"Decolonial refusals" theory, forged through fieldwork in Puerto Rico, is used to question "conceptual disjunctures" in binary views of center-periphery relations. Grad students here are not merely "voices from the margins," as seen from the "imperial north." Their autoethnographies may be dispatches from…

This article explores the concept of "syncretism," its history, related concepts, and potential as a research tool. It proposes a critical syncretism for analyzing the syncretic literacy projects of three young Puerto Rican bilinguals with attention to their agency and creativity drawing on diverse languages and literacies and…

This article discusses the findings of an ethnographic research study exploring the experiences of Puerto Rican women attending a family literacy program in Chicago. In particular, the study investigated the repositories of knowledge and information available to participating women that figured into the development of their notions about…

Presents an educational rationale for using oral history to teach students that there are multiple sources of information and multiple ways to seek it. The case study of an extended Puerto Rican family is used to explore the funds of knowledge available in this way as well as to challenge some stereotypes about Latinas. (SLD)

Studied 11 high-achieving Puerto Rican high school students at an urban Chicago (Illinois) school who were academically successful while maintaining their ethnic identity. Suggests that different conceptualizations of ethnicity, sociohistoric context, and social class may account for this maintenance of identity. (SLD)

Describes how a team of urban middle school educators developed a dual-language program to address the needs of their low-income, predominantly Puerto Rican students. Demonstrates how the structural, sociolinguistic, and ideological context influenced the way that this bilingual program functioned on the local level, challenging the dichotomous…

Reports on research conducted in poor Puerto Rican households in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) that shows the complex relationships between household members' survival strategies, residential mobility, home-school connections, and students' learning. Results from five families show that household stability is the strongest factor affecting students'…

This ethnographic study describes continuities and discontinuities between bilingual kindergarten and the homes of two Spanish-dominant Puerto Rican children. Findings highlight the complex web of continuities and discontinuities and the importance of the joint construction of a culture of teaching and learning by parents, teachers, and children.…

Based on a two-year ethnographic study at an urban middle school, this article describes the power that images created by and about Puerto Rican girls hold in shaping their schooling experiences. Using a black, critical, feminist framework, I show how dichotomizing the sexuality of Puerto Rican females against their intellectual development…

Narratives of Puerto Rican and Mexican American students, written in 8th grade and then 11th grade, describe who they are and illustrate school-sponsored silencing, with student critiques of their educational experience ignored by schools. The narratives help explain the Hispanic student high dropout rate, reasons behind students' academic…