University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses March 2017 Seguimos Luchando: Women Educators’ Trajectories in Social Movement Based Popular Education Projects in Buenos Aires, Argentina Jennifer Lee O'Donnell University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the Community-Based Learning Commons, Community-Based Research Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, International and Comparative Education Commons, Other Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, and the Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons Recommended Citation O'Donnell, Jennifer Lee, "Seguimos Luchando: Women Educators’ Trajectories in Social Movement Based Popular Education Projects in Buenos Aires, Argentina" (2017). 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Seguimos Luchando: Women Educators’ Trajectories in Social Movement Based Popular Education Projects in Buenos Aires, Argentina A Dissertation Presented by JENNIFER LEE O’DONNELL Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY February 2017 College of Education Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies Language, Literacy and Culture Program © Copyright by Jennifer Lee O’Donnell 2017 All Rights Reserved Seguimos Luchando: Women Educators’ Trajectories in Social Movement Based Popular Education Projects in Buenos Aires, Argentina A Dissertation Presented by JENNIFER LEE O’DONNELL Approved as to style and content by: _________________________________________________ Laura Valdiviezo, Chair _________________________________________________ Denise Ives, Member _________________________________________________ Sangeeta Kamat, Member _________________________________________________ Claudio Moreira, Member _________________________________________________ Kysa Nygreen, Member _________________________________ Joseph B. Berger, Senior Associate Dean College of Education ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There once was a woodcutter who worked very hard for a forestry company doing many different jobs. One day he was fired without being given a reason. He did not know what to do, whether to stay, whether to sell everything and move to the big city to try something new. He was feeling anxious and lost. It also happened to be that those with whom he had worked with were also experiencing similar circumstances, but they began to organize their work in a cooperative way. The first to organize were the loggers union. As word got around, more and more people became interested, started asking questions, and were encouraged to join. During a Q&A session, one of the compañeros in the loggers union explained to the woodcutter how their cooperative worked. “We work and however much we work is how much we earn. Nobody is going to take your job. If you only work a little bit, you will earn a little bit. If you work a lot, you will earn a lot. If we do well, everyone does well, and if we do something wrong, it is everyone who has done something wrong.” At first the woodcutter did not quite know what to make of what he was talking about, but eventually it started to sink in and he decided to join. First day going out the woodcutter cut 30 trees. He went home thrilled because 30 trees in a day was a lot. Not long after he realized he actually preferred to work this way – no one was watching over him and checking if he were doing things right or wrong. He gave it a lot of thought and wanted to tell his wife how happy he felt. You see, she also worked hard and so they began to take account of how much she made and how much he made, and for the first time they began to dream about their future. iv The second week began with enthusiasm, but the woodcutter only cut 18 trees. He could not explain this decline and decided it must be that he was not taking care of himself enough. He talked it over with his wife, “I think if I get a little rest, because I was so exhausted after that first week, if I start eating healthier foods, maybe then my batteries will be charged and I can return to cutting 30 trees.” His wife said, “I will ask my mother and father to help us take care of the kids at night, do not worry, so you can get more rest.” They tried to eat healthy that week – fruits, vegetables, proteins, all of those things. When the third week ended though the woodcutter had only cut nine trees. He was a bit depressed. He asked himself, “Why? I rested, I ate well, my wife and I organized the responsibilities to make things easier for us, and it still is not turning out well. Why am I failing?!” His compañeros could see his depression and asked him, “What’s wrong?” The woodcutter replied, “I can’t believe how many trees I cut when I started, when I started I cut 30 trees the first week! Then 18. Now only nine. You must think I’m being lazy, that I’m not working hard enough.” His compañeros told him to relax, that they understood the situation. They asked, “tell us one thing, when was the last time you sharpened your ax?” It turned out that the woodsman had forgotten that little detail. Many times we do things to share experiences, to keep us thinking, that bring us together. Value those things. But more importantly, this workshop was designed to help us all sharpen our axes with others. I did not come here to tell you how you sharpen your ax. I came to sharpen my ax too. But when you have a sharp ax, go to work. Continue doing what we do. Do it at the bus stop if you can’t do it in a school. Build something, seek out and meet with others. But let’s not forget that we also have to sharpen our axes and use them, we also need to cut. (Hortencia, Large Group, August 17, 2013) v I love this story of the woodcutter that Hortencia, one of the participants later introduced in this study, told a group of soon to be popular educators in training one mid- afternoon in August of 2013. I love the tale not only because of the symbolic meaning it holds in the work educators in Buenos Aires are doing in popular schools, but because it has come to reflect so much of what the writing of this dissertation has meant to me. Like the woodcutter in the loggers union, this work was made possible by cooperative effort – by the mentorship, love, friendly competition, and community sustained through intensive years studying social issues in education. There are many people with whom I have shared deeply moving experiences with; who have kept me thinking, analyzing, and writing; who have made me realize that there is significant value and reward in doing the work that we are doing as researchers, educators, anthropologists, and justice activists. So to those who have helped me sharpen my ax over the years, I am profoundly grateful to – Dr. Laura Valdiviezo for your mentorship; Dr. Denise Ives for guiding me through my first years of doctoral study; Dr. Sangeeta Kamat, Dr. Claudio Moreira, Dr. Kysa Nygreen, and Dr. Stephen Sadlier for moving both me and my work in new directions; UMASS faculty members Dr. Sonia Alvarez and Dr. Barbara Cruikshank for courses that facilitated ideas presented in this project; and Dr. Max Page and Dr. Eve Weinberg for a life changing summer in Buenos Aires. My deep appreciation to – Dr. Sally Campbell Galman, Katie Lazdowski, and Dr. Laura Valdiviezo, who kept me connected to the academic world through our work on Anthropology & Education Quarterly. I am also appreciative to the Graduate School at UMASS for a dissertation grant that allowed me to study at the Instituto Paulo Freire in São Paulo, a trip that proved not only invaluable to my research, but to my soul as well. vi To my doctoral studies colleagues and research partners, it has been a pleasure working with such strong, passionate, intelligent individuals. Marta Balaguera, Tamara Chung Constant, Cara Crandall, Spencer Dudley, Margaret Felis, Leta Hooper, Shaimaa Hussein, Keiko Konoeda, Roxana Martinez Pascual, Dani O’Brien, and Jasmine Robinson, thanks for your friendship, support, rides to class, good conversation, statistics help, jokes, and Mad Men talks. My love and gratitude to – my brother, dad, and mom for making me laugh and being my home; Amy Gonzalez, for being my best friend and Skype call away; Fatima Lima for being my New York person; the Lamarca and Loiza families, for opening your home and hearts to me in Argentina. Daniel Lamarca, this work would not have been possible without your humor, devil’s advocacy, love, and transcription support – thank you. And of course Buddy, for teaching me the value of care of the self during daily snuggles and going outside for walks breaks, my gratefulness. My profound appreciation to Luana Ferroni, whose generosity in sharing the ins and outs of popular education in Argentina made this project come to life. Finally, to my students from HSTAT, UNPA, and the popular education community of Buenos Aires, thank you