This essay describes the curriculum and implementation of the Hispanic Leadership Academy (HLA), designed to guide and mentor first generation, Hispanic students into becoming leaders in their community. The curriculum empowered students and encouraged them to take their developing leadership skills to the university. The authors believed that…

For many minoritized communities, sustaining or at least holding on to their home language and cultural identity has been a constant uphill battle. Nevertheless, Latina/o/x who speak Spanish, for example, have demonstrated to be linguistically and culturally resilient against hegemonic societal, institutional, political, and monolithic national…

For more than 20 years, traditional medicine of Mexico, the U.S. Southwest and other countries has been taught as a series of academic course at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque in the United States. These courses focus on traditional uses of healing plants and rituals for students in higher education and the community. These courses…

Initial research has documented the ill treatment suffered by Mexican indigenous students in U.S. schools. Using a framework of transnational teacher education, we examined the impact of field practice in an indigenous area of Mexico on teacher candidates. Candidates showed growth in new understandings, such as their role as bilingual teachers in…

Today, after many years of making it through new musical genres and trends, "rancheras" are not only about the appreciation of music, but also about the sociocultural issues present within the individual listening to this music. Whether it be the person who is driving down the street with the radio blaring and the car thumpin', the…

This essay intervenes in contemporary scholarship on Sandra Cisneros's "Woman Hollering Creek" (1991) by examining the canciones she uses as epigraphs and their relationship to the multiple nationalisms that Chicana/os actively negotiate. I argue that Cisneros's decision to include powerfully nationalist Mexican cancion traditions…

This article documents an extended Mexican family's social practices surrounding literacy as they engage with bilingual children's literature in a unique context that draws from both home and school without the pressures of curriculum mandates. The research is situated within the southeastern United States where English-dominant practices permeate…

In March 2009, the author accompanied 19 university students to El Paso, Texas, for an alternative spring break (ASB). The author and the students traveled to the urban zip code with the lowest per capita income in the country to study U.S.-Mexico border issues. In the ASB program's language, they sought to gain "new perspectives on social…

The U.S. Census bureau projects that by 2023, minorities will comprise more than half of all children. The population of school-aged Hispanic children is already the largest ethnic group, and the sheer number and rate of increase of these linguistically and culturally different students creates unfamiliar cultural challenges for school leaders.…

This article introduces and explains probability games from diverse cultures. Activities are described and teacher-ready materials are included. (Contains 7 figures.)

The development and present status of "Chicano Calo," a mixture of Spanish and English spoken in Mexico and the Southwestern United States, is surveyed. Originally a Romany (Gypsy) language, it is preeminently oral and has become fashionable in most sociocultural strata, but particularly among younger males to reflect mild rebellion.…

Alma Reed, a Californian who became a noted figure in Mexican art history, was a bicultural individual who introduced famed Mexican muralists to the United States art world and who became a legendary figure in Mexican folklore from the 1920s through the 1960s. This paper traces her career. (JB)

This children's book describes how Pablo, a young Mexican boy, and his family celebrate the Day of the Dead (El Dia de Los Muertos). This holiday takes place on the first and second day of November and honors relatives and friends who have died. The holiday celebrates their spiritual return to Earth to share a special feast with the living, and…

Instructions for a variety of activities relating to Mexican culture are provided, with brief descriptive and historical notes on Mexican heritage. Arts and crafts from western, central, and southern Mexico are represented as well as many which are common to all of Mexico. Some of the activities included are weaving, chewing gum sculpture, paper…

The book explains for the general reader the history and present practice of curanderismo--Mexican American folk healing practices--and gives biographical sketches of three famous nineteenth century folk healers--Don Pedrito Jaramillo, Nino Fidencio, and Teresita Urrea. Characteristics and training of curanderos, or healers, are discussed and the…