Practices, Ideologies and Strategies in Diidxazá/ Isthmus Zapotec Indigenous Language Education
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University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2016 Imagining Convivial Multilingualism: Practices, Ideologies and Strategies in Diidxazá/ Isthmus Zapotec Indigenous Language Education Haley De Korne University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Commons, Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation De Korne, Haley, "Imagining Convivial Multilingualism: Practices, Ideologies and Strategies in Diidxazá/ Isthmus Zapotec Indigenous Language Education" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1680. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1680 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1680 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Imagining Convivial Multilingualism: Practices, Ideologies and Strategies in Diidxazá/ Isthmus Zapotec Indigenous Language Education Abstract This study documents practices relating to the use of Isthmus Zapotec or Diidxaza, an Indigenous language of Oaxaca, Mexico, in formal and non-formal education. Drawing on ethnographic monitoring and ethnography of language policy methodologies, I document, interpret, and ultimately engage in Isthmus Zapotec education with the aim of countering social inequalities produced through language hierarchies. Within the historical and socio-political context of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec where Isthmus Zapotec is spoken, I describe and categorize the actors, practices, and socio-political processes that currently constitute the educational language ecology. I draw on participant observation, interviews, photographs and documents collected during 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork and several subsequent visits in the Isthmus (2013-2015) in order to illustrate the linguistic landscape and the prominent practices in this domain. Increased official recognition for Indigenous languages in Mexico and state-level promotion of local languages are influencing some education practices, although exclusion of Isthmus Zapotec remains the norm. A variety of Isthmus Zapotec teachers, learners, and advocates are working to reverse this exclusionary legacy, however. The ideologies and social imaginaries of actors in two education sites are analyzed in-depth, illustrating a convivial multilingual paradigm through which teachers and learners of Isthmus Zapotec are creating inclusive communities of practice, in contrast to the exclusionary and manipulative norms in many social and educational spaces. Additionally the strategies of Isthmus Zapotec advocates across education contexts and social scales are compared, exploring how strategies of representing, connecting, and producing are employed to address language inequalities, with differing degrees of speed and visibility. I analyze my own strategies of engagement in Isthmus Zapotec education and discuss conceptual and methodological shifts in how I approach advocacy work in relation to marginalized languages. Endangered or minoritized language education will continue to hold different meanings for different actors from local to global levels; a multi-perspectival approach is necessary to develop new strategies and to support inclusive and convivial imaginaries of multilingualism in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and other contexts of language inequality. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Education First Advisor Nancy H. Hornberger Keywords Indigenous language education, Isthmus Zapotec, Language policy, Oaxaca Subject Categories Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics | Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | Social and Cultural Anthropology This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1680 IMAGINING CONVIVIAL MULTILINGUALISM: PRACTICES, IDEOLOGIES AND STRATEGIES IN DIIDXAZÁ/ ISTHMUS ZAPOTEC INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE EDUCATION Haley De Korne A DISSERTATION in Education Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2016 Supervisor of Dissertation: ______________________ Nancy H. Hornberger, Professor of Education Graduate Group Chairperson ________________________ J. Matthew Hartley, Professor of Education Dissertation Committee: Nancy H. Hornberger, Professor of Education Nelson Flores, Assistant Professor of Education Robert Moore, Senior Lecturer Mario E. López Gopar, Professor of Education Sharon M. Ravitch, Senior Lecturer IMAGINING CONVIVIAL MULTILINGUALISM: PRACTICES, IDEOLOGIES, AND STRATEGIES IN DIIDXAZÁ/ ISTHMUS ZAPOTEC INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE EDUCATION COPYRIGHT 2016 Haley Jean De Korne This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ny-sa/3.0/ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you, gracias, xquixepe'laatu, miigwech, merci to the many, many mentors who I have been honored to learn from over the years. I hope that through this work, and more to come, I will help to carry forward the curiosity and passion that you have planted in me. First and foremost, I am indebted to Nancy Hornberger for her support and patience throughout this process, and for the opportunity to learn from the example she sets of utmost intellectual integrity, dedication, and collegiality. I am grateful to my committee, Nelson Flores, Mario López Gopar, Robert Moore, and Sharon Ravitch, whose work motivates me to be more critical, rigorous, ambitious, and humane as a scholar. Sharing ideas, concerns, and laughter with colleagues and friends within the Educational Linguistics community at the University of Pennsylvania has also been an essential support and influence on my work throughout this process. This project would not have been possible without the support of colleagues working in Oaxaca, especially Dr. Gabriela Pérez Báez of the Smithsonian Institute and Mtro. Victor Cata who first encouraged me to work in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and helped to make the possibility into a reality by inviting me to learn from and collaborate in some of their inspiring projects. I gratefully acknowledge the support of a pre-doctoral fellowship from the Smithonian Institute during this study. Estoy agradecida a much@s colegas y amig@s en Oaxaca y en México quienes me han recibido y enseñado con una gracia infinita, incluso bizana' Victor Cata ne benda' Natalia Toledo, Mario López Gopar, Ximena Leon Fernández, David Ramírez Medina, Roselia Cha'ca, bendahuiini' Kiara Ríos Ríos, Kenia Velasco Gutiérrez, Gibrán Morales Carranza, Claudia Guerra, María Isabel García Rasgado, Vidal Ramírez Pineda, Dra. María Soledad Pérez López, Reyna López López, Velma Orozco Trujillo, José López de la Cruz, Diana Toledo Rasgado, Janet Chávez Santiago, Pedro Cardona Fuentes, Ulises Hernández Luna, Melanie McComsey, Kate Reistenberg, Mónica Esteva García, l@s alumn@s de la Facultad de Idiomas de Tehuantepec, l@s maestrantes del programa Educación Crítica de Lenguas (2014-2015), y las vendedoras de bupu, entre muchas otras personas. I would not have reached this point without the support of many mentors over many years, including Dr. Leslie Saxon and colleagues at the University of Victoria; Dr. Jean-Jacques Weber and colleagues at the University of Luxembourg; Drs. Michael Byram and Richard Smith at Durham University; George Trudeau, Kenny Pheasant, and other teachers and participants in Anishinaabemowin programs in the Great Lakes region; (Monsieur) James Murphy at Interlochen Arts Academy, and many, many more. Last but not least I am grateful for the constant encouragement and love of friends and family in different corners of the globe. Above all I thank my mother, Meg Littin, who is a role model of strength, perseverance, and compassion, and an avid supporter of even my most improbable dreams. iii To all of these people, and the many more who are in my thoughts as I write this, I offer heartfelt thanks that words cannot capture. iv ABSTRACT IMAGINING CONVIVIAL MULTILINGUALISM: PRACTICES, IDEOLOGIES, AND STRATEGIES IN DIIDXAZÁ/ ISTHMUS ZAPOTEC INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE EDUCATION Haley De Korne Nancy H. Hornberger This study documents practices relating to the use of Isthmus Zapotec or Diidxazá, an Indigenous language of Oaxaca, Mexico, in formal and non-formal education. Drawing on ethnographic monitoring and ethnography of language policy methodologies, I document, interpret, and ultimately engage in Isthmus Zapotec education with the aim of countering social inequalities produced through language hierarchies. Within the historical and socio-political context of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec where Isthmus Zapotec is spoken, I describe and categorize the actors, practices, and socio-political processes that currently constitute the educational language ecology. I draw on participant observation, interviews, photographs and documents collected during 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork and several subsequent visits in the Isthmus (2013- 2015) in order to illustrate the linguistic landscape and the prominent practices in this domain. Increased official recognition for Indigenous languages in Mexico and state- level promotion of local languages are influencing some education practices, although v exclusion of Isthmus Zapotec remains the norm. A variety