PANEL ORGAN - KIIT University

Relocalization and borders: Children visiting a Prison in Oaxaca, Mexico
This paper will illustrate the way children, when they visitied their parents and relatives,
relocalize their social practices (Pennycook, 2010) within the context of the state prison in
Ixcotel, Oaxaca. This context represents to them the possibility of comparing the outside
world with the one where they are spending part of their childhood while they visit their
relatives. In spite of being in a border situation (Mignolo, 2000) defined by hegemonically
well-delimited binaries (good/bad, illegal/legal, freedom/incarceration, etc.), these
children reflect the fluidity (Moita Lopes y Cabral Bastos, 2010) with which they are
constructing, reconstructing and deconstructing their identities according to their current
local situation and history. I will analyze the activities and productions of these children
during the summer courses that are offered at the Ixcotel State Prison in Oaxaca, Mexico,
where I have being carrying out a long-term ethnographic study for the last four years.
DANTAS-WHITNEY, Maria, Western Oregon University, USA, 345 N. Monmouth Avenue,
Monmouth, OR 97361, U.S.A., E-mail:
Exploring Bilingual Identities: Children’s Social, Cultural and Emotional Investments in
an Elementary Classroom
In the U.S., current educational reforms emphasize highly centralized policies through
mandatory curricula and standardized tests. Within this climate, bilingual learners are
particularly disadvantaged because of an intensified hostility toward immigration and an
ideology of “language-as-a-problem,” which rejects multiculturalism, vilifies students and
families, and views bilingual education as “remedial.”This paper presents an ethnographic
study conducted with first grade children of immigrant farm worker Latino families
attending a school in rural Oregon. Against the backdrop of the current macro-level
educational environment, these children are affected by micro-level ideologies at the
district and school, which attribute poor academic performance solely to students’
linguistic differences and socio-economic backgrounds. In particular, this paper focuses on
the children’s development of bilingual identities as they engage in literacy practices in
and out of the classroom. Their ways of talking, acting and socializing reflect a constant
negotiation between their own cultural capital and the larger educational climate.
PANEL-06(B): ETHNOGRAPHY WITH CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS: A COMPARATIVE
ANALYSIS ACROSS STUDIES AND CONTEXTS
27 th November, 2012 Time: 10.30-13.00hrs Hall No.:
PANEL ORGANIZER
DANTAS-WHITNEY, Maria, Western Oregon University, USA, E-mail:
PAPER PRESENTERS
GUERRERO, Alba-Lucy, La Salle University, Bogota, Colombia. E-mail
Children´s Narratives of Displacement: Practices of Resistance and Social Agency
The escalation of armed conflicts in Colombia has produced massive displacement of
civilian populations. Although children are disproportionately affected by this
phenomenon, their voices are rarely heard. Drawing from socio-cultural theories of
identity that emphasize the interplay between structural factors and agency and the role
of discourse as a mediating tool in the construction of identities, this study examines the