Teaching from a Critical Perspective / Enseñando de Una Perspectiva Crítica: Conceptualization, Reflection, and Application of Chicana/o Pedagogy

Abstract

This paper addresses the relationship between critical pedagogy and Chicana/o pedagogy to show the need for the use of the latter in academe. The authors present the idea of a “plática” (Spanish for intellectual conversation) as a way to dialogue through literature on Chicana/o pedagogy, and show its defining characteristics. With a biographical placing of the authors/participants and their students in a racially/ethnically hostile academy, plática is used to illustrate examples of Chicana/o pedagogy in practice, and how this is resisted by students on ideological ground. A discussion concludes the paper.