Testimonios of (In)Justice and Communal Spaces: Four Latinas in Their First Year Teaching

Abstract

In August 2020, four Latinas began their first year teaching and entered a school system that continues to emphasize policies, measures, and curriculum that supports racism and social injustice. Their first-hand experiences included a pandemic that largely challenged modes of delivery in schools and the lack of access for students of marginalized communities that made existing disparities even more obvious. But they also entered teaching at a time when there was renewed interest in openly pushing issues of race, oppression, and violence to the forefront. This article details how these four Latina teachers connected their testimonios to the current sociopolitical realities and to their commitment to social change through monthly zoom chats. Their chats became spaces of Convivencia, a way to engage, reflect, and support each other that is centered within a Latina womanist epistemology. Cultural Intuition was used to analyze their experiences and to point out key aspects of their testimonios that reflect their ways of knowing and agency. This piece concludes by making a case for how these types of communal spaces are necessary across various institutions and spaces for Latinas.