in ... more Abstract This feature, Notes from the Community, highlights initiatives that use oral history in a variety of settings, including the recovery of local history, the incorporation of oral narratives...
TTR, 2019
A consequence of the development of modern states has been the concept of “minority” as used to r... more A consequence of the development of modern states has been the concept of “minority” as used to refer to subsets of the population that are differentiated from that portion of the population which is seen as the “majority.” These minorities are at times distinguished from each other using terms such as national minorities and immigrant minorities. Some scholars have challenged the distinctions drawn by these constructs. An example of how such constructs are not always accurate can be found in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, where ethnic and linguistic, immigrant and national, minority and majority are not always clear cut. “The Valley,” as the region is locally known, has a long history of the numerical majority being in a minoritized position. In this context, a local university administered a “speech test” to Mexican American students who enrolled between the 1950s and the 1970s. The purpose, according to Anzaldúa (1987), was to tame their “wild tongue.” This same university, now transf...
Journal of Hispanic Higher Education
This document traverses through a series of genealogical stories that span close to a century to ... more This document traverses through a series of genealogical stories that span close to a century to provide context to higher learning, education, and development. The stories of elders help us re-member their dreams, re-frame the process for growth, and re-imagine the possibilities for development at the self, organizational, and community levels. Grounded in a community context, the authors present the history of people, place, and work as they learn to become more effective educators.
Association of Mexican American Educators Journal
This article contributes to the study of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) through a narrative... more This article contributes to the study of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) through a narrative grounded on two points of innovation. It offers frameworks to decenter the conversation on HSIs from normative practices in higher education to focus on pedagogical, cultural, and political relational processes that find greater congruence between nominal HSIs and the Latina/o students, families, and the communities that populate those universities. It looks at points of innovation that emerged in two different parts of the country at different places, spaces, and time. One was initiated at the University of North Florida (UNF) in the early-to-mid-1970s, and the second is taking place at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in South Texas (UTRGV). The UNF experience placed race relations front and center of its innovation, and offers an appropriate historical lens through which to understand the social and institutional change taking place in South Texas. The UTRGV work provides an...
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Papers by Francisco Guajardo