Decolonial case study uncovers maternal resistance to linguistic surveillance in Kaqchikel families, highlighting the value of Indigenous multilingualism.
This article examines the raciolinguistic experiences of two generations of Kaqchikel mothers in the diaspora and how these shape their role as agents in the intergenerational transmission of Kaqchikel. The study adopts a decolonial case study design and reconstructs the trajectories of Xela, a first-generation grandmother, and her daughter Sibia, drawing on semi-structured interviews, home observations, and artifacts collected over 15 months. The findings reveal that both faced linguistic surveillance, a lack of institutional recognition, and internalized shame, and that they resignified the language as an affective and identity resource. The study offers grounds for educational policies that strengthen Indigenous multilingualism.
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Esmeralda Cartagena Collazo (2026) studied this question.
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