curating educational spaces with autohistoria-teoría and conocimiento: a decolonial feminist teacher inquiry
Open Access
- Author:
- Sotomayor, Leslie C
- Graduate Program:
- Art Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- December 09, 2019
- Committee Members:
- Karen Keifer-Boyd, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Wanda B. Knight, Committee Member
Ann Whitney, Outside Member
Eduardo Navas, Committee Member
AnaLouise Keating, Special Member
Karen Treat Keifer-Boyd, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Karen Treat Keifer-Boyd, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- Latinx
art education
Anzaldúa
curatorial
healing
belonging
interconnectedness
awakening
curriculum
transformation
empowering
learning environment
teaching
experiences
Latina Feminisms
underrepresented - Abstract:
- This exploratory, decolonial feminist teacher inquiry, documents and analyzes my experiences teaching the undergraduate course Latina Feminisms, Latinas in the US: Gender, Culture and Society. In this study, I interpret seven recursive stages of Gloria Anzaldúa’s conocimiento theory as transformative acts to guide my research design and teaching methodology. I apply Anzaldúa’s theories of autohistoria-teoría and conocimiento to curate educational spaces that decolonize White hegemonic academic canons and empower underrepresented learners who may experience a deep sense of not belonging in academia. I situate myself in the study as curator, and my practice of curator, as an agent of self-knowledge production and theorizing to create self-empowering learning environments. Important to the dissertation is teaching and learning from a feminist testimonio writing practice of theorizing experiences (i.e., autohistoria-teoría). I situate my testimonio in the Prologue and a section of Chapter Two as example of the seven transformational acts of conocimiento. Primary data sources include field notes, observations, conference meetings with students, and my journal reflections. Secondary data sources include student work as artifacts, anonymous surveys, class assignments, discussions, and student journal reflections. In my findings from curating the Latina Feminisms curriculum, I witnessed transformational learning from the following: awakening, vulnerability, belonging, healing, and interconnectedness.