Cultivando Respeto (Cultivating Respect): Engaging the Latino Community
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18060/21758Keywords:
civic engagement; immigrants; university; popular education; human rightsAbstract
This article addresses an innovative approach to connecting an urban university with the surrounding neighborhoods comprised of Latino immigrants, who represent potential new students or current students’ family members. The National Latino Research Center (NLRC) uses popular education, culturally informed, and linguistically relevant strategies to engage diverse Latino communities in the northern region of San Diego County in California. Methods of engaging the Latino community include cultivating long-term relationships, responding to time-sensitive community crises, facilitating inter-generational connections, presenting material in a culturally informed and relevant way, providing hands-on experiences with civic engagement, and growing partnerships within the university and among non-profits. Preliminary findings described a two-year study on civic engagement testing the effectiveness of a Spanish-language curriculum based on popular education offered (free) to members of urban and rural low-resourced Latino communities. The Center statistically correlated Latino community members’ experiential learning, participating in social media, and voting with gains in civic engagement knowledge.
References
Abrajano, Marisa A. and R. Michael Alvarez. 2010. “Assessing the Causes and Effects of Political Trust Among U.S. Latinos.” American Politics Research 38(1):110-141.
Antony, Mary Grace, and Ryan J. Thomas. (2010). "‘This is Citizen Journalism at its Finest’: YouTube and the Public Sphere in the Oscar Grant Shooting Incident." New Media and Society 12(8):1280-1296.
Bahmueller, Charles F. and Quigley, Charles N. (Editors). (1991). CIVITAS: A Framework for Civic Education. Calabasas, CA: Center for Civic Education. (http://www.civiced.org/resources/publications/resource-materials/civitas-a-framework-for-civic-education)
Byrne, Dara N. (2013). "419 Digilantes and the Frontier of Radical Justice Online." Radical History Review 117: 70-82.
De Zúñiga, Homero Gil, Nakwon Jung, and Sebastian Valenzuela. (2012). Social Media Use for News and Individuals’ Social Capital, Civic Engagement and Political
Participation. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 17: 319–336.
Ebert, Kim and Dina G. Okamoto. (2013). “Social Citizenship, Integration and Collective Action: Immigrant Civic Engagement in the U.S.” Social Forces 91(4), 1267-1292.
Freire, Paulo. 1970. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
Garcia Bedolla, Lisa. 2012. “Latino Education, Civic Engagement, and the Public Good.” Review of Research in Education 36(1):23.
Howard, Philip N., Saiph Savage, Claudia Flores Saviaga, Carlos Toxtli, and Andres Monroy-Hernández.
(2016). “Social media, civic engagement and Slacktivism Hypothesis: Lessons from ‘El Bronco’.” Journal of International Affairs 70(1):55-73.
Krogstgad, Jens Manuel. (2015). “Social media preferences by race and ethnicity.” Pew Research Center: FactTank News in the Numbers February 3, 2015. (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/03/social-media-preferences-vary-by-race-and-ethnicity/)
Martinez, Lisa M. (2005). “Yes We Can.” Social Forces 84(1), 135–55.
Peterson, T. (2014). Reviving and Revising the Civic Mission: A Radical Re-Imagining of "Civic Engagement." Metropolitan Universities 25(3), 17-30. Retrieved from https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/muj/article/view/20579/20179
Segura, Gary, Harry Pachon & Nathan D Woods. (2001). “Hispanics, Social Capital, and Civic Engagement.” National Civic Review 90(1), 85-96.
Smith, Aaron. (2013). Report: Civic Engagement in the Digital Age. PEW Research Center on Internet and Technology, April 25, 2013 (http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/04/25/civic-engagement-in-the-digital-age/).
Stoll, Michael A. and Janelle S. Wong. (2007). “Immigration and Civic Participation in a Multiracial and Multiethnic Context.” International Migration Review 41(4):880-908.
Valenzuela, Sebastián. (2013). “Unpacking the Use of Social Media for Protest Behavior: The Roles of Information, Opinion on Expression, and Activism.” American Behavioral Scientist 57:920-942.
Wilkin, Holley A., Vikki S. Katz, and Sandra J. Ball-Rokeach. (2009). The Role of Interaction in New Immigrant Latinos’ Civic Engagement. Journal of Communication 59 387-406.
Yep, K. (2014). Reimagining Diversity Work: Multigenerational Learning, Adult Immigrants, and Dialogical Community-Based Learning. Metropolitan Universities 25(3):47-66. Retrieved from https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/muj/article/view/20581
Yosso, T. J. (2005). "Whose Culture Has Capital? A Critical Race Theory Discussion of Community Cultural Wealth." Race Ethnicity and Education 8:69‐91.
