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Barrio Pedagogy: Praxis Within the Tucson Social Justice Education Semester
Sean Arce and Anita Fernndez following the smoke from a burning sage bundle Sean held at the head of the line, Leslie Silkos1 words resonated in my mind. We are all swimming in an ocean of time, she told us earlier in the term and here we were now culminating a semester-long journey exploring our own histories, the colonization of our minds, spirits, and bodies and the ways in which critical praxis can be a source of liberation for students and teachers. I could see the heaviness on the students backs as the sun beat down on us and we all swam in this ocean of time together trying to understand our place and responsibility and direction in this process of Tezcatlipoca. As professors committed to learning with our students, we had engaged in the process of Tezcatlipoca, the smoking-mirror (for self reflection), along with our thirteen undergraduate students in the Tucson Social Justice Education Semester (TSJES), in an attempt to continue the legacy of the now outlawed Mexican American Studies (MAS) program. This semester embraced a commitment to continuing to build and not getting lost in the past (yet never forgetting our personal and collective past) - always moving forward, Mexica Tiahui2 - while acknowledging the circular nature of history and time. Context for TSJES After the passage of AZ HB 2281 (now ARS 15-111 & 15-112) the highly renowned MAS program was eliminated from the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) and Arizona was aptly labeled the State of Hate where racial profiling, book banning and the deliberate erasing of Chicana/o history was, and still is, a daily occurrence. The new state superintendent of instruction of Arizona, John Huppenthal, was elected on his platform that promised to Stop La Raza which included a step by step description of how this would be enacted, including references to Carthage and Bodica (Zinn, 2012). Arizona had become, and remains today, the capital of neoliberal racism, a strategy that rejects (and claims to be offended by) older forms of racism grounded in claims of white superiority (Giroux, 2004). More specifically, Arizona activist-scholars Fernndez and Hammer (2013), accurately point out the pervasiveness of Arizonas neoliberal racist movidas as: Not only does this strategy moralize against the very recognition of systemic

As we climbed up a rocky lookout on the west side of Tucson, our students

and institutional racism, ironically labeling such recognition racist, neoliberal racism promotes entrenched racial hierarchies by demanding the use of the institutional capacities of an increasingly authoritarian state to surveil, criminalize, and crush anti-racist, reparational, and unequivocally democratic projects, such as the hugely successful TUSD MAS Program. (p. 67) Meanwhile, thousands of Tucson youth are being withheld an education that has both qualitative and quantitative research-based evidence of its success with youth of color, particularly for Chicana/o-Latina/o students (Cabrera, et al., 2012; Cappellucci, D.F., et al., 2011; and Sleeter, 2011). In an attempt to counter the agenda to dehumanize brown children and their familias, we began to build from the ashes of the long struggle for Ethnic Studies by using our resources and many forms of cultural, political, social and economic capital (Yosso, 2005) to reverse the trend that seemed to be suffocating our community in Tucson. One of the results of this process was the implementation of a semester-long experience in Tucson for undergraduate Prescott College students interested in Social Justice Education. Tucson Social Justice Education Semester The TSJES is a place-based3 undergraduate experience set in Tucson, Arizona where Prescott College, a small liberal arts college focused on social and environmental justice, has a regional center. The three courses were created and focused around the former MAS program and its philosophy and pedagogy, along with a required teacher certification course on race, power and identity in education. Barrio Pedagogy: Praxis Along the Border, Banned Books: Critical Literacy for Social Justice, and Rethinking Our Classrooms: Race, Power & Identity in Education made up the general course work for the semester. In addition to readings, discussions and critical analyses of theoretical concepts, the TSJES included an extensive field component, emphasizing the experiential education mission of the college. Students were required to work with local activist organizations the instructors had long standing relationships with, as well as participating in class fieldwork. The pace of the TSJES was intense, to say the least. From reading, discussing, self-reflecting and analyzing to engaging with stakeholders along the US/Mexico border, to meeting and learning directly from several of the authors we studied, the students and the instructors were on all the time. Because of the nature of scholar activism and community organizing, plans often changed midway through the day to attend a protest or in one case to be interviewed the LA Times about the TSJES or another to attend a vigil along the border after

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a young boy was shot and killed by a border patrol agent. As part of our field work, we visited Los Angeles where TSJES students had the opportunity to: learn directly from one of the architects of Chicana/o Studies, activist-scholar Rodolfo Acua,4 engage hip-hop artist, activist and community cultural worker Olmeca5, and spend a day with the brilliant youth organizers from the Pico Youth and Family Center. The importance of our students meeting and building with Chicana/o Studies professors and students as well as with community youth organizers and cultural workers provided our students with much perspective as to the social justice praxis other youth along spaces throughout la frontera are engaged in. Equally important was that youth in the Los Angeles area had the opportunity to engage TSJES youth and hear about the important work they were doing in learning about and continuing the critical work of the MAS program, curriculum, and pedagogy which in short, is the sustaining of a Barrio Pedagogy. Back in Tucson, a highlight was being invited to Leslie Silkos home after reading one of her books. As we all sat on her desert porch it was as though we were inside her book, listening to tales of massacres and haunted spirits around Chuk Shon.7 We learned about the history of the region through analyzing barrio murals depicting overlapping cultures and highlighting the impacts of colonization on the peoples of the area. With the grounding of Mexica philosophy, thought, and culture shared by Jesus Chucho Ruiz8 of Calpolli Teoxicalli, our fieldwork and this indigenous-based decolonizing framework constantly informed our literary work. The Calpolli Teoxicalli is described as an indigenous community comprised of several families who self-identify as Tlamanalca- Indigenous peoples of Tucson. The Calpolli consists of several components: Xinachtli or Nahua-based Indigenous education, danza (ceremonial Aztec-Mexica dancing), the Temezkal or the sweat lodge, a place for spiritual healing, and lastly, Neteotlaotiliztli or ceremonial running (Villanueva, 2013, p. 37). The students exposure and engagement in these forms of learning, indigenous epistemologies, and indigenous ontological understandings were transformative and worked towards the process of re-humanization and the de-colonizing of the mind, body and spirit. Theoretical Framework of TSJES The theoretical framework for this semester was consciously grounded in non-traditional, indigenous epistemologies, mirroring the framework used in the MAS program and informing both theory and practice through readings, reflective writing assignments, as well as participation in community organizing and activism. Decolonial theories were intentionally set at the center of our courses as a way of naming decolonization as anti-colonial struggle that grows out of grassroots spaces (Zavala, 2013, p. 57). Additionally, drawing on critical pedagogy and Latina/o critical race theory (LatCRT), we studied how the recognition of historical trauma and conscious working with and through that trauma could move youth from self-defeating resistance to transformative resistance (Solarzano & Delgado Bernal, 2001). A revolutionary praxis of hope and love (Darder 2002, Freire 1970) seemed tangible as a means to a liberatory education that could ultimately counter the neoliberal racist agenda we are witnessing in Arizona.

Our semester became in essence a melding of the four Chicano-Indigenous principles of Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopochtli, and Xipe Totec and processes a greater concientizacin through grassroots activism for liberation that these young students could embrace for themselves and take in to their future work as teachers and organizers.

Our semester became in essence a melding of the four Chicano-Indigenous principles of Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopochtli, and Xipe Totec and processes a greater concientizacin through grassroots activism for liberation that these young students could embrace for themselves and take in to their future work as teachers and organizers. The concept of Xinachtli, meaning germinating seed in Nahuatl, was brought to life as students nurtured the seeds of their own cultura (Godina, 2003) to grow as a way of experiencing the power of this process in an educational setting that is committed to decolonial practices and cultural responsiveness. Brief Context of MAS Pedagogy and Curriculum While other effective urban educational programs utilizing effective pedagogical/curricular frameworks that directly address the needs of Chicana/o-Latina/o youth exist throughout the Southwest (and throughout the country for that matter), there were (before the State of Arizona outlawed MAS along with TUSD

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dismantling the department in 2012) some significant distinctions of Tucsons MAS program, curriculum, and pedagogy. The characteristics that set MAS apart were: being the only K-12 comprehensive Chicana/o-Studies program that was fully integrated into an urban public school system that served thousands of students over a 14-year period; only urban public school program that came under full attack from the State (via state legislation AZ HB 2281 now ARS 15-111 & ARS 15-112) and its school district TUSD (in collision with the State through its elimination of MAS); its teachers were demonized and dehumanized via slander and libel in the mass popular media by TUSD officials, right-wing political zealots, and supposed Democrat sympathizers; personal law suits were filed by State operatives (funded by State officials) against MAS teachers; the daily harassment of all of the MAS teachers by TUSD administration and State officials; its own districts (TUSD) banning of books written by Chicana/o-Latina/o, Black and Native authors that were utilized in its curriculum; three independent audits/studies on the program that demonstrated unprecedented success and efficacy for Chicana/o-Latina/o youth in an urban public education program (Cabrera, et al., 2012; Cappellucci, D.F., et al., 2011; and Sleeter, 2011); the firing of the MAS director and an MAS teacher for standing up to and contesting the State of Arizona, the TUSD administration and governing board to preserve MAS; and most importantly, the utilization of a Mexicano/Chicano Indigenous-based de-colonizing pedagogical framework that we refer to as a Barrio Pedagogy. What is Barrio Pedagogy? Barrio Pedagogy Praxis within the TSJEJ The prominent de-colonizing and culturally affirming components of Barrio Pedagogy that the MAS teachers utilized within their comprehensive K-12 daily pedagogical practices were: Tezcatlipoca (memory, self-reflection), Quetzalcoatl (precious and beautiful knowledge), Huitzilopochtli (la voluntad the will to act), and Xipe Totec (transformation) (Acosta, 2007; Romero & Arce, 2009; Romero, et al., 2009; Villanueva, 2013). These four principles are represented in the center of what is commonly referred to as the Aztec Calendar, signifying the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west) and the four elements of life (earth, wind, fire and water) (Diaz, et al., 1993). For this article, we chose to highlight two of the four principles of Barrio Pedagogy, Tezcatlipoca and Xipe Totec, for purposes of succinctness as well as to provide perspective on the powerful themes that emerged from our students relative to the praxis they engaged in. A critical part of TSJES engaging in Barrio Pedagogy was the co-facilitating and ongoing process of self-reflection (for both students and teachers), a necessary component of any critical praxis or pedagogical project that calls for decolonization and liberation. We collaboratively went through this constant process that Romero, et al. (2009) identified as, Tezcatlipoca, a Chicano Indigenous epistemology/concept/principle that speaks to a critical reflection of self, family, and community that calls for the liberation of the mind and spirit, we help our students create their counterstories (p. 218). Relative to this critical self-reflection, we facilitated an exercise with TSJES students and asked them to answer the question within the following writing prompt: Long time activist and Chicano nation elder, Tupac Enrique Acosta, refers to the principle of Tezcatlipoca as: A reflection, a moment of reconciliation of the past with the possibilities of the future not a vision of light but an awareness of the shadow that is the smoke of lights passing. It is the Smoking Mirror into which the individual, the family, the clan, the barrio, the tribe and the nation must gaze to acquire the sense of history that calls for Liberation. Utilizing the Tatum, Cisneros and Rodriguez readings write a 3-page first person narrative of a time in your life when you have been able to gaze into Tezcatlipoca- The Smoking Mirror or self-reflect which resulted in something that was liberating for you. (Arce, 2013-Personal Notes-Personal Communication). The results of this exercise were so powerful that the stories our students shared seemed to be waiting to be released; the liberatory process of reconciliation through writing and sharing their Tezcatlipoca narratives began the healing process we would witness the students engaging in through out the semester: The reality of my broken family is that I dont think I could have it any other way. The bottomless pits and circular patterns of pain have been revolving doors into different levels of learning and appreciation throughout my life. My moms vision that shattered the glass ball once holding our mythical American dream family injected the veins of our collective blood with an undying stress. (TSJES Student Personal Narrative, Spring 2013) It is clear in this student narrative reflection that he has come to terms and

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reconciled with the pain and impact of coming from a broken family, one of the precepts that Tupac Enrique Acosta speaks to in reference to Tezcatlipoca. More importantly, because of this reconciliation, this student is able to move forward through the learning and appreciation of his past. Another powerful example of engaging in the principle of Tezcatlipoca comes from a student who self-identifies as a Chicana who so inspiringly described her high school experiences as: My spirit was not deteriorating, but being born. My true self, surfacing through my pores to my social body. This was an active process, and though a painful one, I had to put in physical effort to live and survive as the woman I am. While there was nothing wrong with being an involuntary gender chameleon to survive high school, it is also necessary to confront the obstacles that make being myself painful. (TSJES Student Personal Narrative, Spring 2013) Through this critical self-reflection, this young Chican@ was able to embrace her identity as a Chican@, despite those around her, particularly her peers, who viewed and socially constructed her as male. Through Tezcatlipoca, she was able to reflect upon her high school experiences in affirming her gender identity, an authentic affirmation of her humanity within a de-humanizing world that we all exist. The other significant principle within the Barrio Pedagogy that we focus on in this article is Xipe Totec, which Villanueva (2013) identified in her observation and analysis of the MAS program as: Our source of strength that allows us to transform and renew. We must have the strength to shed the old, which may hinder us while accepting and embracing our new consciousness in order to transform the world (p. 32). The power to transform by engaging in the pedagogical practice of Xipe Totec was evident for all of our TSJES students, even amongst our students who do not originate from Chicana/o-Latina/o communities, a testament to the efficacy of utilizing Barrio Pedagogy. I am transformed by the power and strength of the MAS students, of all the Chican@ students who fight and continue to fight despite the circumstancesit is about us all being able to recognize our humanity and be free of the constraints of racialized capitalism. If one falls we all fall and minoritized people are being pushed over and pushed over and shoved and still continue to stand and to fly, the youth, I am transformed by this. (TSJES Student Personal Narrative, Spring 2013) Moreover, other students of color who are not Chicana/o-Latina/o attested to their transformation over the semester. The understanding the practice of Xipe Totec was unmistakable, particularly for a young African American student who passionately articulated anti-colonial and third-world feminist thought: Loyalty dont mean shit to us! Im the spy amongst you defying U.S. borders orders Im SLUT to us! I think Im good and then not good enough and whats more is, I dont give a fuck. Success isnt whats fueling us, but whats fooling us. Failing like standardized testing in schools with budget cuts. No longer needing to tear at my skin to see the human muck Thought you had me sedated, drugged, but your mistake, america, this whole time I've just been waking up. (TSJES Student Personal Narrative, Spring 2013) Implications of Barrio Pedagogy The many implications of utilizing Barrio Pedagogy are apparent and include: the effective engagement and the closing of the persistent academic achievement gap for Chicana/o-Latina/o youth in public schools (Cabrera, et al., 2012; Cappellucci, D.F., et al., 2011; and Sleeter, 2011); the decolonizing and re-humanizing impact that it has for Chicana/o-Latina/o youth (Acosta, 2007; Romero & Arce, 2009; Romero, et al., 2009; Villanueva, 2013); and the transformational impact it has on college-aged youth from diverse backgrounds in preparing them to effectively engage and work with Chicana/o-Latina/o youth in our schools that was briefly touched upon in our description and analysis of TSJES. In reality, this work in implementing a Barrio Pedagogy and similar decolonial liberatory urban education projects has saved the lives of numerous Chicana/o-Latina/o youth. Unfortunately, our public schools have not only served as institutions where inequality is reproduced (Duncan-Andrade & Morrell, 2008), but they have and continue to serve as spaces where youth of color and other traditionally marginalized and underserved youth are taught and socialized to internalize their own oppression, dwell in hopelessness and despair, and where in fact they learn to hate themselves (Romero, et al., 2009). A recent communication from a parent of a former MAS student is illustrative of

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the critical nature of this work in the form of Barrio Pedagogy, wherein students are shown the beauty and strength of our inheritance as Chicano-Mexicano indigenous people through the examination of our history, our lived social realities, and the promise that our future holds: Sean, thanks for this very articulate description of Tucson's MAS program, curriculum and pedagogy. My son Ilhuicamina still reaps the benefits of all that your staff taught him about himself, the little elementary child that he was at the time, yet, his name, long hair and moreno (italics added for emphasis) skin always set him apart, and you all made him feel at home. Tlazocamati9 from the heavens and moon and back, for taking care of my boy like that! In my estimation what you all did then, impacted a whole generation of children and possibly more, which is what La Cultura Cura is all about... much love and blessings to you dear lil brother! Aho10! (Rincon-Gallardo, 2014) It is our intention that this article will serve as a starting point of dialogue between educators engaged in decolonial education projects in order that we move forward and continue to effectively facilitate, in an equal collaboration with our youth, parents, and teachers, the liberation and self-determination of nuestras comunidades. It is organizations such as the Association of Raza Educators (A.R.E.) and the Xican@ Institute for Teaching and Organizing (XITO)11 and the collaborations within that can and should initiate this critical process. Mexica Tiahui! References
Acosta, C. (2007). Developing Critical Consciousness: Resistance Literature in a Chicano Literature Class. English Journal, 97(2), 36-42. Acosta, C., & Mir, A. (2012). Empowering Young People to be Critical Thinkers: The Mexican American Studies program in Tucson. Voices in Urban Education, 34, 15-26. Arce, M.S. (2013). Personal notes personal communication as co-instructor of Prescott Colleges Barrio Pedagogy: Praxis Along the Border undergraduate class. Cabrera, N. L., Milem, J. F., & Marx, R. W. (2012). An Empirical Analysis of the Effects of Mexican American Studies Participation on Student Achievement within Tucson Unified School District. Tucson, AZ: Report to Special Master Dr. Willis D. Hawley on the Tucson Unified School District Desegregation Case. Cappellucci, D. F., Williams, C., Hernandez, J. J., Nelson, L. P., Casteel, T., Gilzean, G., & Faulkner, G. (2011). Curriculum Audit of the Mexican American Studies Department, Tucson Unified School District. Darder, A. (2002). Reinventing Paulo Freire: A Pedagogy of Love. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Daz, G., Rodgers, A., Byland, B.E., & David, E. Pingree Collection (Brown University). (1993). The Codex Borgia: A full-color Restoration of the Ancient Mexican Manuscript. New York: Dover Publications. Duncan-Andrade, J.M.R. & Morrell, E. (2008). The Art of Critical Pedagogy: Possibilities for Moving from Theory to Practice in Urban Schools. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. Fernndez, A. & Hammer, Z. (2013). Red Scare in the Red State: The Attack on Mexican American Studies in Arizona and Opportunities for Building National Solidarity. Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 6(2), 65-70. Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: The Continuum Publishing Company. Giroux, H. A. (2004). The Terror of Neoliberalism: Authoritarianism and the Sclipse of Democracy. Boulder, CO: Paradigm. Godina, G. (2003). Mesocentrism and Students of Mexican Background: A Community Intervention for Culturally Relevant Instruction. Journal of Latinos and Education, 2(3), 141-157. Rincon-Gallardo, M. (2014, February 15). Marcia Rincon-Gallardo shared Sean Arces status [Facebook update]. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/marcia.rincongallardo?fref=ts Romero, A.F. & Arce, M.S. (2009). Culture as a Resource: Critically Compassionate Intellectualism and its Struggle Against Racism, Fascism, and Intellectual Apartheid in Arizona. Hamline University School of Law Journal of Public Law and Policy, 31, 178-218. Romero, A., Arce, S., & Cammarota, J. (2009). A Barrio Pedagogy: Identity, Intellectualism, Activism, and Academic Achievement through the Evolution of Critically Compassionate Intellectualism. Race, Ethnicity, and Education, 12(2), 217233. Sleeter, C. (2011). The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies: A Research Review. Washington: National Education Association. Solrzano, D.G., & Delgado-Bernal, D. (2001). Examining Transformational Resistance through a Critical Race and LatCrit Theory Framework: Chicana and Chicano Students in an Urban Context. Urban Education, 36(3), 308-342. Yosso, T. J. (2005). Whose Culture has Capital? A Critical Race Theory Discussion of Community Cultural Wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69-91. Villanueva, S.T. (2013). Teaching as a Healing Craft: Decolonizing the Classroom and Creating Spaces of Hopeful Resistance through Chicano-indigenous Pedagogical Praxis. Urban Review, 45(1), 23-40. Zavala, M. (2013). What do We Mean by Decolonizing Research Strategies? Lessons from Decolonizing, Indigenous Research Projects in New Zealand and Latin America. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 2(1), 55-71. Zinn, B. (2012, February 29). WFP interviews John Huppenthal, AZ superintendent of public instruction [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOqG1niwPx8

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Notes: 1. Leslie Marmon Silko, of the Pueblo Laguna tribe, is an internationally renowned award-winning author whose noted works include Ceremony and Almanac of the Dead. It is also important to note that her books utilized in the MAS curriculum were among those banned in TUSD. 2. Mexica Tiahui in the Mexican Indigenous Nahuatl language means Gente (People) Moving Forward 3. Place based education emphasizes experiential education outside of the traditional classroom and is rooted in a students community (place) and the issues impacting the community while acknowledging local knowledge as central to teaching and learning. 4. Dr. Rodolfo Acua has been and continues to be an ardent supporter of the students and teachers of MAS in their struggle to preserve the program. Dr. Acua has organized tirelessly in support of MAS through supporting its legal arm Save Ethnic Studies (the organization that is currently challenging the Arizona anti-MAS law [AZ HB 2281 ARS 15-111 & ARS 15-112] in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals). 5. Olmeca has been an ardent supporter of the MAS students and teachers throughout the struggle to preserve the program, traveling to Tucson on his own time over the past 5-6 years to provide workshops and performances for MAS youth. 6. The Program Director of the Pico Youth and Family Center, Selina (Rodriguez) Barajas, was a former MAS student at Cholla Magnet High School and worked as a Project Mentor Specialist in the MAS department while attending the University of Arizona as an undergraduate student. Selina continues to utilize Barrio Pedagogy in her work with marginalized and underserved youth. 7. Chuk Shon is the Tohono OOodham (the original peoples of the Sonoran Desert) word from which the Spanish colonizers of the region interpreted, appropriated, and accordingly named Tucson. It means, spring at the foot of the black mountain. 8. Jesus Chucho Ruiz was a former student of Arces at Calli Ollin Academy in Tucson, Arizona in the mid to late 1990s where they together studied Barrio Pedagogy. Chucho is a true Barrio Intellectual, a ceremonial leader in the Nahua peoples tradicin, and a community leader in Tucson. 9. Tlazocamati in the Nahuatl language means Gracias or Thank you 10. Aho is a word in the Lakota language meaning thank you. It is utilized amongst many Chicanos and Native people who participate in indigenous ceremonial practices. 11. XITO (Xican@ Institute for Teaching & Organizing) strives to support the Xican@/Latin@ community through teacher education, social justice pedagogy and community organizing. XITO is a sponsored program of Prescott College (www.xicanoinstitute.org).

Paradigm for Understanding Bicultural Parent Engagement: A Struggle for Accessing Transformative Development
Alberto M. Ochoa Department of Policy Studies, San Diego State University Edward M. Olivos Department of Education Studies, University of Oregon Oscar Jimnez-Castellanos Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University

Our present and previous work with low-income ethnically and linguistically

diverse school communities, we called for an alternative paradigm to reconceptualize and actualize bicultural parent engagement (Olivos, 2006; Olivos, Jimnez-Castellanos, & Ochoa, 2011; Olivos & Ochoa, 2006). For decades a broad array of researchers have reached similar conclusions and have made multiple pleas for educators to reach out and engage bicultural parents within their schools to devleop meaningful and authentic relationships which value, honor, and capitalize on their assets and contributions (Cummins, 2001; Delgado-Gaitn, 1990; Gonzlez, Moll, & Amanti, 2005; McCaleb, 1997; Nez, 1994;

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