Maria Broggi
Dr. Jay Sanford-Deshields
EDUC 1255
13 March 2018
Midterm Essay
As an aspiring educator and future Spanish teacher, I chose to evaluate K-12 materials, specifically that of a secondary class, through the tenets of the ABC Curriculum. I focus on the analyzation of materials that might be used or seen in a Spanish classroom or learning setting. The specific materials I brought pertain mostly to sexism & gender, and race & colorism. I will first talk about each material’s significance, then relate it to an ABC standard, and then suggest supplemental strategies or activities, themes and materials that a teacher can use. Ultimately, teachers implementing similar World-Language curricula should be aware and sensitive to cultural biases in terms of gender and race to cultivate a more accepting, positive, and diverse classroom environment. Such an environment should foster a feeling of duty to promote equality among students as future citizens through learning.
Machista (adj) or machismo (n) refers to the strong or exaggerated sense of traditional masculinity and patriarchy of Latin culture which particularly values physical courage, domination of women, and aggressiveness. Can also mean, in basic terms, sexist, bigoted, or of a macho attitude. Without implementing a grammar lesson, in the most basic of terms, one should understand that Spanish is a Latin language which assigns genders to even inanimate objects and is a very tricky language to incorporate gender-neutral terms. Masculinity dominates regardless of female presence in the ratio. It’s important to explain to students during a grammar lessons that, although sociolinguistically, in grammar and syntax, Spanish reflects archaic patriarchal society, the use of such gendered language is not the main impediment to female empowerment, but it is rather the machista or bigoted attitude that some Latino/a societies perpetuate. In “The Exponence of Gender in Spanish,” Professor James Harris of Spanish and Linguistics at MIT points out that the Spanish language is becoming more flexible. Harris says that “the accelerating entry of women into previously male-dominated professions has led to radical dialectal and even idiolectal variation” in vocabulary to identify one’s job (Harris, 40). For example, forms like “abogado” and “ingeniero,” meaning, male lawyer and male engineer, have evolved into “abogada” and “ingeniera,” indicating a societal influence on language, and vice-versa. Illustrations in school textbooks such as that on pages 123 and 130 of Investigación de Gramática highlight gendered portrayals of women in actions and professions. Since this material is relatively dated, it is important to point this narrative out to students. Diametrically, on page 342 of another textbook, Entrevistas: An Introduction to Language and Culture, there are depictions of women in diverse professions related to thematic vocabulary. Not only can gender be a tricky subject in Spanish grammar, but also in vocabulary units. This example from textbook agrees with ABC guidelines.
The materials aforementioned related to Sexism and Gender connect most with the ABC guidelines number two, eight, nine, and ten. Guideline two implores teachers to ‘Check the Story Line’ for “… racist [or] sexist attitude still find expression in less obvious ways.” Additionally, guideline eight reminds teachers to ‘Check Out the Author’s Perspective,’ because “All authors write from a cultural as well as from a personal context…” and encourages the reader to ask “Is the perspective patriarchal or feminist?” Similarly, in context teacher should ‘Watch for Loaded Words’ since “…sexist language and adjectives… use of the male pronoun to refer to both males and females” although grammatically or linguistically derived can have social implications. Last guidelines ten suggests to ‘Look at the Copyright Date,’ asserting that “non-sexist [texts] were not published before 1972 to 1974,” and many textbooks, especially those covering grammar and conventions, can be outdated.
What teachers can do to incorporate and practice ABC guidelines with materials and topics such as in these Spanish materials, such as gendered language in grammar, and dominant male narratives in stories or gendered representations of professions, is to highlight the role of women in society. In classes that overwhelmingly focus on materials covering male narratives such as “Don Quixote,” or the biographies of revolutionary figures like Fidel Castro or Pancho Villa, teachers can incorporate female narratives to create a balance. To highlight the role of women in society, teachers can show documentaries like “Evita” which tells the story of the most revered Argentinian first lady, Eva Peron, who her position as first lady to fight for women's suffrage and improving the lives of the poor, and became a legendary figure in Argentine politics. Teachers can also create or find materials that show women in powerful positions and diverse professions, and share empirical data such as the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in “Latinas in the Professions.” This empirical data highlights that there is evidence to suggest that “increasing the representation of Latinas in [the workforce] could have important impact(s),” such as an increase in female professors leading to higher college graduation rates of Latina students (Gándara, 14).Teachers can empower female/latina students this way and raise awareness overall. Lastly, teachers can aim to use inclusive language such as parenthetical or slash versions of professions, such as ‘profesor(a),’ ‘trabajador/a,’or identities, like ‘Latinx,’ ‘Latin@,’ or ‘Latino/a.’
Additionally, race is an important aspect of Latin identity. The next topic focuses on the aspect of race and the concepts of colorism and anti-blackness in Latin culture. Although there are a lot of outstanding pieces of literature out there that contain well-developed Afro-Latinx characters, children of color are severely underrepresented in not only children’s books, but also in school text-books. A few are, “Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa,” and “Daughters of the Stone” which follows five-generations of Afro-Puerto Rican women and also sheds light on colonialism. This aspect in a Spanish classroom touches upon under-representation and misrepresentation in materials. For example, there are often illustrations of white characters in Spanish grammar and vocab textbooks. This indicates a tendency to favor and over-represent characters with Western features which connects on a deeper level to the internalized racism in Latin cultures, socio-historical Black-Latino relations, and the concept of blanqueamiento — an “ethnic, cultural, and racial whitening” and the endogamy practice of “adelantando la raza” (improving the race). Additionally, even when there seemingly is representation, it is vital to consider if there is misrepresentation. Not all Latino/a(s) are white, and not all Afro-Latino/a(s) speak Spanish. A chart on page 36 of “Latinos and Latinas” which expresses percents of African-descent in most Latino/a(s) and also information beforehand that reveals that Afro-Latinos are much more likely to actually speak English, especially at home (Oboler, 36) Additionally, in “Deconstructing Latinx racial paradigms,” the concepts of “mejorar la raza” or as previously mentioned “adelantando la raza” (improving the race) explains the impacts of Western black-white dichotomy and race-relations on the development of a modern caste system as a product of internalized racism in the cultures of many Latino/a(s) (Cosse, 8-10).
The aforementioned materials related to Sexism and Gender connect most with ABC guidelines number one, three, four, five, six, and seven. Guideline number one is a reminder to ‘Check the Illustrations,’ for example stereotypes of “sombrero-wearing” Latinos or of “naked-savage” Natives, perhaps the Taínos of Puerto Rico in context of Spanish curriculum. This guideline also warns against tokenism; it is critical to ask “do all minority faces look stereotypically alike…” when evaluating a material. Guideline number three requires that one should ‘Look at the lifestyles,’ and ask the following: “do [the texts/illustrations] go above and beyond over-simplifications and offer genuine insights into another lifestyle?” Especially in terms of colorism as a critical aspect in Latin identity, guideline four tells us to ‘Weigh the Relationships Between People’ and to think about if there is a tendency for “the whites in the story possess the power.” Similarly, guideline number five reminds us that one must ‘Note the Heros’ and recognize that “minority groups [have] the right to define their own heros…,” which teachers can support by highlighting key cultural figures or giving children the opportunities to explore the role models of their own identity. This idea coincides with guideline six which asks to ‘Consider the Effects on a Child’s Self-Image,’ since children are often “…bombarded with images of the color white as the ultimate in beauty, cleanliness, virtue, etc., and the color black as evil, dirty, menacing, etc.” Giving children empirical representations of culture and opportunities to define and explore their identity empower them and build respect for those different from them. Lastly, teachers should always ‘Consider Author’s or Illustrator’s Background’ by asking “What qualifies the author or illustrator to deal with the subject?” The best culturally relevant information comes from empirical sources. Teachers should encourage students to find these sources and be able to differentiate between credible and non-credible accounts of culture.
For teachers to empower students in terms of culture, identity, and how race plays an important role in both aspects, whether the students themselves are Latinx or the students are non-Latinx but learning about Latinx culture, there are many resources available.To supplement materials, illustrations, or textbooks that may be lacking in Afro-Latino/a narratives and representation, teachers can incorporate materials that highlight the impact of Imperialism and Colonialism. Showing documentaries like “Pelo Malo” can help students understand the double-identity struggle of Afro-Latino/a(s) with their culture’s tendency to have negative attitudes towards African features such as kinky hair or darker skin, like the character in the movie. Teachers who address historical roots of colorism and contributions to negative attitudes towards race-mixing and anti-blackness based on Western values can present positive depictions of well-developed characters of all colors in literature, media, and novels – like “Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa” or “Daughters of the Stone.”
Most importantly, when incorporating diversity based on A.B.C. standards, teachers, especially white teachers and teachers who are not of Latino/a descent, should be careful to avoid tokenisms and stereotypes. They should thoughtfully incorporate diverse depictions of natives, like colonial-age Puerto Ricans or “Taínos” and modern-day Puerto Ricans. Teachers should especially make certain that representations are diverse in race and ethnicity, especially in professions and activities related to thematic vocab. These strategies in cooperation with depictions and strategies that highlight the role of women and the critical relationship between language and society. Incorporating racially and gender-diverse materials, empirical data, readings, and culturally-relevant illustrations or documentaries that cooperate with ABC guidelines will encourage a more in-depth and accurate learning experience in a Spanish K-12 classroom.
Works Cited
Lunn, Patricia Vining, and Janet Ann DeCesaris. Investigación De Gramática. Heinle Cengage
Learning, 2007.
Harris, James W. “The Exponence of Gender in Spanish.” Linguistic Inquiry, MIT Press, vol. 22,
no. 1, 1991, p. 40. JSTOR.
Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children, by Louise Derman-Sparks and the
A.B.C. Task Force (Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC], 1989).
Cosse, Jacqueline I., "Deconstructing Latinx racial paradigms : cross-cultural constructions of
race and their impact on Dominican-American racial identity" (2016).Theses, Dissertations, and Projects. 1710.
Gándara, Patricia. “Fulfilling America's Future: Latinas in the U.S., 2015.” Fulfilling America's
Future: Latinas in the U.S., 2015 – The Civil Rights Project at UCLA, 2015
Oboler, Suzanne. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States. Vol. 1,
Oxford Univ. Press, 2005.