In this essay, Cynthia Carolina Terán López and Christina Convertino present a new mentoring model for Latina doctoral students, the echémonos flores mentoring model (FEMM), which draws on the ideas of new tribalism and nos/otras in Gloria Anzaldúa's post-Borderlands work and the praxis of pláticas, or conversations, and testimonios to decenter…

This chapter highlights the development of Project MALES (Mentoring to Achieve Latino Educational Success). At the center of Project MALES is a mentoring program that aims to cultivate an engaged support network for males of color at the University of Texas at Austin and across surrounding communities. Specifically, there is a discussion of the…

The author shares his experiences teaching a unit based on the Broadway musical "In the Heights" as a way of engaging the cultural identity of his students, mainly Dominican Americans. The unit he created around the musical was initially built in an effort to make Dominican culture overt in the classroom, fulfilling pedagogical ideas…

People of color in the United States have utilized the liberationist "testimonio" as both methodology and narrative development. This essay provides a discussion about the roots of "testimonio" in Latin America and how it has been transformed, integrating qualitative research approaches, oral history, spoken word, and memoir…

Penn State Hazleton sits at the very edge of town, on the top of a large hill, literally, as far removed from Hazleton as it possibly can be. Only a handful of professors actually live in Hazleton, and nearly all students return home for the weekend. Compared with the main campus, the student population at Penn State Hazleton is quite diverse.…

Saavedra discusses how children in the borderlands can inform our language and literacy practices through the Latin American literary genre known as "testimonio." Drawing from the work of Chicana/Latina feminist pedagogy, I frame my "experiencias" with language and literacy in three different moments in my life. Through these…

While the genre of "testimonio" has deep roots in oral cultures and in Latin American human rights struggles, the publication and subsequent adoption of "This Bridge Called My Back" and, more recently, "Telling to Live: Latina Feminist Testimonios" by Chicanas and Latinas, have demonstrated the power of "testimonio" as a genre that exposes…

This article focuses on the design and implementation of a new course in Latin American Studies that sought to integrate traditional elements of undergraduate education with a more progressive pedagogical approach stressing experiential applications of classroom education. Civic engagement seemed particularly well suited to the course because of…

This article discusses the growing interest of scholars studying the connections between Asian and Hispanic populations and cultures. Scholars examining transnational communities and relationships often fend off skepticism from peers in longer-established, clearly defined academic disciplines who wonder about the relevancy of their pursuits,…

Represents an autobiographical essay of Virgil Suarez's life, his migration to the United States, and the mentors who have led him to his life's work as a writer. (GR)

Describes the generations of Cuban and Cuban American writers who have borne witness, in Spanish and now in English, to the oppression of Castro's regime, the pain of leaving Cuba, and the family conflicts occurring in the new land. Highlights the tragic figure of Reinaldo Arenas, a homosexual writer, anti-Castro activist, and immigrant. (GR)

Highlights numerous Hispanic fiction writers who are beginning to experience popularity. Describes Hispanic genre such as "magic realism" in which real action is tinged with dreamlike surrealism. Discusses Hispanic writers' experiences with small independent presses as well as major publishers. Expresses such concerns as patronization and the lack…

Census 2000 reported large increases from Census 1990 in the number of Hispanics identifying themselves as "other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino" and produced a lower count of several Central and South American nationalities compared to projections based on data tracking immigration trends. This study describes an alternative estimate of the…

This article discusses the complex and subtle reasons why many people of Spanish-speaking ancestry, both Latin Americans and Spaniards, like to call themselves Latinos. Among other things, this word, coined by the Mediterranean countries to resist Anglo dominance in the 19th century, is currently being used by people of Spanish-speaking ancestry…

Describes the machine readable database of bibliographic information pertaining to the mental health of Hispanics living in the United States, developed by the Spanish Speaking Mental Health Research Center of the University of California, Los Angeles. Topics covered include the system's history, citation sources, vocabulary control, and services.…