In this article I compare and contrast curricular, ceremonial and pedagogical practices with how students and teachers make sense of racial identity and discrimination at the Jaime Hurtado Academy in the city and province of Esmeraldas, Ecuador, which is the only region of the nation where Afro-Ecuadorian people comprise a majority of the…

The book is entitled History Wars in the Classroom: Global Perspectives and examines how ten separate countries have experienced debates and disputes over the contested nature of the subject, for example the "Black Armband" and "Whitewash" factions in Australia who adopt opposingly celebratory or denigratory views of Australian…

The central aim of this study was to explore the academic engagement trajectories of a sample of recently arrived immigrant students from Latin America. Using an analytic framework that can dynamically model time-sensitive fluctuations (HLM; [Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. (2002). Hierarchicical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis…

This article describes the language skills and factors that predict English-language proficiency for a sample of 209 students ages 10 to 16 from three immigrant groups--Chinese, Dominican, and Haitian. Sources of data included structured student interviews, parent interviews, and individual language assessments. On average, students'…

The Guatemalan educational system has been the most unequal system in the Latin American region ever since the 1950s. The indigenous Maya people, who constitute around half of the population, experienced the state mainly through repression, exploitative labour relationships and exclusion from education. The return to democracy and the peace…

This study investigates the extent to which two different models predict the relation of self-esteem to skin color and rural/urban residence among Jamaican children. To explain this relation, Crocker and Major's Self-protective hypothesis and Harter's Additive model were examined among 200 African-Caribbean children from rural (n=85) and urban…

In order to facilitate the interpretation of test scores from the TOEIC[R] "Bridge" as a measure of English language proficiency, one form of the test was administered to more than 6000 test takers in three South American countries--Colombia, Chile and Ecuador. The appropriateness of the TOEIC "Bridge" test as a measure of…

The way in which economic and cultural trends have led cultural institutions to go away from grassroots constituencies toward better ones and multiple debates within the world of U.S. Latino/a culture and the arts is described. The debate over the El Museo, which in the larger context affected the categorization, promotion and exhibition of Latin…

This study documents the prevalence and profile of Central American grandparents raising grandchildren in the United States of America. Using nationally representative data from the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey, Central American grandparent caregivers are compared with their noncare-giving peers. Results indicate that nationally an estimated…

As demographics shift and immigration is a hotly contested area of US civic life, the civic preparation and participation of Latin American immigrant youth is becoming increasingly important. The author examines the growing literature on this topic, inquiring into the political and demographic changes that have stimulated this area of inquiry, the…

Latin elements or themes made for the North American market have been used in American films, but at the same time these films have been playing in a Latin American market, making it useful to examine how Latin America has been portrayed in these films. The taste for exotic locales and themes is an element that has been present since the…

Studies the cultural images and knowledge produced by a Latin American organization in the U.S. south as it plans and produces a Latin American festival. In addition, the complexity of the ethnographic portrayal of the festival is described, with implications drawn for other ethnographic studies. (SLD)

Argues that the "mestizo" paradigm as a theoretical construct used in Latin American studies denies the historical and cultural contributions of Africans to Latin American society and that it is fundamentally inaccurate and racist. Discusses ways of correcting these misconceptions. (GR)

In 1997, the Santiago office of UNESCO implemented an assessment of student achievement in Latin America, working in collaboration with 13 Latin American ministries of education. Using a common sampling methodology and survey instruments, researchers in each country collected representative samples of data on third- and fourth-grade achievement in…

This study examined how Dominican English-language learners at Bronx Community College achieved academic resiliency despite facing personal, academic, and environmental adversities. Using individual interviews, data were analyzed from the perception of students. A resilient-based model emerged that sheds light on the personal barriers experienced…