Mother Pedagogies of Migration:Multiplicitous Identities and Pedagogies

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article draws on two collaborative ethnographic projects to discuss a praxis of mother pedagogies of migration (MPM). The first project centers on Mexicana campesinas (farmworker womxn) in the Yakama Nation who use agricultural land as a context for teaching and learning, and the second project focuses on a community of Indigenous Yucatec Maya and Latina mothers at a K-5 school in San Francisco, California, who develop forms of parent engagement along the dimensions of Indigenous language and cultural revalorization. Drawing on Chicana/Latina philosophers Ortega (2016)and Lugones (2003), we discuss two pedagogical elements central to MPM: relationality and indeterminacy. Relationality is examined by drawing on campesinas teaching each other how to prune in a vineyard. Indeterminacy is contextualized by illustrating Indigenous and Latinx mothers working together preparing food for a school event. These elements demonstrate immigrant mothers’ who strategize and insert their knowledge within dominant educational contexts.