Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Publication Date

Spring 5-9-2019

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the implications of the colonial legacy in informing the New Mexican Educational System in the present day. I engage a group of three self-identified young Nuevomexicana students in seeking to understand the spaces in which one must maneuver in order to thrive in an otherwise marginalizing system of Western Academia. Through a qualitative study, I hope to identify the intricacies of the New Mexican identity and the relationship these students hold with their determined homeland. By implementing the methods of interview, and participant observation in an undergraduate freshmen classroom, I will investigate my research questions through an examination of identity on their terms. I employ a decolonial and intersectional examination of the findings coupled with an analysis of secondary documents regarding New Mexico’s history of institutional education. I seek to understand behaviors of resistance that disrupt the dominant narrative of learning and educational attainment through a system of Western Academia and demonstrate the historic complexities that have allowed for a differential maneuvering of such a system.

Keywords

Querencia, Nuevomexicanidad, Education, Ancestral Wisdom, Resilience, Place

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies

First Committee Member (Chair)

Dr. Ruth Trinidad Galván

Second Committee Member

Dr. Carlos López Leiva

Third Committee Member

Dr. Myrriah Gómez

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