Beginning from the Border

Abstract In this essay, Educational Borderlands: A Bilingual Journal (EBBJ) is introduced in relation to borderlands, in South Texas and beyond. The journal’s purpose is explained, beginning with its inception as part of the bilingual mission at a majority Mexican American university, then placed within educational, political, and linguistic contexts. Each of EBBJ’s threads is situated in relation to hybridity, intersectionality, bilingualism, translanguaging, transnationalism, and the border itself. The journal seeks to apply these to the study of curriculum, instruction, special education, dual language bilingual education, and research across various interdisciplinary fields. Resumen En este ensayo, Educational Borderlands: A Bilingual Journal (EBBJ) se introduce en relación con las fronteras, en South Texas y más allá. El propósito de la revista se explica, desde su inicio como parte de la misión bilingüe en una universidad con cuerpo de estudiantes mexicano-americanos, hasta sus contextos educativos, políticos, y lingüísticos. Cada uno de los hilos de EBBJ se sitúa en relación con la hibridez, la interseccionalidad, el bilingüismo, el translingüismo, el transnacionalismo y la propia frontera. La revista busca aplicarlas al estudio del currículo, la instrucción, la educación especial, el lenguaje dual (educación bilingüe), y la investigación tras varios campos interdisciplinarios

Bilingual Teacher Educators at an HSI: A Border Pedagogy for Latinx Teacher Development

As a borderlands’ institution, we are developing a mission and vision for our HSI identity in the college of education, as well as in our university. We envision pedagogical practices embedded in our teacher preparation that are context specific to our bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural community; one that not only prepares PTs to effectively teach all students, but also promotes strong values for equity and social justice. For our Latinx PTs, this aim has two purposes: 1) to tailor our educational practices capitalizing on their unique strengths and addressing possible challenges in their professional development, and 2) preparing them to successfully promote their students’ academic achievement through rigorous, culturally appropriate and sustainable practices (Paris, 2012). We draw on a growing body of seminal work in Latinx teacher preparation to theorize a set of border pedagogies for our context. These represent specific pedagogies that foster the development of Latinx teachers who are knowledgeable of the appropriate teaching practices for all types of students. Furthermore, we pursue practices that can help our students develop into advocates for social justice, aware of the many social and political forces impacting the schools where they will serve. These specific practices should take into consideration the specific cultural and professional identities of our preservice teachers. As a special interest research group within our college, aiming to develop an HSI identity that is context-based, we engaged in a meta-synthesis of professional literature that includes empirical research and theoretical work about the preparation of Latinx PTs in our border region. We foresee the application of these pedagogies for other regions where Latinx PTs can benefit; and envision furthering our research in the future, to explore metaphorical borders, including Latinx PTs’ hybrid transcultural identities outside our geographical border

Deconstructing the Superhero: American Idols in Film

Making the short video documentary, "Deconstructing the Superhero: American Idols in Film" on the politics of superheros was a whirlwind experience. We learned film making techniques while expanding our analysis of popular culture, especially in relation to media constructions of masculinity. Research was situated within the historical context of film studies and included interactions with students and faculty, both inside and outside of the classroom. Our film contained both short interviews with students framed by a longer interview with Emeritus Professor John Lawrence who has written extensively on the role of superheros in American culture. We then juxtaposed these interviews with clips from a number of recent superhero films. Our documentary not only offered an entry way into video/ film making techniques, but it also encouraged a more critical view of media itself