Global Issues and Local Language Literacy Practices in Two Rural Communities of Mexico
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Landscapes of Literacy: Global Issues and Local Language Literacy Practices in Two Rural Communities of Mexico Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Watters, Juanita L. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 04/10/2021 01:36:59 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/216951 LANDSCAPES OF LITERACY: GLOBAL ISSUES AND LOCAL LANGUAGE LITERACY PRACTICES IN TWO RURAL COMMUNITIES OF MEXICO by Juanita L Watters ____________________ Copyright © Juanita L Watters 2011 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF TEACHING, LEARNING AND SOCIOCULTURAL STUDIES For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WITH A MAJOR IN LANGUAGE, READING AND CULTURE In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2011 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Juanita L Watters entitled Landscapes of Literacy: Global Issues and Local Language Literacy Practices in Two Rural Communities of Mexico and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 3/24/2011 Perry Gilmore _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 3/24/2011 Richard Ruiz _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 3/24/2011 Norma Gonzalez _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 3/24/2011 Iliana Reyes Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: 3/24/2011 Dissertation Director: Perry Gilmore 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Juanita L Watters 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to my beloved family: My husband, Jim, with whom I have enjoyed this world for over 34 years now. I am so blessed by your faithful love as my husband, your example as a scholar, and your vision that set me on this path into the academic world. You have traveled closely with me on the ups and downs of this study program, yet given me space to stand on my own two feet. I love you. Our four children: Josiah, Jessica, John Isaac and Joel. How well you prepared me for the rigors of this PhD program! Completing this graduate study program does hold significance, but it is a mere spark compared to the joy of being your mother. My parents, John and Royce Lind, who showed me firsthand how to live the only life worth living. My siblings, Cindy, Mike, Laura and Christina, with whom I shared all my early adventures of multicultural living. Thank you as well: To all who have prayed to God on my behalf, for my success in this PhD. program, your steadfast support made all the difference. To my SIL colleagues in Mexico and around the world, I have benefitted immensely from your wisdom and experience and encouragement. And with much gratitude: To the principal participants of my study in southern Veracruz: Plácido, Esteban and Hilario To the principal participants of my study in central Puebla: Verónica, Jacob, and Emilio I honor you for your courage and perserverance in pushing for new spaces and new uses of your languages in your communities. I thank you for sharing your lives and your understanding of your world with me. 5 To my dissertation committee: Dr. Perry Gilmore, Dr. Norma Gonzalez, Dr. Richard Ruiz, Dr. Iliana Reyes Thank you for reading what I have written and for your helpful critiques and insights based on a wealth of experience and knowledge in your fields. Thank you for making LRC a place where I could grow and develop as a graduate student, in and out of classes. Thank you for listening to me and respecting my beliefs that shape the person I am. I look forward to continued collaboration with each of you in the future. An additional word of appreciation to Dr. Perry Gilmore: You took me as I was, an uncertain but eager MA student, encouraging me to be myself even as I learned the language and culture of academia. You 'prophesied' correctly in December, 2003 when I received my MA, that I would come back some day and get my PhD. I laughed then in disbelief. From the first semester of my MA program to this day, you have shown unswerving confidence in me, and your commitment to helping me reach this place never flagged. I have so deeply appreciated your patience, grace and humor as you helped me find my "academic voice". Thank you for being a superb voice instructor. To Maria Fierro, Graduate Secretary, LRC: Thank you, Maria, for cheerfully being there for me in the LRC office, through every step of my PhD program: whether face to face, or by phone, or email… you kept me on track regarding all the department and university requirements and timeline. Where would I be without you? To my fellow LRC graduate students: Your questions and observations and feedback through energetic discussions have brought healthy growth to my life. Your knowledge and experience have enlarged my understanding. Thank you for sharing your lives with me in the classroom, and elsewhere. Thank you especially to May George, Olga Bever, and Lauren Zentz. 6 DEDICATION In gratefulness to the God of mercy and justice: Your principles have been the music of my life, throughout the years of my pilgrimage. Psalm 119:53 Pied Beauty GLORY be to God for dappled things— For skies of couple-colour as a brindled cow; For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim; Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings; Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough; And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim. All things counter, original, spare, strange; Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?) With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim; He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: Praise him. Gerard Manley Hopkins 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...........................................................................................................10 ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................12 CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW ........................................................................................14 Introduction ....................................................................................................................14 Rationale and Significance .............................................................................................20 Research Questions.........................................................................................................24 Outline of dissertation ...................................................................................................27 CHAPTER TWO: BACKGROUND AND SETTING .....................................................30 Background for the Study Positionality of the Researcher....................................................................................30 CÓMELE: A Literacy Method Implemented..............................................................33 Conducting the Study How the Research Was Conducted .............................................................................43 Where the Research Was Conducted ..........................................................................46 CHAPTER THREE: THE MELA'TAJTOL COMMUNITY............................................55 Portrait of the Mela'tajtol Community Geography ...................................................................................................................55 Language .....................................................................................................................57 History.........................................................................................................................59 Principal Participants, Mela'tajtol Community Why They Were Asked to Particpate..........................................................................63 Interviews With Esteban, Plácido, and Hilario ...........................................................65 Research Setting and Data, Mela'tajtol Community.......................................................85 Interviews with Twenty-one Educators Teachers from Mecayapan.........................................................................85 Teachers from Huazuntlán.......................................................................104 Teachers from Tatahuicapan ...................................................................110