Storytelling with Nepantla: A Portrait of One Mexican American Teacher’s Literacy Practices

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, the author braids storytelling with oral life history interviews, Chicana Feminisms, and portraiture. The piece centers the portrait of Ms. Sotomayor, a veteran elementary teacher, who through her stories shares with us pedagogies of pain, trust, autonomy, and empowerment. These glimpses of her life journey as a Nepantlera offer readers opportunities to see her stories as fuel for her spiritual activism, evident in her teaching. The portrait highlighted in this article comes from a larger study that centers the life stories of Chicana K–12 teachers from Southern California who view their teaching as a political, spiritual, and/or moral commitment. Using oral life history interviews and classroom observations to invite Chicana teachers to tell their stories, I document how this group of teachers explain connections between their lived experiences and their literacy pedagogies and practices in the classroom. Through Muxerista Portraiture and a borderlands analysis, I testify the power of stories from women who struggle for a better tomorrow. Implications include the possibilities of Nepantla as a pedagogical framework in teacher education praxis with homegrown, Teachers of Color.